Looking for internships related to sociology

April 11, 2013 10:00 PM

Is there a resource for finding research positions in the social sciences?

I'm about to finish my second year in school, transferring likely in the fall (the precise school and location, still unknown). I've just declared a sociology major, and am very, very interested in doing research. Or at least helping someone do theirs.
Now is the time that everyone seems to be getting internships, and while I've been looking, I haven't been able to find one related to sociology. I'd preferable like to find one as a research assistant on a project. I'd ask my school for help guiding me, but they largely focus on opportunities present in the city I currently am in, where I don't plan on being this summer. Are there resources or websites specifically related to the social sciences and research intern/assistant positions?

posted by flying_trapeze to Science & Nature (2 answers total)

I got a summer linguistics internship by emailing a professor at a university where it was practical for me to do one (the school my brother attended -- he had a summer camp counselor job lined up, so I arranged to sublet his apartment). I just asked, like, if there were any projects in their department that could use a free research assistant. Easy as pie. Who doesn't want a free research assistant?

If you don't have a school in mind that would be the logical choice, maybe look at graduate departments that interest you or specific people that are doing work you like.

I can see this being a little more difficult if you want to intern at the top sociology department in the country, or on an extremely sexy research project where they have people falling all over themselves to be involved. But if it's just an ordinary school, with an ordinary department, plugging away at whatever their faculty do? Probably not impossible.
posted by Sara C. at 10:25 PM on April 11, 2013

Best answer: Seconding that most of my friends doing currently doing undergraduate research got involved by contacting professors doing projects they were interested in working on. It would probably be trickier to get funding, though (not sure if this is necessary for you or not!).
posted by kylej at 7:24 AM on April 12, 2013