Social science research assistants need to:

Communicate

• Understand spoken information.
• Speak clearly so listeners can understand.
• Read and understand work-related materials.
• Understand written information.
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• Listen to others and ask questions.
• Write clearly so other people can understand.

Reason and Problem Solve

• Analyze ideas and use logic to determine their strengths and weaknesses.
• Follow guidelines to arrange objects or actions in a certain order.
• Use reasoning to discover answers to problems.
• Recognize the nature of a problem.
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• Combine several pieces of information and draw conclusions.
• Concentrate and not be distracted while performing a task.
• Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong.
• Understand new information or materials by studying and working with them.
• Judge the costs and benefits of a possible action.
• Develop rules that group items in various ways.
• Think of new ideas about a topic.
• Think of original, unusual, or creative ways to solve problems.
• Recognize when important changes happen or are likely to happen in a system.

Use Math and Science

• Use scientific methods to solve problems.
• Choose a mathematical method or formula to solve problems.
• Use math skills to solve problems.
• Add, subtract, multiply, and divide quickly and correctly.

Work with People

• Use several methods to learn or teach new things.