• Question: Do most research jobs require large amounts of data analysis and time spent at computers ?

    Asked by Tarzipan to Dominic, Maedeh, Matthew, Matt, Monica on 4 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Dominic Eggbeer

      Dominic Eggbeer answered on 4 Mar 2016:

      Not necessarily. It depends on the field. Design is more focussed on the context, usability, observation and learning. Having said that, the discipline of user centred design involves coding of observed procedures – that takes time at a computer. Most bioscience type research involves a high degree of experimentation, analysis, re-experiment …..

    • Photo: Monica Rozeik

      Monica Rozeik answered on 4 Mar 2016:

      Good question. Research does take a lot of time but data analysis depends on the type of research being done. Some research jobs collect a large amount of data such as images but others only need a small amount of data to prove something works better than an older model.

      Data analysis with my work is pretty quick but the time spent before that to buy materials, build and test the parts can be a bit long.

    • Photo: Matthew Round

      Matthew Round answered on 4 Mar 2016:

      The research fellows, geneticists and physicists my work brings me into contact with seem to spend a large amount of time in front of machines analysing data and then writing up.

      I would imagine at the very least research positions would spend a lot of time on writing up at least which would mean time in front of a screen of some nature.

    • Photo: Maedeh Borhani

      Maedeh Borhani answered on 4 Mar 2016:

      I think it depends on the field. Analysing human movement requires a lot of data collection and analysis. having said that, there are many computer programs can be use to speed up the analysis of data. data analysis could be quick but you need to spend time to develop your analysis codes.

    • Photo: Matthew Oldfield

      Matthew Oldfield answered on 5 Mar 2016:

      Most of the research jobs in the laboratory where I work require lots of time on a computer. This may not be data analysis though. My colleagues do a lot of programming and controlling hardware like motors and sensors – this requires time spent with a computer.

      If you are more of an experimenter there may be days where most of your time is spent setting up equipment and running tests. At the end of those tests, in my field, it is normal to process the data on a computer as it would take forever otherwise.

      Often experiments give out lots of data but the analysis of that data is actually quite simple. Being very good at experiments is an art and it is possible to build a career with those skills rather than being an expert in complicated data analysis.

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