Data jobs?
May 6, 2020 11:52 AM Subscribe
I studied to get a job in a particular field. Within that field, there is sometimes program evaluation involving surveys, or research into what kind of programs work best. I'm in a job that does evaluations, which often consist of surveys and then manipulating the data from the surveys. I'd like to learn more about data manipulation and how to harness that for problem-solving.
So this is a two part question.
1) Where are good places to look for evaluation jobs? I know about the American Evaluation Association but I'm not a member.
2) What other jobs use data to problem-solve that would be do-able from people who are more entry-level to working with data?
My background is in anthropology but I have a strong interest in math as well.
So this is a two part question.
1) Where are good places to look for evaluation jobs? I know about the American Evaluation Association but I'm not a member.
2) What other jobs use data to problem-solve that would be do-able from people who are more entry-level to working with data?
My background is in anthropology but I have a strong interest in math as well.
You may want to look at organizations that do work in/with survey methodology, research, technical assistance, and focus groups. These types of work are often of interest to different government agencies at the national, state, and local levels. However, this work may be conducted by contractors.
posted by oceano at 1:07 PM on May 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by oceano at 1:07 PM on May 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
I am a program evaluator with a background in public health. (I hold an MPH.) You may already know this, because you didn't specify what your current field is, but there are three main types of places that employ health program evaluators: university research programs at schools of medicine and public health, nonprofits (generally medium-sized to large organizations) that need in house evaluation, and independent organizations (most, but not all, nonprofit) that take on contracts to serve as evaluators on others' projects. There's a fuzzy line between evaluation and research, so job titles to look for are research associate and research coordinator as well as evaluation specialist/analyst. I've found most of my jobs on Indeed.
Let me know if you have any follow-up questions. Happy to try to help.
posted by reren at 1:21 PM on May 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Let me know if you have any follow-up questions. Happy to try to help.
posted by reren at 1:21 PM on May 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
I work in program evaluation. I have trouble making job search sites useful, because any keywords I use end up being too broad, so I go directly to university human resources sites and state civil service sites.
posted by metasarah at 1:24 PM on May 6, 2020
posted by metasarah at 1:24 PM on May 6, 2020
Program manager roles at smaller nonprofits often have a big data and evadluation component but don't necessarily require an extensive data background.
posted by geegollygosh at 2:21 PM on May 6, 2020
posted by geegollygosh at 2:21 PM on May 6, 2020
Universities often do internal reviews for departments on a set schedule and employ research analysts to deal with various types of collected data (e.g. enrolment metrics, student surveys, job satisfaction, internal department interviews, etc.) for this purpose. These posting are often fine with, if not looking for, quantitatively-skilled social scientists who can conduct interviews/field-based information AND do some data-related analysis. The titles vary but I would see if you can figure out if there are any of these roles at post-secondary institutions near you.
"Research analyst" or "market research analyst" (as mentioned above) are some other titles that often encourage social science candidates to apply.
posted by thebots at 3:04 PM on May 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
"Research analyst" or "market research analyst" (as mentioned above) are some other titles that often encourage social science candidates to apply.
posted by thebots at 3:04 PM on May 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I use R for my current job and am willing to learn more number crunchy data science stuff so I guess question #3 is - where can I learn more math based data stuff and what kind of jobs use data to solve problems even if it isn’t a job I could go for right away I’m also interested in what I could work towards.
posted by azalea_chant at 6:11 PM on May 6, 2020
posted by azalea_chant at 6:11 PM on May 6, 2020
Best answer: Speaking as Future You:
Seconding metasarah on challenges in searching for evaluation jobs. What I've found a lot more fruitful than dealing with evaluation-specific job boards is looking at local non-profit job listings. If a non-profit is large enough to have a policy or research shop in-house, the research-oriented roles therein will often include some program evaluation stuff. As geegollygosh mentioned, program manager/officer roles may have an evaluation component as well.
