Photo: Albinolongoria (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Job description
Much of the job is data-focused: entering results into a database, checking entries for errors, and building the quality-control steps that keep a study's numbers trustworthy. Assistants also turn raw results into tables, graphs, and written summaries, dig through library and online sources for background research, and pick up general clerical tasks to keep a project on schedule. It's desk-based work, done mostly sitting down in a climate-controlled office or lab.
Pros
- Faster than average projected job growth (4.4%)
- Bachelor's degree is enough to enter a research career track
- Exposure to a wide range of research methods, a useful stepping stone toward graduate study
Cons
- Entry-level pay starts modestly at $38k before experience builds
- Significant share of the work is routine data entry and clerical support
- Pay ceiling depends heavily on advancing into more senior research roles
A typical day
The lab meeting at 9am sets the week: the survey's second wave launches Thursday, and the RA owns the instrument's final checks — skip logic tested respondent by imaginary respondent, because a broken branch corrupts a thousand responses silently. The morning's main work is data cleaning from wave one: duplicate responses flagged, open-text fields coded against the codebook, and every decision logged so the analysis is reproducible — the field's quiet ethic. After lunch the RA runs participant sessions: consent forms, protocol followed exactly, and the small human warmth that keeps volunteers coming back. The late afternoon builds descriptive tables for the PI's conference deadline and updates the IRB records. Graduate school applications will lean on every skill practiced here.
Tasks at the job
- Prepare tables, graphs, fact sheets, and written reports summarizing research results.
- Verify the accuracy and validity of data entered in databases, correcting any errors.
- Develop and implement research quality control procedures.
- Prepare, manipulate, and manage extensive databases.
- Perform data entry and other clerical work as required for project completion.
- Conduct internet-based and library research.
Workplace & working conditions
Work happens indoors in a climate-controlled setting, and most of the day is spent sitting at a desk.
Education necessary or common
Bachelor's degree
Common college majors
Licenses & certifications
- CITI human subjects research training (free, required in real labs)
Career path
Related fields
Courses to take
- AP Statistics — the daily toolkit
- AP Psychology — research methods and design
- Computer Science — data work in R or Python
- AP English Language — research writing
- Sociology or Economics electives — the substantive fields
Clubs, activities & competitions
- Science fair with a survey or behavioral study — full research cycle practice
- Psychology or sociology club
- School newspaper — data-driven stories
- Math team
First steps you can take now
- Run an ethical survey study at school: design, collect, clean, and analyze honestly
- Learn spreadsheet data cleaning, then basic R or Python
- Read one social science paper and map its methods section step by step
- Email a university lab about high school research volunteer programs — they exist
