ORGANIZATION
As a full-service survey center, the Center for Survey Research offers customized project design, professional interviewing, data collection, data analysis, and report preparation to governments, organizations, and researchers nationwide. CSR oversees all stages of the research process from initial study design through data collection to analysis and reporting, regularly managing clients' projects from start to finish. CSR projects involve various stages within the survey process, such as questionnaire development or data collection, depending on the client’s needs and resources.
MENTOR
Alayna Panzer, Project Manager
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
This internship will prepare interns for careers in any of the following:
- Academic Research and Administration
- Advocacy and Policy
- Consulting
- Data Science
- Faculty
- Government
- Industry and For-profit
- Non-profit
- Marketing and Sales
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
This internship will provide experiences to develop and polish the following skills:
- Communication (Written and/or verbal)
- Data Literacy and Fluency
- Grant writing and Funding Development
- Teamwork and Collaboration
- Problem-solving and Analytical Thinking
- Project Management
- Self and Career Management
- Teaching, Mentoring, and Training
MENTORING PLAN
From the internship, the student should gain experience in:
- Conducting practical public impact driven research survey design and gold standard methodological techniques for collecting primary data
- Working collaboratively within a team, including attending biweekly project scan meetings and project team meetings
- Project management, including handling multiple projects simultaneously, regularly switching tasks, communicating with clients, and meeting tight project deadlines
- Data analysis and report preparation for a broad audience (i.e., not academic journals but a general public).
- The intern will also become part of the larger team of professionals at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, with additional exposure to work in the area of public affairs and policy, public communications, and applied research for local and state governmental and non-governmental organizations.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
A CSR PhD+ intern will take on responsibilities and develop skills in the following areas:
- Questionnaire design and development, which will include learning questionnaire design techniques across modes, assisting in qualitative questionnaire pretesting, and programming in Qualtrics.
- Contribute to and take responsibility for project management timelines and production on one or more surveys. This will include navigating IRB procedures (when applicable), documenting project progress and attending team and client meetings.
- Communication with survey respondents, from initial contact and recruitment materials to ongoing communication and inquiries with survey participants.
- Data management and analysis, including managing, cleaning and combining data files from various sources as well as descriptive and inferential data analysis in SPSS or similar statistical packages.
- Prepare survey reports and presentation materials, including editing and providing written consent for research reports and communications with clients. PowerPoint and data visualization skills will also be utilized. Translate work into shareable media products, in collaboration with our Media Team.
RESPONSIBILITIES
In this internship, the student will have the opportunity for hands-on and in-depth experience conducting public impact research. The individual in this internship will become an active member of our research team, and work on multiple survey projects. The student will be involved at all stages of the research process and gain practical experience in survey research techniques, project management, data analysis and reporting, and client relations. The student will also be introduced to other units of the Weldon Cooper Center, including the Media Team. The students’ responsibilities and main duties will include assisting with questionnaire design and development, contributing to project management tasks, data management and analysis, preparing survey reports and presentation materials and translating research for social media.
DESIRED QUALITIES
CSR is open to students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. Students from the social sciences or public health sciences are likely to find the work more directly tied to their program/previous experience. While students are not expected to have any previous survey experience (though that's a plus!), they should have some experience in quantitative data analysis and basic statistics.
MODE OF INTERNSHIP
Hybrid
DURATION
Fall 2024 and Spring 2025