Case studies : Government senior research officer: Katherine

Katherine has an MA (Oxon) Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Hertford College, Oxford University and an MSc Social Science Research Methods from Cardiff University.

I developed an interest in sociology and social policy as part of my undergraduate degree. After graduation I worked in advertising, and although I enjoyed it and learned a lot, after three years I realised it wasn’t the right long-term career for me and I decided to retrain in a social policy-related field.

After my Masters degree I worked as a research assistant at an academic research institute and was promoted to research fellow. After four years I decided it was time to move on. I wanted to stay in research, rather than teaching and lecturing, so I applied for a senior social research officer post through government central recruitment. The process was tough, and after three rounds of reasoning and professional tests and an assessment centre I was accepted.

My undergraduate degree taught me how to analyse evidence and structure my thoughts and arguments carefully, which has been an invaluable work skill. My Masters degree provided me with the key skills (qualitative and quantitative research and analysis) that I use in my work here in government. I had to carry out a piece of research as part of my degree and this practical experience was invaluable in getting my first research post.

My post here is in a multidisciplinary team where I work alongside market researchers, operational researchers, economists and generalists. Our role is to work with our policy colleagues to design research and to explore how to use the data to shape the implementation of policy.

My role involves a mixture of primary research (where I conduct the survey, focus group, interviews and analysis) and commissioning research from external contractors (research agencies, academics, professional services companies). At the moment I am managing a large survey of the department’s customers so I work closely with the research agency to make sure that the research and analysis is robust. I am also working on a large internal process evaluation of one of the department’s improvement programmes. This has been very satisfying as I have been able to design, implement and manage the research myself and I have had lots of exposure to senior stakeholders.

I am a social research fast streamer and am hoping to progress my career into senior management. I am working on building my skills and experience to prepare me for the senior civil service. Being a fast streamer means I have access to a mentor from another government department, who is a very useful source of knowledge and support. I also have access to a structured set of training and development opportunities, which should help me to develop my career.

The best thing about working in social research is the ability to learn about people and their attitudes and behaviour and to inform the policymaking process.