Social Science Researcher
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Social Science Researcher carries out and facilitates social science research to better understand human behavior. Involves activities such as analysis of laboratory results, quality control, data management, and presentations of findings. May utilize statistic or other data analysis software such as SPSS, STATA or SAS.
Job Outlook
There were 87 Social Science Researcher job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2326 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Social Science Researcher industry, which includes the Social Science Researcher career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Social Science Researcher jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $84,247.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $76,485.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Social Science Researcher postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $60,980.
Education and Experience
Posted Social Science Researcher jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 40.33% |
| Master's Degree | 40.93% |
| Doctoral Degree | 33.06% |
| Other | 2.45% |
Posted Social Science Researcher jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 42.2% |
| 3 to 5 years | 46.45% |
| 6 to 8 years | 5.98% |
| 9+ years | 5.37% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Social Science Researcher positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Research (60.28%)
- Communication (35.47%)
- Writing (35.04%)
- Management (23.52%)
- Leadership (18.23%)
- Teaching (17.93%)
- Planning (16.77%)
- Presentations (16.47%)
- Mentorship (14.1%)
- Detail Oriented (11.99%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Anthropology (28.33%)
- Social Sciences (52.24%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Statistical Analysis (9.95%)
- Policy Development (5.06%)
- Data Analysis (23.56%)
- Behavioral Science (9.48%)
- Economics (14.08%)
- Social Work (7.42%)
- Data Collection (17.02%)
- Psychology (19.61%)
- R (Programming Language) (10.01%)
- Geography (4.83%)
- Stakeholder Engagement (3.65%)
- Statistical Software (9.84%)
- Project Management (11.31%)
- Research Methodologies (15.43%)
- Focus Group (9.13%)
- Quantitative Research (5.42%)
- Political Sciences (17.84%)
- Qualitative Research (5.24%)
- Public Policies (9.07%)
- Statistics (15.9%)
- Sociology (19.14%)
- Surveys (14.55%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Participant Observation (5.06%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Social Science Researcher skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Social Scientist
- Political Affairs Intern
- Anthropologist
- Social Science Research Assistant
- Government Affairs Analyst
- Scientist
- Social Science Research Analyst
- Behavioral Scientist
- Ethicist
- Anthropology Adjunct Professor
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Research Analyst
- Research Associate (General)
- Research Assistant
- Statistician
- Policy Analyst
- Natural Science Research Manager (General)
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Social Science Researcher jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- The Borgen Project (182)
- Urban Outfitters (106)
- United States Department of the Treasury (91)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (54)
- Stanford University (52)
- The University of Texas System (33)
- Eurofins (28)
- America Rising Corporation (28)
- Point32Health (27)
- The University of Texas at Austin (23)
North Carolina
- University of North Carolina Wilmington (8)
- Urban Outfitters (7)
- The Borgen Project (7)
- Belk (5)
- University of North Carolina (5)
- Wake Forest Baptist Health (5)
- Lenoir-Rhyne University (3)
- America Rising Corporation (3)
- National Park Service (3)
- Alamance Community College (2)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.