top of page

The most rewarding thing I completed was a study analysis. There was a lengthy study completed by the center which involved many different personality tests. In short, participants responded to various questions that indicated to what degree the participant agreed or disagreed. There were five different tests and each required me to sum the responses with some being inverted and sub categorized which made the task more complex. With over 120 participants, this task was quite time consuming. It took me four days (16 hours) to finish it, and when I finally finished it was incredibly rewarding. 

 

I wouldn't say that the work was stressful because there was no deadline for the project and no one over my shoulder. They were just happy to have it done. I listened to music the whole time to make it less repetitive which allowed me to stay focused and drift off. If there was a strict timeline (say they needed it done in three days), I would have probably set strict hourly quotas for myself which usually helps me in that type of situation. 

 

If my main intern task (interpreting studies) was a real job, I would be very efficient at processing the large amounts of data. For example there is one test that was done at three different times to determine how stressed participants were. It asked them questions about if their face was hot, muscles stiff, etc., and it asked them to agree with the statement on a scale of 1-4 where 1 is not at all and 4 is very much agree. There were 21 questions in total. If I went down with my calculator and added each number individually I would make tons of errors and it would take a long time. Instead I organized a chart where I essentially started with 21, then added 1 for every 2 answer, 2 for every 3 answer, and 3 for every 4 answer. The math worked out and was much faster than adding each number individually. While this may not help me specifically in the field this aspect of data analysis is likely relevant to many scientific areas and will hopefully be helpful in the future. 

bottom of page