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Sarah Butt, is a European Social Survey Research Fellow, City University London

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A doctor. Growing up I had a gruesome fascination with all the medical programmes on TV. I’ve got quite squeamish as time has gone on though so I’m no great loss to the medical profession.

When did you turn towards a social research career?
I took a GCSE option in Economics to avoid having to study Design and Technology. Through studying economics I gradually discovered you could apply the same sorts of analytic rigour and evidence based decision making that first attracted me to “proper” science to understanding people and society. From economics I moved on to do a PhD in political science. After years spent analysing data in my own little world I was keen to get out and see how data were collected and used in the real world.

What was your first professional job?
I went to work at NatCen Social Research as part of the education team on a project about ICT in schools. After a couple of years in the education team, I moved over to work on the British Social Attitude Survey. It was the perfect first job – I got lots of training in survey methods and learnt a lot very quickly through working with great people on a huge variety of projects.

Where did your career go next?
After four years at NatCen I took a job as a researcher in the Department for Education. It was fascinating to be on the other side of the client/research supplier fence and working with non-researchers on a day to day basis taught me a lot about how to break down and explain research – and the importance of being able to justify the key role it plays.

Then government cut backs in research, plus the realisation that I enjoyed doing research more than managing other people doing it, led me to a job on the European Social Survey (ESS) and all the opportunities that working on a cross-national project provides.

What has been your best professional moment?
Whilst at DfE I got the chance to visit Number 10 to brief one of David Cameron’s Special Advisors on the Big Society about an evaluation of the National Citizen Service programme that I was involved in. That was quite a surreal morning.

On a more day to day basis, one of the best parts of my current job on the ESS is the opportunities it has given me to travel, meet new people and find out more about the way people think and societies work in different countries.

… and worst?
There are times when I’ve come away from discussions with policy colleagues or other collaborators on a project having failed to get my point across and convince them why the research as a whole or investment in a particular methodology matters. All the more reason to keep trying.

Do you have a social research hero/heroine?
I have three. Anthony Heath, emeritus professor of Sociology, University of Oxford; Roger Jowell, who founded NatCen and set up BSA and the ESS; and John Curtice, Research Consultant at ScotCen. Their research using the British Election Study in the 1980s and 1990s led me into research as a PhD student and I’ve since been lucky enough to work with all of them at different times. Each time I’ve been inspired not only by their commitment to producing high quality research but also their ability and enthusiasm for making research accessible to a wide audience and their generosity towards less experienced researchers. Three goals to which I think any researcher should aspire.

What would you say today to encourage a young person today considering a social research career?
Go for it! Social research provides fantastic and varied opportunities to learn about the world around you. Make the most of any opportunities your given – you’ll learn something from every project – and take every opportunity to get out of the office, get your hands dirty doing research and meet the people for whom the research matters.

Diarmid Campbell-Jack is a Research Director at ScotCen

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
Excluding my dream as a five year-old of being a farmer, the first job I ever really wanted when I was young was to be a sports journalist. The fact I ended up going down a different route has doubtless saved me from too much melancholic reflection on innumerable Scottish sporting failures…

When did you first turn towards a social research career?
While at Edinburgh University studying theology I found a part-time job doing coding for System Three in Edinburgh. Not only did I find that this was considerably preferable to my other part-time work stacking shelves and working on the tills in the local supermarket, but that it could make for an interesting and varied career.

What was your first professional job? And first project there?
My first professional job was working in market research for Millward Brown with my first project being a global brand image study on children’s toys. The older I have got the more I’ve realised how much this experience shaped my perspectives on research as a whole. It taught me that research at its best is not merely the provision of data but working with clients or other stakeholders to either provide a coherent narrative or question existing narratives.

Where did your career go next? What motivated that/those moves?
My next move was to George Street Research in Edinburgh in order to work more directly on social research. This provided really varied work as part of a great team – a large range of different clients and various methodologies. Prior to my current move to NatCen and ScotCen, the most recent stop on my career was working on research, monitoring and evaluation for Save the Children UK’s domestic programmes. Working for Save really opened my eyes not just to the absolutely fantastic work the organisation does across the UK and abroad but also to the realities of Third Sector organisations – full of intelligent, committed people doing great work at high speed but arguably needing the skills of social researchers to provide not just an evidence-base but the space for reflection and systematic thinking.

