I was hired as an undergraduate research assistant (UGRA) at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) in May. I was drawn to the position because of how it uses economics in a practical way. BBER UGRAs tend to work on a wide variety of projects and tasks at one time, and my experience has been no exception. Here are three skills I have been developing in my first month on the job that I can see myself using in a future role:
Survey design
A large part of my summer so far has been spent on survey design—namely working with The Salvation Army on a set of client surveys. This particular project has involved updating and redesigning a 2017 survey so that it’s relevant to the client’s current needs. More specifically I’ve been learning how to:
- Create surveys in the Qualtrics survey software, using tools like display logic and skip logic
- Develop a survey with complementary paper and digital formats—making them as similar as possible while still taking advantage of the advantages of each type
- Improve a survey while still retaining some of its original elements so the data collected can be compared to previous iterations
Literature Review
Google Scholar and UMD’s Kathryn A. Martin Library databases have been my constant companions this summer as I have been doing literature reviews. From assisting UMD faculty to updating previous BBER reports to doing research into potential projects, literature reviews are something I’ve become quite comfortable doing over the course of the last month or so. More specifically, I’ve been learning how to:
- Organize articles I have found in a format that makes them easy to write about
- Summarize information from articles and make the most relevant parts of them apparent to the reader
- Search for materials on a topic with little to no existing published research and develop strategies for broadening my search while still staying true to the topic
Data Collection/Visualization
The final skill I’ve been developing is how best to collect, format, and present data. Finding data from online sources and turning it into something both aesthetically pleasing and easy to understand is a very difficult skill that I hope to work on more over the summer. So far I’ve learned how to:
- Find and pull data from datasets such as the American Community Survey and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s data tools
- Create complex visualizations such as stacked area charts and charts with multiple axes
- Update existing graphs with new data and matching their formatting to what was previously used
- Create data visualizations that adhere to an organization’s style guide
This post is just a glimpse into a typical “day in the life” of a BBER undergraduate research assistant. In just one short month, I’ve had the opportunity to develop a number of skills that can be useful in a wide variety of future careers, and I’m looking forward to learning more in the coming months.