Social researcher — Katie Tullock

Durham University psychology graduate, Katie, shares insights into her role as a government social researcher

How did you get your job?

I applied to the Government Social Research (GSR) mainstream scheme on the Civil Service jobs website. After passing a GSR technical knowledge test, I was invited to an online interview. The interview included a five-minute pre-prepared presentation on a piece of research of my choosing. I was asked questions surrounding the methodology and ethics of the paper and further questions relating to Civil Service behaviours.

Overall, the application process took around five months, but it took another five to be allocated to my government department and complete the security checks before I started. 

What's a typical working day like?

My role is quite varied as I work on multiple projects at once. The work typically revolves around internal research, external research and literature reviews. 

I've worked on quite a few internal research projects where I've been able to conduct the research myself. For example, I've facilitated focus groups and one-to-one interviews, run thematic analyses, and conducted quantitative analysis on the findings of an internal survey using SPSS software.

My team also commissions quite a lot of external research, which involves working collaboratively with stakeholders in other teams (who come to us with research ideas) and external research agencies to design research.  

I received a lot of support from my manager and my team on my first projects. External projects can take over a year to complete, so I still haven't finished my first one.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I particularly enjoy conducting research for internal projects. Facilitating interviews and focus groups can be very interesting, and I also enjoy sitting in and note-taking on my colleagues' interviews.

What are the challenges?

Prior to starting, I had no experience conducting interviews and focus groups or managing externally commissioned work, so it's been a big learning process.

As our work is project-based, we can move from being busy to quiet. It can be challenging during busy periods because some of our work is time-sensitive.

How is your degree relevant?

The statistics and research method aspects of my psychology degree have been really useful in my role. My degree also taught me different analytical methods, such as thematic analysis and quantitative analysis using SPSS, which I have been using in my role.

How has your role developed and what are your career ambitions?

I am still learning in my current role, so am looking forward to applying what I've learned in future projects. There are lots of development opportunities within the Civil Service, and my manager has given me tasks and projects that have helped me to build my confidence, skills and experience.

Being one of the few social researchers in Newcastle, I have been actively involved in GSR outreach and have given multiple presentations at Northumbria University to raise awareness of the profession.

What advice can you give to others wanting to get into this job?

• Look at the Civil Service behaviours when preparing for interview and think of some examples that you could give for each of them (using the STAR technique - situation, task, action, result). Make use of the resources and support offered by your university careers team to help you prepare.
• There is lots of learning on the job, so don't feel put off applying if you don't think you have all of the technical skills.
• Explore the different routes into government social research, including the mainstream, Fast Stream, direct departmental recruitment and university student placements.

Find out more

• See what it takes to become a social researcher.
• Discover the Civil Service Fast Stream.