What has been your best professional moment?
It is not a single moment as such, but working regularly with the incredibly knowledgeable and helpful staff I currently work alongside at NatCen and ScotCen is something I hugely appreciate. In terms of individual moments, probably being a small part of helping one or two particular new programmes develop and grow at Save the Children and knowing that their evidence-base gives them a good chance of really helping children across the country.

...and worst?
Possibly a large study I worked on years ago where the assumptions about how to work out spend per family were particularly tortuous – as we progressed through the study it became more and more clear that the theory behind the calculations we’d inherited from the agency previously working on the study was questionable. Or, probably more honestly, repeated tussles at presentations trying to set up antiquated projectors and laptops.

Do you have a social research hero/heroine?
Recently I’ve found James Heckman’s work on early intervention incredibly interesting and I also admire the excellent work being done by many writers to explain research and data-related issues to the general population. Also, it’s probably taking a very broad view of what counts as social research, but if you’ve any interest in sports statistics and haven’t read anything by baseball writer Bill James (of “Moneyball” fame) you’re missing out...

Do you have a favourite quote?
Given the baseball reference earlier (and the fact that it is probably the most data-driven sport possible), I’m hoping I can get away with either Yogi Berra’s sage advice that “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up somewhere else” or his more research-related “You can observe a lot just by watching”.

What would you say to encourage a young person today considering a social research career?
I’d say that not only does social research offers the possibility of a fantastically interesting and varied career but that it actually provides a genuine opportunity to make a difference. Because we’re often caught up in a daily basis on the nuts and bolts of research work and as we often aren’t able to see first-hand the direct impact our work has it is easy to lose sight of the huge difference that well-constructed and delivered social research can have.

Desiree Lopez is Chief Executive Officer of TNS BMRB

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
Jacques Cousteau - I was obsessed with the underwater world (which makes sense as I grew up near prairies and mountains) - fueled heavily by my father’s National Geographic collection and his stories about travel and wildlife.

When did you first turn towards a social research career?
I was very lucky - in my third year of undergraduate studies, (I was a Linguistics major at the University of Calgary), I was offered a post-grad fellowship which was part of a wider post-grad programme in the social sciences. This resulted in what I thought would be a few years of playing with quant data, but it also involved a community based ethnography in an environment of severe poverty and poor social policy. The way social research was being positioned - as helping to improve the social context - and the desire by the research team to ensure their work helped to change the circumstances of this community made a major impact on me. And that was it - I was hooked!

What was your first professional job? And first project there?
I worked as a language assessor and a literacy teacher (back to Linguistics). I learned a huge amount about question design, interviewing and analysis - but also social policy and public services design. I also developed a love for teaching that has remained with me for the last 20 years.

Where did your career go next? What motivated that/those moves?
I spent the next 6 years working in NGOs in roles which combined programme development with development research and with policy analysis - I loved being able to see the impact of my work on the ground - with practitioners and beneficiaries. I moved to the UK and went back into academia,- spending a very fulfilling and fun 5 years at the IoE - whereby I learned not only about methodology but also the useful tension between academia and policy. I worked with some of the most influential social researchers in education and I made a formal return to teaching. I then moved into the commercial world - wanting to return to applied research – and of course, the desire to learn something new! I landed at EdComs - a fantastic agency that creates educational content on behalf of a wide range of clients, such as Google and Samsung - my understanding of digital, film and creative grew immensely! But, I dearly missed my social research roots - so in 2012, I joined TNS BMRB to run their Qualitative practice.

What has been your best professional moment?
There have been so many. I was very proud of the work I did in Canada, which helped to shape new education and welfare policy. I was proud of the work I did in conjunction with ActionAid on participatory learning. Most recently…well, becoming the CEO of TNS BMRB has been an incredibly proud moment for me!

...and worst?
There have been many!
But without doubt, the most painful moments involve witnessing the quality and provision of public services altered, dismantled or axed with little regard for evidence or impact.

