Most Important Skills For A Program Evaluation Specialist At UC San Diego
Merissa, a Program Evaluation Specialist, identifies key skills for success in her field as meticulous attention to detail ("we really stress take your time and making sure everything is correct"), data management/analysis experience, and strong critical thinking abilities to inform research design and analysis. Familiarity with data analysis software like R or Stata is highly beneficial, although SPSS remains relevant in some academic settings.
Data Analysis, Data Management, Critical Thinking, Report Writing, Software Proficiency
Advizer Information
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Grad Programs
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Merissa Kado-Walton
Program Evaluation Specialist
University of California, San Diego
UCLA 2014
San Diego State University, MA in Psychology
Psychology
Healthcare, Medical & Wellness
Data and Analytics
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Student Athlete, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential for tasks such as report writing.
2. Proficiency in data management and analysis is highly valuable, with R and Python recommended as powerful tools.
3. Strong critical thinking skills are crucial for designing research projects and methodologies and for understanding the broader implications of the work.
Transcript
Marissa, what skills are most important for a job like yours?
The number one skill we look for when hiring is attention to detail. Many tasks workers start with are very detail-intensive, especially when generating reports or writing. We really stress taking your time to ensure everything is correct.
Another big skill is experience in data management or data analysis. It's not necessarily a huge prerequisite, but it's really helpful for people in these roles to be very data-minded.
I would say another one is good critical thinking skills. We often have to help create research projects or methodology for studies. So, it's kind of understanding the broader picture of what we're trying to capture. This inevitably informs the study layout and also the analysis we run. I would say those are definitely the top three skills.
In a quick follow-up question, you mentioned data management. What sort of software would you recommend an undergrad maybe start to familiarize themselves with? SPSS is still very grandfathered into research, but I would say if you're able to do R or Stata, those are two very helpful tools.
That would be very good to know, especially early on. They're a lot more powerful than SPSS. However, I recognize sometimes advisors don't always know what the newest software is, so I would say SPSS and probably R are going to be the most beneficial.
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