Research Departments Learning Objectives
Critical Thinking
Through all of our categorization projects, speech collection, key speeches and social@ contributions, Research programs provides interns endless opportunities to sharpen their vital skill of critical thinking. Interns are required to quickly assign categories and tags to thousands of statements, speeches, biographical information and special interest groups.
Attention to Detail
The programs have incredibly strict formatting guidelines for the data that we collect every day. Attention to detail is necessary for any employment and all educational purposes. You will be able to recite formatting guidelines in your sleep if you work in the research department.
SQL
SQL is a skill that impresses all employers and will make college/graduate life much easier. Not only do you learn the language but you also learn how to ask meaningful questions as they relate to raw data.
Spreadsheets
Advance your spreadsheet skills! Every business and every student uses them to organize information - spreadsheets are used in offices around the country. In Research, you can learn more than just the basic functions of adding a cell and using the average function. Special Interest Group interns manipulate text and extract language from scorecards collected from the internet, and you will learn excel tricks in order to help your work go faster.
Communication Skills
In addition to basic communication skills like answering research questions via our research hotline, interns also learn inter-department communication skills. Interns discuss new ideas for the research department as well as suggest new ideas for the PCT, key votes and the development department. Interns are forced to improve their communication skills simply based on the fact that interns live, work, and hang out together.
Leadership Skills
As the internship progresses and intern work improves in quality and quantity, interns may be asked to take on more of a leadership role within the department. They may be asked to assist staff members with checking other intern work and helping staff complete assignments that interns are very familiar with.
Research Skills
The basics are gradually perfected and advanced research skills are acquired. Developing from basic questions to a more comprehensive understanding of governmental functions and procedures, research interns learn more about the actual workings of our government than any other department. Interns must understand why we do what we do in order to really shine in our department, and that means sharpening their research skills into a formidable resource. You will learn how to gather, synthesize and translate important data into information suitable for analysis and broad understanding. You'll also gain the discipline to handle larger academic and professional projects; there's no question that the work of a research intern is demanding and repetitive, and after this the workload of statistical research projects will be quite familiar.
Practical Knowledge about the U.S. Government and its Operations
In addition to specialized knowledge in your particular area, you will gain expertise in: resources for information on politicians and political data, and how to access them, as well as familiarity with the candidates and officials governing our lives.