Do you have a social research hero/heroine?
I have had the pleasure of having a fair few! I still appreciate the work of colleagues at the Lancaster Literacy Research Centre - their ability to be incredible theorists alongside determined advocates continues to impact me greatly.…and I am also lucky to be surrounded by a great team of everyday heroes - my TNS BMRB colleagues - people who are out in the field, trying to deal with the complexities of social research designs and who advocate, through their work, for some of the more vulnerable people in society.

Finally, I am also a great fan of the economist Amartya Sen - his work in the area of social justice has inspired much of my own academic work.

Do you have a favourite quote?
Literally hundreds - but two favourites are: "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often." Winston Churchill and "I don't think any day is worth living without thinking about what you're going to eat next at all times." Nora Ephron

What would you say to encourage a young person today considering a social research career?
That it is a fascinating, demanding, sometimes tough and often rewarding career. It is a career that matters – a career that can help bring about positive social change. It is a career that is about constant learning and can take you to unexpected places.

Nigel Meager is Director of the Institute for Employment Studies

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
Like many teenage boys in the 60s, I wanted to be a rock/blues guitarist (the next Jimi Hendrix would have been fine). Sadly my talent was limited.

When did you first turn towards a social research career?
My initial academic interests were maths and physics, but I had always been politically and socially engaged, and as an undergraduate at Oxford switched to Politics, Philosophy and Economics, followed by an Economics MPhil

What was your first professional job? And first project there?
When studying economics, I was always intrigued by the notion of a ‘labour market’, and found the treatment of it in traditional economics as if it were analogous to a market for goods or services deeply problematic. This led me to an interest in all the structures, institutions and processes of the labour market which made it different and which meant that the simple predictions of economic models didn’t apply, and which required a broader social science perspective. My first job, in 1979 as a Research Officer at a small multidisciplinary centre at Bath University (the Centre for European Industrial Studies) on an ESRC-funded project on occupational mobility, allowed me to pursue this interest further.

Where did your career go next? What motivated that/those moves?
I spent four years in the early 80s as a Research Fellow at the Department of Social and Economic Research at Glasgow, in those days a leading centre for labour market studies, again with a multi-disciplinary emphasis. Although trained as an economist I’ve always leaned towards the boundaries of economics and sociology, and always believed that the best social research is open to several disciplines (and blends both quantitative and qualitative approaches). At Glasgow I worked on local labour markets dynamics in de-industrialising regions, before moving to Sussex to the Institute of Manpower Studies as it then was, because of my interest in policy-oriented rather than purely academic research. I’ve been at what’s now IES, pretty much ever since, apart from a fantastic period at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB – Social Science Research Centre) in the early 90s, learning about internationally comparative research.

What has been your best professional moment?
When I was appointed Director of IES in 2004 and realising that I had a real opportunity to grow a research organisation, and shape its values, which are all about generating and using robust evidence to influence employment policy and practice, for public and social benefit. I didn’t know then, of course, quite how hard it would be.

...and worst?
The period in 2010 when, like many research organisations, we faced a massive reduction in funding, and a climate of real doubt about the extent to which the new Coalition government recognised the value of evidence and research in the social sciences. Having overseen significant growth in the Institute in the preceding decade, and a great broadening of the research topics covered, I faced retrenchment and cut-backs. While the Institute has, through diversification and changed ways of working, come through in pretty good shape, it was nevertheless a dispiriting time, during which we said goodbye to many excellent researchers.

Do you have a social research hero/heroine?
Günther Schmid, my boss in Berlin, – a lovely man and a multi-disciplinary social scientist par excellence. He sparked my interest in internationally comparative research, and was a wonderful example of a social scientist who’s had a real influence on policy at regional, national and European level. Although retired, he continues to research and contribute to policy debates, while running a charity for disadvantaged kids in East Africa with his wife (www.childdevelopmentfund.com)

Do you have a favourite quote?
Ludwig Wittgenstein said something about philosophy, which has always seemed equally applicable to social (and probably other types of) research: “Philosophy is like trying to open a safe with a combination lock: each little adjustment of the dials seems to achieve nothing, only when everything is in place does the door open.”

