Will AI replace Social Science Research Assistants?
AI reaches most of this job’s work.
64/100
Very high exposure
More exposed to AI than 94% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 43% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 87% of the work
What the job involves
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.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(10)
- Provide assistance with the preparation of project-related reports, manuscripts, and presentations.
- Prepare tables, graphs, fact sheets, and written reports summarizing research results.
- Design and create special programs for tasks such as statistical analysis and data entry and cleaning.
- Conduct internet-based and library research.
- Develop and implement research quality control procedures.
and 5 more
Within reach(8)
- Verify the accuracy and validity of data entered in databases, correcting any errors.
- Perform data entry and other clerical work as required for project completion.
- Perform descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses of data, using computer software.
- Obtain informed consent of research subjects or their guardians.
- Present research findings to groups of people.
and 3 more
Out of reach(4)
- Administer standardized tests to research subjects, or interview them to collect research data.
- Recruit and schedule research participants.
- Supervise the work of survey interviewers.
- Allocate and manage laboratory space and resources.
Also called
Research Assistant · Research Associate · Data Analyst · Research Scientist · Clinical Research Assistant · Graduate Assistant · Graduate Research Assistant · Research Aide
Related jobs
- Statisticians73/100
- Clinical Data Managers57/100
- Data Scientists57/100
- Survey Researchers84/100
- Clinical Research Coordinators45/100
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics