Quant Skills And Think Tank Jobs
August 16, 2009 11:26 AM Subscribe
How important are quantitative research skills for getting a thinktank job?
I am an anonymous phd student in a good social science department, but I am not planning on going into academia. Instead, I am hoping to get a job at a DC based public policy thinktank.
My department focuses on research using quantitative methods. While I am decent at quantitative methods, I am certainly not a natural. Put differently, I am good at statistics, but I am great at writing and have extensive substantive knowledge.
I am trying to decide if I should just accept my mere adequacy in quant methods (and focus instead on improving other areas) or if I should focus on improving my quant skills.
How important are quantitative research skills for getting a job at a DC think tank?
I am an anonymous phd student in a good social science department, but I am not planning on going into academia. Instead, I am hoping to get a job at a DC based public policy thinktank.
My department focuses on research using quantitative methods. While I am decent at quantitative methods, I am certainly not a natural. Put differently, I am good at statistics, but I am great at writing and have extensive substantive knowledge.
I am trying to decide if I should just accept my mere adequacy in quant methods (and focus instead on improving other areas) or if I should focus on improving my quant skills.
How important are quantitative research skills for getting a job at a DC think tank?
This post was deleted for the following reason: didn't notice this before - you can't really use the anonymous feature to ask the same question twice, sorry. -- jessamyn
I didn't think that valkyryn's answer was that bad.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:36 AM on August 16, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:36 AM on August 16, 2009 [1 favorite]
Depends on which one. Brookings, very. EPI, very. Urban Institute, very. NBER, well, duh! Kaiser Family Foundation (which, trust me, is largely a think tank for all practical purposes), perhaps not as much.
Do not accept "mere adequacy" in quant skills. Improve them, and showcase them with your writing. You will be head and shoulders above everyone!
It's not what you know, but it's not whom you know either.
It's whom you know who knows what you know!
posted by jgirl at 11:44 AM on August 16, 2009
Do not accept "mere adequacy" in quant skills. Improve them, and showcase them with your writing. You will be head and shoulders above everyone!
It's not what you know, but it's not whom you know either.
It's whom you know who knows what you know!
posted by jgirl at 11:44 AM on August 16, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by crush-onastick at 11:35 AM on August 16, 2009 [1 favorite]