What would you say to encourage a young person today considering a social research career?
After reminding them that they will never make much money, I would urge them not to specialise too early but to spend the formative years of their career acquiring a broad palette of methodological skills (both quantitative and qualitative), and covering a wide terrain of subject areas and topics, while reading as widely as possible. Too often I see incredibly well-qualified young researchers, with an extremely narrow skills base and a poor knowledge of society and economy outside the subject of their PhDs, and little or no understanding of public policy in the social arena.

Sue Duncan is an independent research consultant and a Visiting Professor at the University of Lincoln. She advises on professional and technical research issues, as well as effective use of research in decision making, and specialises in training and coaching. She is the current President of the Social Policy Association; a trustee of the Stroke Association and a member of the Department for Transport’s Scientific Advisory Council. She has written and lectured widely on policy, research, research utilisation and evidence based policy making.

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was very young, I wanted to be a nun, but that was probably because I lived next to a convent and liked the uniform! Later I wanted to be a teacher, then a social worker.

When did you first turn towards a social research career?
I studied research methods as part of my sociology degree at Bath University. Teaching at Bath was embedded in a research culture and I recall finding ‘Willmott and Young’s ‘Family and Kinship in East London’ fascinating. Sociology taught me to think analytically and, as part of my course, I worked as a research assistant to one of my lecturers; the hands on experience of interviewing and analysis got me hooked on social research.

What was your first professional job? And first project there?
I started as a Research Officer in the Department for Communities and Local Government, where I worked on housing research. My first project was a study of rent arrears and I spent ages analysing boxes of manual records in numerous local authority housing departments. The research findings were widely used by local authorities to develop new approaches to tackling rent arrears.

Where did your career go next? What motivated that/those moves?
I rose up the career ladder at DCLG, until I became a Principal Research Officer, responsible for homelessness research. The issue was high on the political agenda and Ministers kept asking questions we couldn’t answer; there was a genuine interest in understanding the problem and in finding solutions. I devised a programme of research, which was exciting, but technically very challenging, pushing the boundaries of my methodological and research design skills. It was my job to make sure Ministers considered research findings in formulating policy; I was a member of the policy review team and spent a lot of time in high level meetings with Ministers and senior policy makers. This was long before ‘evidence based policy making’; I won’t pretend that the research dictated the policy – and I don’t believe that was the goal – but I was successful in bringing research findings into the discussion. The trick I think was that I was prepared to use my judgement in interpreting research findings to address the problem under discussion. I also worked closely with academics and other researchers, research funders, local authority Homelessness Units and homeless charities and I learned that the best research is a team effort, involving all stakeholders.

After 12 years, I was keen to try my hand at running my own research unit. I was promoted to Chief Research Officer at the Department for Work and Pensions, where research was a bit of a backwater; I set about raising its profile and making it an integral part of the policy process. By the time I left it was a force to be reckoned with and had a good reputation across government. It was my success at DWP that led to my being promoted to Director in the Centre for Management and Policy Studies in the Cabinet Office and later in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit; both these jobs were about getting research used in government decision making. The culmination of my career in government was when I became the first ever Chief Government Social Researcher, leading the 1000 members of the Government Social Research Service. I now work as a consultant and I’m still involved in social research, mainly in advisory and teaching roles. Social research is a hard habit to kick.

What has been your best professional moment?
Research is full of lows and highs – for example, fieldwork doesn’t always go according to plan but, on the other hand, research can provides genuinely new and valuable insights. I always knew I’d been successful, when a policy maker quoted a research finding,as if it was an obvious truth; it demonstrated that they had been listening! One of the high spots in my career was when the University of Bath awarded me an Honorary Doctorate; to have my efforts to develop social research in government recognised was a huge honour and aptly reflected the role that Bath played in my career.

...and worst?
There were the inevitable challenges, many of them about the disconnect between research and policy timetables and dealing with research findings that challenged popular wisdom; these are part of doing research for policy. Probably the most embarrassing moment was early in my career, when, after a Ministerial meeting, where I thought I’d been particularly effective, I swept out of the room only to find I had walked into a large cupboard! I don’t know if it dented my authority but it certainly dented my ego.

