CUIP 26/27 Survey Research Intern

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The Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship Program (CUIP) provides full-time students the opportunity to learn valuable skills while supporting student resources. Interns work within programs and departments throughout the university and attend a two-unit leadership seminar during the academic school year. With direct support from mentors, they will develop leadership skills and participate in professional development opportunities. Interns commit to a 300-hour internship (averaging 10 hours per week) and earn up to a $5,500 scholarship for the academic year (dependent upon room in your financial aid package).

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The campus Institutional Research, Analytics, and Planning Support office (IRAPS) provides accurate, timely, and contextualized information that is responsive to the needs of the campus community.

The Survey Research Intern in IRAPS will learn about survey design, promotion, analysis, and reporting with a focus on social science methods for surveys and practical approaches for these activities on campus.  The internship provides students with experience in applied social survey research.  Students should be interested in learning survey design and analysis skills, while conducting analyses to improve students' experiences at UC Santa Cruz.

The position will involve learning about the major steps of the survey research process, from design to reporting and sharing of results.  The intern will learn about the types of questions in student surveys designed by the campus Institutional Research office and about the tools used in survey analysis.  Critical thinking, analytical, and communication skills are key, and will be developed throughout the internship. Under the close supervision of a staff survey analyst, the intern will assist with analyzing responses from surveys, creating short reports about survey findings, and communicating results through reports, presentations, or infographics.

The Survey Research Intern will also assist with designing campuswide student surveys, and will help with several in-person survey promotion efforts on campus.  Through the academic year, the intern will gradually learn how to do increasingly sophisticated analyses and reporting, and will learn about professional standards for survey development.

Position duties:

40% Learn about and conduct analyses of survey responses, including through survey analysis software or analysis of qualitative responses.

30% Communicate and summarize survey findings, including through well-designed reports or infographics.

10% Assist with the design of survey questions and survey instruments.

10% Assist with the promotion of on-campus surveys, including design efforts and on-campus efforts.

10% Read and summarize literature on topics related to survey research, student academic experiences, and other topics.

Required skills, knowledge, and abilities:

1. Interest in learning about survey design and social science approaches to survey research.

2. Interest and at least some understanding (including in coursework or in a volunteer effort) of either qualitative or quantitative approaches to the analysis of surveys.

3. Interest in writing about student survey findings based on analysis of survey responses.

4. Ability to work independently after an initial period of learning.

5. Ability to work collaboratively with support from others.

Preferred skills, knowledge, and abilities:

1. Qualitative research coursework or experiences.

2. Quantitative research coursework (by the time of the start of the internship) or experiences.

3. Ability to manage time in the short-term and long-term.

4. Clear, concise writing abilities.

Location:  Hybrid:  flexibly mostly remote (90%), with some in-person meetings and on-campus activities (10%)

Timing:  Starts late summer 2026 (September 2026) remotely, and continues through the 2026-2027 academic year as a hybrid position (through June 2027)

How to apply:  Through Handshake, please include:

- a résumé

- a personally-written cover letter about what interests you in the internship

- a writing sample from a project or course assignment where you were the main writer