Researchers may benefit from online education

Researchers may benefit from online education

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, overall employment of market researchers is expected to increase by 28 percent over the next eight years, which is more than double the national average for all other occupations. In an effort to prepare more adults for careers in this field, numerous campus-based and online universities are boosting their courses in this field.

For example, the University of Illinois at Chicago recently announced that it will offer an online certificate program in the basics of survey research next semester.

Tim Johnson, director of the Survey Research Laboratory, said that despite the predominance of survey research in the study of large populations, few online training programs offer academic courses in this field. He added that research skills can benefit a wide range of professionals as well as faculty and graduate students.

The program consists of five courses that are designed to address survey design, data collection, sources of error, quality control and methodology evaluation, as well as data analysis and interpretation.

By Mark Danson