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Research officer: Chris

This Case Study belongs to Government research officer.

I studied A-levels in geography, English literature and biology, and then went on to study geography at the University of Aberdeen. A lot of my degree was assessed via coursework, which often involved having to write reports and building clear and concise arguments with supporting evidence. Learning how to do this has helped in all of my roles, especially as a researcher.

After graduating I began working in admin in the government office for the North East. Whilst there I got experience of working in public policy and gained a knowledge of how government works, as well as the wide range of jobs that exist in the civil service. I then took the opportunity to study a Masters degree in regional development and research. The degree was very helpful for gaining experience of research work, as well as expanding my knowledge of public policy. After working as a regeneration manager for a charity, I realised I was more interested in using the research and analytical aspects of my second degree. I took a job as a data analyst for a local authority, and enjoyed the practical application of collecting and using data to provide answers on policy issues. I saw an advert for government social researchers, and realised that the job would give me the opportunity to work on research on national issues, so decided to apply.

The Department for Work and Pensions is one of the largest government departments, employing over 120,000 people. My post is based in the cross-cutting pensions analysis division, which is a team made up of economists, statisticians and researchers, whose objective is to support the department in developing private pension strategy and policy. My role within the team involves working on the Wealth and Assets survey, which interviews over 32,000 households every two years to gain an understanding of their financial situation.

The survey covers a number of research areas, so the type of work can vary from day to day. My role does not involve doing much primary research, and the majority of the role involves project management, discussing the current issues on the project and making sure progress is being made in line with our agreed deadlines. I also sit on the research project’s technical group, which includes researchers and analysts from across government departments with an interest in the survey, and is used to discuss and agree the technical details of the research. Making sure I have sufficient knowledge and expertise to contribute to (and just keep up with) what can be complex and highly technical discussions, takes up a lot of my time. My role also includes data analysis - all of the data from the survey needs to be validated to make sure that if the robustness of the research findings is questioned then they can be defended.

The level of support that my department gives me as someone who is new to social research is very good, and there is a lot of training available. The department I work for develops research officers by moving them to new projects every year or two, in order to give everyone a wide experience of different research areas. As a new researcher the level of complexity of the work I am given has been slowly increased as I learn more of the technical skills and gain more experience. Sometimes this can mean stretching what I think I am capable of doing, which can be scary at first. But the best way to learn something is to give it a go and I have always felt that there is support to help me when I need it. I love being able to work with such a wide range of people with a variety of areas of expertise. I feel like I’m in an excellent position to learn from others and develop my own analytical approach.

At the minute there seem to be so many opportunities to explore within government research that I would like to stay and develop my skills. However, from my current position there a lot of potential areas for career progression. I would like to get experience of working on different areas of research within the department. There is a Fast Stream for government social researchers, which is an area to explore as a possible way of progressing my career and moving into a more senior position. Ideally, I would like to reach the level of Principal Research Officer (head of team) within a few years.

Case Study sourced by Lucy Burrows of London School of Economics and Political Science, 25 November 2008.