Do you have a social research hero/heroine?
That would have to be the late Roger Jowell. A co-founder of NatCen, (and of course the SRA), he was hugely important in the development of high quality social research, which we take for granted today. He was a great ambassador for the profession and was fearless in standing up for it. He was always was very generous in drawing on his extensive knowledge and experience to help others and many of us benefited from his wisdom.

Do you have a favourite quote?
‘Believe you can and you’re halfway there.‘ (Theodore Roosevelt) has helped me be brave through some tough times.

What would you say to encourage a young person today considering a social research career?
Social research has the power to make a difference. Go for it!

Karl Wilding is Director of Public Policy at the National Council of Voluntary Organisations.

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
For much of the time I probably had no idea, but I do remember being very influenced by the RAF visiting my primary school and thinking about being a pilot! More seriously, for a number of years I thought I was going to follow one of my parents into the antiques business, in which I spent many a weekend during my teenage years. Not particularly related to social research!

When did you first turn towards a social research career?
I graduated in 1992 with a degree in Geography from Leeds University, and at that point stayed on to do a PhD, which I suppose is where my social research career began. I’d love to say I had insights into the importance of social research, but I’m afraid my entry into this world was more stumbling and mumbling. I used to know an awful lot about the geography of Hospital Saturday Funds and Sunday Funds (workplace and church-based collection schemes for the voluntary hospitals), which in a funny way is still useful as we think about the future of welfare state.

What was your first professional job? And first project there?
Aside from teaching whilst trying (and not doing a very good job) to finish the PhD, my first social research job was here at NCVO, where I stayed. It was as a research assistant, on a project to scope the contribution of the voluntary sector in the North West of England. I still remember thinking I had hit the jackpot.

Where did your career go next? What motivated that/those moves?
I’ve stayed at NCVO ever since, progressing to run NCVO’s research function, then taking on a broader role that first covered policy and now all of NCVO’s public policy functions (research, policy, campaigns and media). Like many in our sector, my motivation has been to make a bigger difference: and thinking about how we get social research into the hands of users has always been my obsession. I’m not in this to produce more shelfware.

What has been your best professional moment?
I’ve had many! Contributing evidence to the Cabinet Office that shaped a decision on how they supported charities at the height of the recession would be one. Contributing to discussions that led ESRC to make significant investments in research on philanthropy and the third sector were also great moments. All were important policy windows.

...and worst?
Well, you get things wrong sometimes. I’ve had a couple of difficult professional moments when I’ve been involved in making research findings work too hard, say too much. I’m a real pragmatist, but I’ve learnt that that shouldn’t mean you let anything through your professional filter. But the worst moment was definitely not getting a job I applied for at Trinity and All Saints University (or College, as it then was), whilst finishing my PhD. After a few years of struggle I thought I was pretty much useless at that point!

Do you have a social research hero/heroine?
Two: Professor Nicholas Deakin, now retired, and Julia Unwin, currently CEO of JRF. I love social researchers who write well; I’ve given up translating academese. Nick was once described to me as a ‘craftsman’ because he wrote so well. Julia is the same, someone who both speaks and writes really well. I think her leadership of JRF demonstrates that good quality, long-term social research is important for effective public policy, but also that social research findings aren’t just for policy or practice professionals. I’d love to achieve half of what either has done so far.

Do you have a favourite quote?
William Gibson: “The future is already here - it's just not very evenly distributed.” If ever there was a call to action for social researchers, that is it!

What would you say to encourage a young person today considering a social research career?
I come across many incredibly talented social researchers who are looking to work for a charity or the public sphere. But being a good researcher isn’t good enough: most organisations need researchers who can write fluently or speak with authority. They want researchers who understand the policy or practice issues in their field, and who understand that in most organisations evidence-based research is one of a number of inputs into decision making. And they want researchers who can go beyond their own particular interest, people who see the bigger picture (I’m a great fan of Matt Might on this issue: http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/)

So I’d suggest to anyone starting a career to think about blogging (to show you can write) and using social media, so that you are engaged with the policy and practice community you hope to join. There’s nothing better than seeing social research shape decisions that lead to better outcomes.