A word of caution, though, regarding non-profit evaluation roles: they vary a lot in terms of the expected sophistication they expect staff to bring to their analysis work, even though they mostly hire graduate-trained staff. You're using R, but there are smaller and mid-sized non-profits out there where the standard of evaluation activities is to pull charts out of SurveyMonkey. Be cautious.
As oceano said upthread, a lot of the data-y social science work associated with governments is actually conducted by contractors. There are research and evaluation firms that specialize in this work, and the ones that aren't just two people in a house (which isn't uncommon in some areas) typically hire social science grads to do exactly what you're looking for. The entry-level titles I'm familiar with at these places include "research analyst", "research associate", sometimes the word junior is added in somewhere, you get the picture.
The field that deals with what thebots mentioned is called Institutional Research. It's the best, seriously. IR jobs can be rewarding and a lot of fun for people who want to use the full extent of their social science methods and analysis training, which is part of why IR offices are often home to so many people with seemingly random social science degrees. If you're in the US, you might want to check out AIR's job board.
Even with the same titles, though, IR job duties can be fairly different from one another. At some institutions, analysts don't do much more in the way of data analysis beyond what's strictly required for government and accreditation body reporting. Other places have their analysts do basically anything that could possibly be done with data that pertains to post-secondary ed. Others still have research analysts whose duties fall more in line with IR's sister discipline, planning; many of those analysts seldom do anything meaningfully quantitative. Doing some informational interviews with IR folk can help you figure out some of those nuances.
Market research might still be a place that's open to people with social science backgrounds, although my understanding is that that's less the case than it was about a decade ago. Again, the relevant job titles are usually some riff on "research analyst" or "data analyst".
Hope this helps!
posted by blerghamot at 4:13 PM on May 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Seconding metasarah on challenges in searching for evaluation jobs. What I've found a lot more fruitful than dealing with evaluation-specific job boards is looking at local non-profit job listings. If a non-profit is large enough to have a policy or research shop in-house, the research-oriented roles therein will often include some program evaluation stuff. As geegollygosh mentioned, program manager/officer roles may have an evaluation component as well.
A word of caution, though, regarding non-profit evaluation roles: they vary a lot in terms of the expected sophistication they expect staff to bring to their analysis work, even though they mostly hire graduate-trained staff. You're using R, but there are smaller and mid-sized non-profits out there where the standard of evaluation activities is to pull charts out of SurveyMonkey. Be cautious.
As oceano said upthread, a lot of the data-y social science work associated with governments is actually conducted by contractors. There are research and evaluation firms that specialize in this work, and the ones that aren't just two people in a house (which isn't uncommon in some areas) typically hire social science grads to do exactly what you're looking for. The entry-level titles I'm familiar with at these places include "research analyst", "research associate", sometimes the word junior is added in somewhere, you get the picture.
The field that deals with what thebots mentioned is called Institutional Research. It's the best, seriously. IR jobs can be rewarding and a lot of fun for people who want to use the full extent of their social science methods and analysis training, which is part of why IR offices are often home to so many people with seemingly random social science degrees. If you're in the US, you might want to check out AIR's job board.
Even with the same titles, though, IR job duties can be fairly different from one another. At some institutions, analysts don't do much more in the way of data analysis beyond what's strictly required for government and accreditation body reporting. Other places have their analysts do basically anything that could possibly be done with data that pertains to post-secondary ed. Others still have research analysts whose duties fall more in line with IR's sister discipline, planning; many of those analysts seldom do anything meaningfully quantitative. Doing some informational interviews with IR folk can help you figure out some of those nuances.
Market research might still be a place that's open to people with social science backgrounds, although my understanding is that that's less the case than it was about a decade ago. Again, the relevant job titles are usually some riff on "research analyst" or "data analyst".
Hope this helps!
posted by blerghamot at 4:13 PM on May 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by jabes at 1:04 PM on May 6, 2020 [1 favorite]