Jobs / Science and research / 19-4061.00
Social Science Research Assistants
Assist social scientists in laboratory, survey, and other social science research. May help prepare findings for publication and assist in laboratory analysis, quality control, or data management.
- US jobs
- 30,640
- Median wage
- $61,990 a year
- Job family
- Science and research
Can agents do the work of social science research assistants?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Science and research:
- Task levelPartialThin evidence. CORE-Bench asks agents to reproduce the results of published papers in computer science, social science, and medicine from the authors' code and data. Princeton's HAL team declared it solved in December 2025: Claude Code with Claude Opus 4.5 scored 95.5% after manual regrading. No benchmark in our collection tests new experiments or lab work.
- Project levelNot yetThin evidence. On PaperBench, where agents replicate machine learning papers from scratch, the best official result is 26.0% (o1, April 2025). On a small subset, ML PhDs scored 41.4% against o1's 26.6%. No newer official results exist, and no benchmark tests research projects in other sciences.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in science and research, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 95.5%Claude Code + Claude Opus 4.5 (after manual regrading) · 3 Dec 2025Solved
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Design and create special programs for tasks such as statistical analysis and data entry and cleaning.
- Provide assistance with the preparation of project-related reports, manuscripts, and presentations.
- Prepare tables, graphs, fact sheets, and written reports summarizing research results.
- Perform descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses of data, using computer software.
- Verify the accuracy and validity of data entered in databases, correcting any errors.
- Develop and implement research quality control procedures.
- Prepare, manipulate, and manage extensive databases.
- Perform data entry and other clerical work as required for project completion.
- Conduct internet-based and library research.
- Present research findings to groups of people.
- Obtain informed consent of research subjects or their guardians.
- Administer standardized tests to research subjects, or interview them to collect research data.
Other job titles for this occupation (28)
Clinical Research Assistant · Graduate Assistant · Graduate Research Assistant · Research Aide · Research Assistant · Research Associate · Research Technician · Social Research Assistant · Bilingual Research Interviewer · Data Analyst · Economic Research Assistant · Economist Research Assistant · Historian Research Assistant · Laboratory Assistant · Market Research Interviewer · Political Affairs Intern · Political Science Research Assistant · Postdoctoral Associate (Postdoc Associate) · Postdoctoral Fellow (Postdoc Fellow) · Postdoctoral Research Associate · Postdoctoral Scholar (Postdoc Scholar) · Psychologist Research Assistant · Research Data Analyst · Research Interviewer · Research Scientist · Social Science Research Assistant (Social Science RA) · Sociology Research Assistant · UX Research Assistant (User Experience Research Assistant)