Danielle Mason is Head of Profession for Social Research at the Cabinet Office.

When did you first turn towards a social research career?
I came to social research through a fairly unusual route, at least compared to most of the researchers I know. I did maths at Oxford University, and then a Masters in philosophy after deciding that pure maths was definitely not my calling. Towards the end of my philosophy degree I became particularly interested in political philosophy and questions of public policy, and I was able to use my statistics background to get a job doing quantitative research at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work (DSPSW) at Oxford. For someone who once swore they’d never do another day of maths, it was an unexpected turn.

With hindsight, I was really fortunate to get a research assistant post via this circuitous route; in later jobs I remember sifting swathes of applications from people with PhDs in social policy or social research, hoping to secure even an internship at a social research think tank. It’s a competitive field.

What was your first professional job? And first project there?
My first research job was as a research assistant at Oxford. I worked for two research centres based there: the Social Disadvantage Research Centre, and its sister organisation the Centre for the Analysis of South African Social Policy. My first project was out in Pretoria, South Africa. We were exploring what a measure of social exclusion or deprivation, such as that pioneered by Mack and Lansley in the UK , might look like for post-apartheid South Africa; an amazing project to be involved in. One of the big unknowns was whether, in a society that had been socially divided for so long, it would be possible to develop a measure of social exclusion that was meaningful across different racial and socio-economic groups. In fact, the focus groups we ran revealed very broad agreement on what constituted social exclusion in South Africa, which opened the way for the development of new relative poverty indicators for the country, moving on from the absolute ‘dollar-a-day’ poverty measures used by developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Where did your career go next? What motivated that/those moves?
Working in academia was extremely rewarding, and was a great environment for me to build up broader social research skills in additional to my statistical knowledge. However, I was eager to be closer to policy making, and so after a few years at Oxford I moved first to the think tank and research centre the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion in London, and then into the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as a senior researcher. I feel very fortunate that I’ve had this mixed experience; working in academia, as a contractor, and as a government researcher. It’s been particularly valuable in my role as Head of Profession for Social Research in the Cabinet Office, collaborating with researchers from all these different sectors.

What has been your best professional moment?
After a year working on pension reform in DWP (a fascinating area in itself) I managed to net my dream job in the Child Poverty Unit, then still fairly new and just beginning work on the Child Poverty Bill. I was ‘translating’ the technical details of child poverty measurement into legislative terms, which as I write it down now hardly sounds thrilling, but for me it was a perfect combination of policy and research, in an area I’m passionate about, and it also gave me my first taste of Parliament. Call me a geek, but I still get excited when I walk through Westminster Hall for a meeting or a bill reading. So, if I had to name a best professional moment then I suppose Royal Assent of the Child Poverty Bill in March 2010 wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

Do you have a social research hero/heroine?
I don’t think I have a particular research hero, I just love to see people flying the flag for robust evidence in an environment where sensational headlines and supposed ‘common sense’ can so often get in the way of a clear understanding of what’s really going on.

Do you have a favourite quote?
“To do more, you need to know more”. So Kevan Collins from the Education Endowment Foundation concluded at a recent event hosted by the ‘What Works’ Network. I can’t think of many phrases that sum up the need for social policy research as neatly as that.

What would you say to encourage a young person today considering a social research career?
I would highlight the importance of quantitative skills, especially for researchers wanting to do applied work of any kind. The social insights to be gained from quantitative data are increasing hugely as society collects more and more information about every aspect of our lives. I think this means that there will be less demand from research customers for purely qualitative social research, which does not take advantage of the wealth of available quantitative data to support, supplement or contextualise it. There will always be a need for qualitative research, but I think it will be increasingly important for a social researcher to be comfortable working with quantitative data, especially in non-academic roles.

David Johnson is Head of Research and Evaluation in the Household Energy Efficiency Programme at the Department of Energy and Climate Change

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
I never really had any idea what I wanted to be. I did have a week’s work experience in a solicitor’s office as that was a fleeting career thought in my teens but I didn’t really enjoy it.

