A day in the life…working on the Scottish Health Survey

Jack Terris, a fourth-year undergraduate, studying Sociology with Quantitative Methods at the University of Edinburgh, joined the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) for a nine-week Q-Step work placement over the summer of 2025. This programme enables students to apply their quantitative research skills in a professional setting and provides practical experience in data analysis. ScotCen has been working with the University of Edinburgh for 10 years supporting Q-Step placements.

When I joined ScotCen for my placement, I primarily worked with the team on the Scottish Health Survey, helping to produce the annual research report for the Scottish Government. This involved analysis and checks of the initial datasets, as well as producing statistics on data tables and even writing up some of the first drafts of report chapters. I also got the opportunity to get involved with the fieldwork for the 2025 project, taking part in the interviewer briefings and helping to produce a few of the monthly fieldwork reports.

Producing some of the statistics and findings that I did and being able to write about them was a really incredible feeling. It felt like a step above the essays and statistics work I do within my degree because it felt truly meaningful. The Scottish Health Survey report plays a big role in influencing Scottish health policy and informing the Government on health issues. When I worked with the data to produce results that were really quite surprising, it felt like I was going to be able to make a real contribution to the world with it. Of course, the positive impacts of this research mostly comes from the incredible team that work on it, but just being able to help out in even the smallest capacity was a such a good experience!

The whole reporting process opened my eyes to the number of complexities researchers may face when they carry out their projects. I and the rest of the team experienced various issues when ensuring the data, coding and reporting were all delivered to the necessary high standard. Even just the smallest miscommunications can lead to delays but it was never cause for a big panic – the team took everything in their stride, identified solutions and worked with colleagues to deliver what was needed. The biggest takeaway I got from this was that there’s always something to be done and that temporary setbacks can be absolutely normal. It was really refreshing to see that a team of professionals can also face challenges in a similar same way to what I experience as a student.

Working in the ScotCen offices in Edinburgh was a genuine pleasure every single day. I sometimes felt some nervousness on Monday mornings thinking about whether there would be delays with the data, problems with the coding or IT issues, but never about being in the office. It’s a nice environment to be working in, but what really made it feel like home were the staff team. The ScotCen team is relatively small, so everyone knows everyone there and they were all incredibly charming. There was not a single person that didn’t leave a warm, positive first impression on me – they were all genuinely kind, welcoming colleagues that had a real passion for the research they were doing. I learned something new every day from everyone there. Being able to help out on projects like the Scottish Health Survey and spend time with professional social researchers was an incredible experience that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.

When I originally chose my degree, it was on a complete whim – I felt that although I was more interested in social sciences, I was significantly more competent at maths, thus I picked a degree that I felt would capture both of those aspects. I have always been fascinated in the statistics reported and published by researchers, news outlets and companies. My degree, and this experience of working at ScotCen, has shown me that social research not only allows me to understand research findings myself, but also to learn about the complex processes involved behind them.