Social Science PhD internships

Project proposal form

About your organisation

The Department for Education (DfE) has a vision for a highly educated society with equal opportunity for children/young people no matter what their background or family circumstances. The current priorities of the Department are to create a self-improving school-led system; develop a great work force with strong leadership; increase rigour and expectations of curricula, assessment and behaviours; protecting and increasing opportunity for vulnerable young children and; support schools to prepare well rounded young people for the world of work.

DfE has offices in London, Sheffield, Nottingham, Darlington and Manchester. The Longitudinal Surveys Team is based in the Sheffield office and is responsible for the second Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE2 2013-2020). We ensure the Department has a robust evidence base to base policies relating to young people. The aims of the survey are:

a) to follow a cohort of young people longitudinally from compulsory education through to early years of Higher Education, employment or other outcomes and;

b) produce high quality data from the interviews with young people and their parents/guardians to enable the DfE to produce high quality analysis to enhance its understanding of the key factors (educational or otherwise) which affect the outcomes of young people.

in association with

Research Exchange for the Social Sciences

Project brief

Person specification

What are the objectives of the proposed project and what tasks would an intern be expected to carry out?

We are looking for a talented analyst/quantitative researcher to be given access to LSYPE2 data and assist the team in a number of elements of the survey. We expect the programme of work will include the following:

Improving the quality of the LSYPE2, wave 1 (13/14 year olds in 2013) data by

investigating missing Key Stage 2 scores and where results are missing for more than a

fifth of the cohort, and other important areas where information is missing (e.g.

household income, parental qualifications and family socio-economic class).

To help with this we would like a piece of analysis to explore the alternative to KS2 data

which is teacher assessments. The work would involve using teacher assessment data

instead of real kS2 data for those pupils for whom we have both. This will help us

understand the biases and inform the next stage of the work which is to deal with this

missing data through multiple imputation. We aim to use statistical software known as

Stat-JR (developed by the centre for multi-level modelling at Bristol University). Note

this particular element of the work depends on access to this software which is currently

being arranged.

Additional work on offer includes analysis of LSYPE2 wave 1 (13/14 year olds in 2013) and wave 2 (14/15 year olds in 2014) data including short written report/presentation of findings. Topics to be confirmed, but current areas of interest are around deprivation, careers advice and the ‘London effect’.

Checking early wave 3 (15-16 year olds in 2015) data - which is currently in the field and questionnaire consultation and design for the fourth wave (16/17 year olds in 2016).

The student will be supported by members of the Longitudinal Surveys Team and Strategic Analysis Division who have experience with this type of work.

This would be supplemented by guidance from team members on engaging with stakeholders and the research contractors (e.g. policy colleagues, internal analytical community and academic research community).

What skills and knowledge are you looking for from an intern?

Essential skills include data analysis skills and experience with quantitative data; basic SPSS knowledge; knowledge of Microsoft Office and excellent written English. The team work within a cross-cutting analytical division (including social researchers, statisticians and economists) and with policy colleagues and the external academic community. We are looking for an intern who can quickly build good relationships and has confidence presenting and communicating with varied audiences in order to ensure high quality data and policy relevant outputs.

Desirable skills include experience of multivariate analysis, multi-level modelling, experience of social/ longitudinal surveys and advance SPSS skills.

Dates of internship

Location

Additional funding

Specific conditions

Contact details for enquiries

Please return to Ruth Wilson, RESS (ruth.wilson@sheffield.ac.uk)

What is the expected start date and duration of the project?

June 2015 to October/November 2015 (maximum)

Sheffield Office: 2, St Pauls Place, 125 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 2FJ

Some travel may be required to our London office/ Bristol Univeristy (which would be paid for by the Department)

DfE would be willing to part-fund the placement on a 50:50 basis. This is so we can extend the placement for up to a maximum of 6 months.

The successful applicant will be provided with a security pass for entry into the building. Further security checks will be confirmed in due course.

Name: Clare Baker

Position: Statistician Team Leader, Longitudinal Surveys Team

Email address/ telephone: clare.baker@education.gsi.gov.uk 0114 274 2439