Government Social Research
Angela Clements
My first degree was in Sociology and Psychology and after completing an MSc in Social Science Research Methods at Cardiff University I began working at the Welsh Assembly Government where I worked for almost 6 years as a Research Officer in the Research and Evaluation Branch of the Health Promotion Division.
In 2006 I transferred from the Welsh Assembly and joined the Office for National Statistics in Newport. I currently work within the Social and Vital Statistics Division (SVS) of ONS which is a division responsible for administering key social surveys. The surveys cover a wide range of topic areas including housing conditions, food consumption and spending, migration, and labour market.
I currently work on the Childhood Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (CPM). The Childhood Psychiatric Morbidity Survey is an ad-hoc survey conducted by ONS on behalf of the Department of Health. This is a follow-up survey of participants in 2004, offering the opportunity for exploring new key aspects of children’s mental health as well as enabling a more detailed examination of issues covered in the previous follow up survey.
My role on the CPM initially involved daily management of the survey process. This involved overseeing and liaising with Field branch while the data was in the field being collected and then being responsible for ensuring the data was cleaned and delivered to our academic colleagues at the Institute for Psychiatry. Once the data is returned from the Institute with clinical ratings, analysis of the data collected will begin and a National Statistics report is due for publication in July 2008. As well as analysing the data that has been collected and writing the report, the role involves liaising with clients at the DoH and Institute of Psychiatry.
My role at the Assembly enabled me to gain experience in project management, conducting fieldwork and Qualitative research. I moved to ONS to progress my career as a social researcher and to move to a more Quantitative environment to develop skills in analysis and the use of statistical packages. The move from a qualitative to quantitative environment has been very different but I am enjoying the challenge and finding it very rewarding. The skills that I gained as a researcher in my previous role, and all the new skills I have subsequently built up in my current role, are progressing my development as an all round researcher.
I became involved in GSR as I felt it was a good opportunity to meet with other researchers within Government and to be able to act as a link between ONS and other Government departments. Along with other GSR colleagues within ONS we are in the process of setting up induction to GSR for new recruits and organising regular meetings for all researchers across ONS.
My role at the Assembly enabled me to gain experience in project management, conducting fieldwork and Qualitative research. I moved to ONS to progress my career as a social researcher and to move to a more Quantitative environment as I wanted to develop skills in quantitative research, analysis and the use of statistical packages. While I am finding the move from a qualitative to quantitative environment very different - I am enjoying the challenge and I hope that the skills I gained as a researcher in my previous role, and will subsequently gain in my current role, will enable me to develop as an all round researcher.