When did you first turn towards a social research career?
That was when I got the chance to do a Master’s degree whilst working in an operational delivery post in the Child Support Agency. I really loved the chance to understand the theory behind the front-line delivery and decided I wanted to move into a job closer to that type of work. Social research fitted the bill.

What was your first professional job? And first project there?
My first research job was as a junior researcher with DWP. I was part of the team working on the Job Rehabilitation and Retention Pilot, a four-way randomised control trial of return to work support.

Where did your career go next? What motivated that/those moves?
From there I moved round various research jobs in DWP covering a wide range of social policy research and then spent some time in the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority, the Treasury and then to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, where I am now. These moves were partly motivated by promotion, partly by the regular job rotations that are part of the social research fast stream, and partly because I get bored very quickly!

What has been your best professional moment?
That’s a difficult one but I would probably say setting up the CV testing research project. It directly tested racial discrimination in the workplace and was the first time that the UK Government had carried out this type of research. It used matched CVs to respond to job adverts where a name indicating one of three ethnic minority backgrounds was randomly allocated to each CV. The rate of interview offers between the different names types was then measured.

...and worst?
I reckon that would be just after I moved posts for the first time and taking over a newly commissioned quali project. In my first week the main project contractor disappeared after an interview and no-one from her organisation could get hold of her. That was really worrying but luckily it all turned out fine in the end and was a miscommunications issue with her team rather than anything more concerning. It did teach me though the importance of interviewer safety when considering the ethical dimensions of a project.

Do you have a social research hero/heroine?
If I had to name one person it would be Professor Jane Millar at the University of Bath. She spoke at DWP’s Summer School in 1998 which I was lucky enough to go to and it was hearing her talk that made me think for the first time about social research and encouraged me to apply for DWP’s Masters Programme the year after.

Do you have a favourite quote?
Not really, but I do find myself saying ‘hindsight is a wonderful thing’ rather a lot. Perhaps that reflects the applied research work that I do, but I believe that getting on and delivering research that can be used in decision making is really important, even if after the event you can always think of the question you wished you had asked. Rigorous design and well thought through questions are important, but equally important is the need for the research to be influential and have impact.

What would you say to encourage a young person today considering a social research career?
Social research is a great career but, like so many things, you get out what you put in, so get those technical skills honed and developed early on and those foundations will set you up really well for the future.

Helen Kara is Director of We Research It Ltd, Associate Research Fellow of the Third Sector Research Centre at the University of Birmingham, and author of Research and Evaluation for Busy Practitioners: A Time-Saving Guide (Policy Press, 2012) and the forthcoming Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide (Policy Press, 2015).

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
Happy. And, luckily for me, I am.

When did you first turn towards a social research career?
1999, though it wasn't exactly a turn, more of an accident! After my first degree, a BSc in Social Psychology from LSE, I'd had various jobs, including: training administrator, residential social worker, volunteer bureau co-ordinator. Some people I met through the volunteer bureau, knowing I had a research-based degree, asked if I could tender for a piece of work to avoid them only having one research organisation to interview. I agreed, to help them out, with no expectation of getting the work. And indeed that was the outcome.

But I did get a surprise, because on the interview panel was a woman I'd worked with some years before. We were pleased to see each other, had a brief chat, and I thought no more about it. Then about six weeks later she rang me. 'You know that piece of work you didn't get,' she said, 'we've got another piece of work, which we're not putting out to tender because we know you can do it. Are you interested?' I was. I did the work, the commissioners liked it, they told their colleagues, and I haven't looked back since.

Where did your career go next? What motivated that/those moves?
I decided I needed to do an MSc in Social Research Methods, partly to refresh my knowledge, and partly because my first degree had been entirely quantitative whereas now commissioners were asking for qualitative or mixed methods research. I found I loved postgraduate study, and went on to do a PhD. I was sure, before I started, that I didn't want to become an academic, though I enjoy working in partnership with academic colleagues. I have now been an independent researcher for over 15 years, and love my work and my independent life. I work mainly for public and third sector organisations and partnerships, from small local charities to national organisations and Government departments. Projects are very varied, from local service evaluations which I can do single-handed, to big national knowledge-gathering projects where I am part of a research team.

