"I'm both proud and humbled that my job is to make sure our best foot is always forward on research methods. A big part of my personal mission as a methodologist at Gallup is to uphold the goals that Dr. George Gallup had for this organization to provide the best, most unbiased research possible."
Q: What do you do at Gallup?
A: My job is to design and execute research studies. On every project, my goal is to ensure that we are using the best possible methods, questions, processes and analytics to uncover trends and answer research questions.
Q: What type of projects do you work on?
A: One of my favorite things about working at Gallup is the variety of projects I get to work on. I do a lot of what I like to call research on research, where I collaborate with my team and other colleagues to run experiments on best practice research methods. We test different methods for collecting data, asking questions and conducting research studies, and then advise how we should do research in the future.
In addition to research on research, I'm also involved in many projects with clients that uncover public opinions on key topics(opens in a new window). My role on client projects is usually to design the surveys or interviews we use to answer key questions, and to support the analytics, reporting and consulting that follow. Many of my projects are about finding ways to improve an educational institution or workplace. Some of my other projects for clients involve deep dives into a specific topic to enhance the client's understanding (and the world's understanding!) of that topic.
Q: How is what you're doing helping Gallup to fulfill our mission?
A: Gallup's mission is to offer the best analytics and advice on everything that matters. We research and advise on a range of different topics, but everything we do is rooted in our research. I'm both proud and humbled that my job is to make sure our best foot is always forward on research methods. A big part of my personal mission as a methodologist at Gallup is to uphold the goals that Dr. George Gallup had for this organization to provide the best, most unbiased research possible.
Q: What's been one of your favorite projects at Gallup?
A: It's really hard to pick a favorite project because of how cool all of my projects are! I get to design surveys that are given to tens of thousands of people from a nationally representative random sample of Americans. Regardless of the survey topic, every project like that is engaging to me because the representativeness and generalizability of the data we have are unlike any other organization in the world. It's fun to write the questions, analyze the data and be the first to know exactly what America is thinking.
If I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be our ongoing research series on the American workforce. We regularly survey employed Americans to study how work experiences are impacting lives. As part of this ongoing project, I've had opportunities to write and publish articles (opens in a new window) on interesting and timely topics like work-life balance. I'm really passionate about industrial and organizational psychology, so this project stands out for me because I get to use my methodology and workplace expertise together on the same surveys.
Q: How are you learning and growing on an ongoing basis?
A: Every single day looks different at Gallup, and that's what keeps me learning and growing. With every research project I conduct, there is knowledge to be gained, whether it's uncovering insights through an experiment or learning the results of questions that I've written in surveys or interviews. A core part of my job is to create knowledge that will help my colleagues and our clients do their work.
In terms of professional growth, we also have a lot of development opportunities through conferences, education support and internal learning series with guest speakers who are experts on different topics.
Q: What's it like to work at Gallup?
A: One of the most unique things about working at Gallup is the amount of opportunity and flexibility we have within our roles. When I started in this role, my manager told me that my first year on the job would involve a variety of projects across all different parts of the company, so that we could learn together what I love to do and which areas I excel at. Exposure to this variety of projects has helped me learn what parts of the company I want to be more closely involved in, and to identify what types of projects are the most engaging and motivating for me. My manager and I regularly sit down together and discuss what projects make sense to add to my portfolio based on my strengths, the topics I'm interested in and the people I collaborate with best.
The other thing that stands out is Gallup's strengths-based culture. Everyone here is recognized for their unique talents and their unique way of accomplishing things. When people have very different work styles or ways of getting things done, we can openly discuss how to leverage our differences instead of having those differences cause conflict for us. For example, I can humbly admit that organizing workflows, coordinating calendars and other project management skills aren't my strong suit, and my colleagues don't look down on me or dislike working with me because of that. Instead, they recognize that I have very unique research talents that can be best leveraged on very complicated projects if I'm working with a really talented project manager. I can be my authentic self here, because if I'm not talented at something, there's a great chance somebody else is and will be there to help.
Q: What's one of your favorite things about your team?
A: My favorite thing about my team is that they are all really fun to work with, and they care about each other. In our team meetings, everyone's input is welcome regardless of whether you're a summer intern or the most senior researcher. Most of the people on my team have been at Gallup for 15 years or more, so I am always learning from their expertise and experiences.
Gallup also has a really unique management structure that I haven't seen at any other organization. Our manager's top priorities are to support us and to give us everything we need to do our job well. She is always thinking about our unique strengths and what we love to do when she asks us to help out with projects.
Q: What are you looking forward to this year?
A: This summer, I'll be mentoring our workplace research and survey methodology interns, and I'm really excited to help them learn and grow. I started my career at Gallup as an intern and the experience had a huge impact on me both personally and professionally, so I'm looking forward to sharing that same impact with other interns!
Q: What do you do when you're not at Gallup?
A: When I'm not at Gallup, I love going to the gym, going on walks, reading books, taking care of my plants, and spending time with my fiancé, friends, and family. I love to travel as much as possible, and every month or so I like to take what I call a workcation, where I fly somewhere fun for a few days and work remotely in a cool spot. In the past few months, I've worked from Malibu, Denver and Charleston, and will be going to Seattle soon!
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