Government Social Research Officer Duties & Responsibilities
The role and function of a Government Social Research Officer includes the following duties and responsibilities:
- Conducting, or commissioning then analysing, in-depth interviews with members of the public and large-scale data sets;
- Explaining complex ideas and findings in a way that can be easily understood;
- Ensuring that research is conducted within a set time frame to meet policy requirements;
- Managing junior staff (supervising, encouraging and mentoring);
- Commenting on draft research instruments, such as questionnaires, and editing draft reports;
- Working on a wide range of research projects and employing a range of different research methodologies (if undertaking research internally);
- Delivering presentations at conferences.
- Agreeing the terms of reference for research;
- Commissioning and project-managing research projects;
- Keeping up to date with developments in policy and social issues, as well as qualitative and quantitative research methods;
- Providing information and analysis on a policy issue and its development;
- Providing information on what research is already available in a policy area;
- Working in close partnership with external research contractors, other government analysts, and policy colleagues during the course of the research;
- Producing both written and oral briefs for policy colleagues and ministers, based on reviews of research evidence;
- Responding to external and internal research enquiries from colleagues, government
- Discussing and agreeing project requirements with clients (policy officials, ministers);
- Drafting research specifications;
- Managing competitive tendering exercises;
- Ensuring quality control of research;
Note that this is not an exhaustive list of Government Social Research Officer duties and responsibilities. Job functions for specific Government Social Research Officer roles may vary, depending on the industry and type of employer.