What has been your best professional moment?
The launch of my last book at the British Library. My illustrator had an exhibition, my publisher brought books, and I was on a panel with SRA Board member Simon Haslam and Karl Wilding from NCVO, chaired by Jane Lewis AcSS. Around 70 people came, and after the panel discussion, we all had wine and nibbles and mingled and chatted while a string quartet played. It was a wonderful event.

...and worst?
Sticky moments with commissioners, as I held fast to my ethical position while wondering whether, as a result, they would withhold payment for the work I had done. Also the years after the Coalition came to power, when my networks imploded and I struggled to find enough work – although that did mean I had time to write my book, which led to my best professional moment: a real silver lining.

What would you say to encourage a young person today considering a social research career?
I wouldn't say, I would ask. I've done a fair amount of work with young people – for example, as a residential social worker I spent five years working with teenagers – and I can encourage them more effectively if I know what they think social research consists of and why they're considering such a career. I might use my questions to point out that there are various options: do they want to work in academia, in practice, in government, independently? Why? What are their areas of interest? And so on. In fact, I often find that, when I'm talking to people, I ask questions more than anything else. I guess I'm a natural researcher.

Sophie Ellison is Senior Research Officer in the Strategy Unit at the Scottish Government and Chair of SRA Scotland.

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
Around the age of nine (and for a good few years afterwards) I wanted to be the next Kate Adie, motivated by the prospect of travelling the world and experiencing up close the reality of lives lived in situations vastly removed from my own. Before this, I think I wanted to be a rubbish collector because I liked the big trucks!

When did you first turn towards a social research career?
I’ve always been naturally curious about the nature and diversity of lived experiences and societal interactions across the world – my interests were further fuelled by studying Social Anthropology. Upon graduating, I set out to find a work environment that would enable me to influence or contribute to positive social change. Observing deployment of research in practice through posts at the (then) Scottish Executive and Scottish Parliament made me realise that applied Social Research was actually a career and that it may be the one for me!

What was your first professional job? And first project there?
My first job in Social Research was in 2008, as a Research Consultant at a Scotland-based consultancy, Blake Stevenson. My first project there involved hoofing across Scotland, interviewing over 150 health professionals about their experiences of, and their confidence and competence in, working with adolescent patients, as part of a national training needs analysis.

Where did your career go next? What motivated that/those moves?
Six years, three job titles, and over 30 varied and fascinating projects later, I left Blake Stevenson as a Senior Consultant this year to get closer to the policy making process and took up a post as a Senior Research Officer with the Scottish Government.

What has been your best professional moment?
One specific project that stands out was undertaking a scoping study which helped secure funding for an innovative two year national pilot that explored how oral arts and reminiscence can improve the experiences, connectedness and care of older people in residential homes. I was then lucky enough to be involved in undertaking a formative evaluation of the pilot to inform its wider roll out – having a meaningful role in the inception, delivery and development of a project I believed to be of real value was really exciting and rewarding.

...and worst?
Possibly the time I used peer-research methods to evaluate a service targeted at disengaged learners and one young chap tried (in the end, unsuccessfully!) to delete all of the day’s recordings!

More generally, there were a number of occasions as a Consultant where I worked on evaluations commissioned a bit too late in the day to be of significant value and where a lack of baseline data impeded impact assessment – sadly, disappointing for all involved.

Do you have a favourite quote?
“A wise person proportions his/her belief to the evidence” (David Hume)

What would you say to encourage a young person today considering a social research career?
If you’re fascinated by people and society and you never get bored of asking questions, then this could be for you!

While life as an applied social researcher may not make you rich financially, it will likely be a career rich in experiences and you’ll never be short of a story or two around the dinner table!

There is a growing hankering for insight across such a wide range of sectors and organisations now; this combined with new technologies and innovative approaches to disseminating and communicating research findings means there are ever-increasing opportunities to play a role in driving forward evidence-based change.