Social Research / Policy making / Career Advice

CareerCrises

Sorry to drop this on your heads but I stumbled across this forum and figured there may be some people on here with lots of relevant life experience/insight and hence invaluable advice relating to the topic.

I'm currently looking for a masters, trying to figure out what to do with my future. I have a keen interest in teaching but have been dissuaded from pursuing lecturing as it is rumoured to be a dead end with no prospects of decent wages or full time employment.

I completed the BSocSc in UCD and loved it. I really just want to pursue a career that is useful to society and if that is granted a sense of fulfillment will follow. (I have no interest in marketing, finance research etc.) Also, of course, there is the issue of needing a job after completing further study.

So I am trying to strike a balance between something relevant to society and something with job prospects (probably asking too much!)

I enjoyed learning theory in college, creating hypotheses and then using self-directed research to prove/disprove them and so I think I would really enjoy some kind of social research.

Do any of you know if there are many opportunities in Ireland at the moment or in the future? A quick google didn't reveal much except a "policy development officer" in Barnardos which sounds fulfilling. Is policy making worth pursuing in Ireland or very difficult to get into? Any of you out there have similar interests? Anyone who is a few years deep into the same pursuit have any advice for a younger person?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm despairing a bit and need to get on a positive track. I've been learning R for the past few weeks to make myself feel like I'm getting something done :-)

innad

Hi there, I will try to answer some of your questions, though I'm sure there is someone else here much more qualified who will put me to shame

My background and interests are more on the health than the social side of things, but having done a masters in the last couple of years and looked (successfully) for health/social research work, I think I have some idea of what it's like out there, at least from my own experience.

There is some work, not a huge amount but there is work. Jobs are quite competitive so you need to be able to stand out from the crowd. In most cases the pay probably isn't that great, although the work could be, especially if it's what you want to do and what you enjoy. I found more opportunities in health research than social research, although I don't have a background in policy so I wouldn't have really looked into those positions. Active Link is a good resource to keep an eye on and get a feel for the type of work that is out there, as are university vacancy pages. Feel free to PM me!

Black Swan

CareerCrises wrote: »

Sorry to drop this on your heads but I stumbled across this forum and figured there may be some people on here with lots of relevant life experience/insight and hence invaluable advice relating to the topic.

You are welcome.

CareerCrises wrote: »

I think I would really enjoy some kind of social research.

I'm currently involved in grant writing, research design, data collection, analysis, and programme development across behavioural, interactive media, serious gaming, and adult learning research domains. Mostly we've been funded to research and develop simulation learning programmes for military, medicine, and quality improvement applications (manufacturing and service industries). As a career option, I see no end in sight for such research, but funding does tend to follow the peaks and valleys of economic cycles.

CareerCrises wrote: »

Do any of you know if there are many opportunities in Ireland at the moment or in the future?

Like so many generations of Irish, I crossed the pond for opportunities, now advancing education past masters and working on a grant funded research team.

CareerCrises

Thanks for the replies. That sounds interesting BlackSwan, what's your study background? Computer science and statistics or such?

Innad, what is the basis of your research? When you say the money isn't great, what kind of money are we talking? I've seen some research positions advertised around, starting on 20k.

Anyone else have any advice? I'm trying to get myself on a positive mental track where I have a definite career pathway in mind. I'm also searching for a masters but am unsure about what to do and also running out of time.

innad

CareerCrises wrote: »

Innad, what is the basis of your research? When you say the money isn't great, what kind of money are we talking? I've seen some research positions advertised around, starting on 20k.

I'm not sure what you mean by the basis of my research, but the salary scale for research assistants goes up to €29,637 for new entrants, so starting off at around 20k sounds about right. You can find the researcher salary scales here. In most cases, if you want to work in research (rather than say policy), you will need a PhD to move past the RA level, which is what I'm doing now. If you are interested in the research route, take a look at the MSc in Applied Social Research in TCD, it's the one I did and I loved it.

CareerCrises

innad wrote: »

I'm not sure what you mean by the basis of my research, but the salary scale for research assistants goes up to €29,637 for new entrants, so starting off at around 20k sounds about right. You can find the researcher salary scales. In most cases, if you want to work in research (rather than say policy), you will need a PhD to move past the RA level, which is what I'm doing now. If you are interested in the research route, take a look at the MSc in TCD, it's the one I did and I loved it.

Thanks for the links. You said you are doing health research, by basis of your research I mean, what does your research entail? What kind of information are you gathering?

innad

CareerCrises wrote: »

Thanks for the links. You said you are doing health research, by basis of your research I mean, what does your research entail? What kind of information are you gathering?

Ah, well I've only just started, and I'm on a structured programme so I have classes for the first year. But most likely I will be using a combination of primary data collection (mainly using questionnaires but potentially some qualitative interviews too), secondary data analysis and a systematic literature review. In general terms some of the information will include psychological measures (mood, cognition etc.), health behaviours etc.

Black Swan

CareerCrises wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. That sounds interesting BlackSwan, what's your study background? Computer science and statistics or such?

My 4-year is in cinematography with a focus on Fx (mostly storyboarding), 2-year MFA interactive comms, and now ABD combining the above 2 courses of study with serious gaming simulations to facilitate procedural and declarative adult learning for military, medical, and other domain applications. Received 2-year grant funding to come up with something new, and hopefully will deliver that and walk the stage.

CareerCrises wrote: »

Anyone else have any advice? I'm trying to get myself on a positive mental track where I have a definite career pathway in mind. I'm also searching for a masters but am unsure about what to do and also running out of time.

I've worked as a research assistant, now research associate mostly crunching numbers, so for some unexplained reason fell into statistical analysis, have a few years experience, and my name continues to appear in funded grants. I have a free ride for the PhD, and the research associate work provides additional funds to offset my otherwise starving student budget. Research follows money, and so do I in terms of career experience. You may start out life expecting to be one thing, then because of funding, end up something else.