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Research on your resume

The benefits of graduate training

If knowledge is the new currency of the 21st century, then those best able to gather, interpret and share that knowledge are destined to succeed.

In the context of this new world, research—and especially research in the social sciences and humanities—is becoming more than an academic pursuit. It is the training ground for leaders in all sectors of society. Universities know it and are expanding traditional graduate programs to include professional skills. Governments know it and are increasing funding to research in all its forms. And above all, students know it. Between 1999 and 2005 Canadian graduate student enrollment in the social sciences and humanities increased by almost 30 per cent.

"Fundamentally, research is about asking the right questions and framing effective arguments,” says Tina Loo, Canada Research Chair in Environmental History and professor at the University of British Columbia. “These are skills everyone is called upon to use, regardless of the career they pursue.”

Loo emphasizes that this new value of research is relevant across all sectors of society. Speaking from her background in environmental history, she underlines the importance of informing advocacy with sound research. She calls out the example of global warming: despite consensus in the scientific community about its occurrence and causes, the media gives the impression of a divide.

"If you have been trained to assess arguments critically,” Loo says emphatically, “you’re in a better position to assess the claims of those who argue we need to do something and those who say we don’t.”

Appreciating the applicability and impact of research skills outside the academic milieu is important in part because it determines how we approach research training, an issue close to the heart of Stephen McClatchie, provost and vice-president, academic and research at Mount Allison University.

While his university does not offer graduate programs, McClatchie has worked hard to create research opportunities for students pursuing their first degrees.

"With the world’s evolving expectations of graduates, there is pressure for research training to begin earlier,” he says. “Professors are moving away from the idea that the student mind is a vessel to be filled and are instead seeing it as a muscle to be strengthened. Courses designed around learning outcomes, skills and creating new knowledge stick with students for the long term.”

In fact, Mount Allison maintains an award program for undergraduate researchers. Economics student Erik Johnson won the Best Student Paper Award at the Atlantic Canada Economics Association Conference in October 2008 for his summer research project on the economics of happiness. He says whether he pursues a career in academia or in the public sector, his research skills will serve him well.

"The most important skills I’ve acquired—in large part attributable to my summer research—are self-guided learning know-how and efficiency, as well as the ability to use professional statistical software,” Johnson says. In fact, during his recent summer internship at the Inter-American Development Bank he discovered his proficiency in such software was well beyond that of other interns and even many staff.

"Conducting research helps to structure the mind,” says Lucie Morin, professor of Organisation et Ressources Humaines at the Université du Québec à Montréal. “Researchers know how to collect and analyze objective data about a situation and determine the issue they need to address.”

Morin recently received a SSHRC grant under its new Management, Business and Finance program to conduct research on how businesses can attract and retain key employees. She offers a unique perspective on the broader social implications of integrating trained researchers into the workforce.

“The benefit of professionals having a background in research is that they will educate others about solid ways of doing and improving practices in organizations,” she says.
Morin reflects on the mounting labour shortage associated with the departure of baby boomers from the workforce as an example, where competition for skilled, experienced personnel is intensifying. “Someone who has been conducting research in human resource management has the knowledge and tools required to attract and retain employees. This research-based approach is more effective than those based on professional intuition alone.”

Gordana Krcevinac, director of fellowships and institutional grants at SSHRC, says the competitive advantages acquired by students exposed to research are now challenging the Council and postsecondary institutions across the country to redefine what research training is all about.

“We need to have the best and brightest talents involved in innovation in all sectors of the economy,” she remarks. “They must bring new ideas, new processes, better management and the ability to identify ethical issues to the table.”

Krcevinac agrees with McClatchie that hands-on learning is enormously valuable. It’s for this reason, she explains, that most SSHRC funding provides support for researchers to involve students in their projects. Those who participate not only gain experience in their specific research field, but also build universal skills, such as project management, budgeting and networking.

From this perspective, the ultimate impact of social sciences and humanities research is society-wide.

“When it comes time for students to actually do their own research, of course they will have to know about databases and the like, statistical manipulation, but that is secondary to knowing how to ask questions and evaluate answers,” says Tina Loo. “Informed debate and an informed citizenry is the basis of a healthy democracy.”