Jennifer Waterton is a freelance researcher, evaluator and analyst.

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
Many things. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker. But nothing with any real traction.

When did you first turn towards a social research career?
After a decade or so of working as a survey statistician, I took a (2-year) ‘gap year’. On my return in January 1991, I wasn’t sure what kind of work I wanted to do. I bought a newspaper and saw a job advertised in the Central Research Unit of the (then) Scottish Executive which looked interesting. The rest is history!

What was your first professional job? And first project there?
After completing my MSc. in Statistics in Edinburgh University, I took up a 2-year post there as a survey research statistician on a project funded by the Scotch Whisky Association. The project was investigating the measurement of self-reported alcohol consumption using different methods - including computer assisted personalised interviewing, and randomised response methods. This was the early 1980s. I remember carrying a HUGE and HEAVY computer (which I had programmed myself) around the housing estates of Edinburgh to interview respondents. We had designed a Randomised Controlled Trial with half the respondents reporting anonymously to the computer and the other half face-to-face. Respondents reported more alcohol consumption to the computer!

Where did your career go next? What motivated that/those moves?
I left Edinburgh and moved to London to work at the Survey Methods Centre in SCPR (now NatCen). I had also been offered a (better paid) job at ONS but the independence and innovative feel of SCPR appealed. From there I went to Royal Mail HQ where I was designing and analysing sampling schemes to estimate quality of the service, and then in the early 1990s - following my career break - to the Central Research Unit. I spent about 15 years as a researcher and research manager, working in different public sector organisations in Edinburgh, mainly in the fields of housing and health. In 2007 I decided to become freelance. The main motivation for the move was to have a more flexible life for family reasons. But also, although there were fantastic aspects to my job - including fantastic people - I found the politics and egos within these large organisations difficult to square with my values.

Freelance life has been extremely precarious at times and always challenging. But, it has allowed me to get involved with a staggering variety of projects and - to a degree - to choose who I work with and for. In the past couple of years, for example, I have worked in a team of three to produce 12 evidence reviews which underpin a 10-year programme of work to reshape the system for looked after children in Scotland; led a team looking at issues relating to the collection of data on equality groups in the Scottish public sector; and (currently) a project to explore the scrutiny mechanisms put in place to provide reassurance to the public about the police’s use of its temporary powers under the coronavirus legislation. What could be more topical or fascinating?

What has been your best professional moment?
Standing up in front of 200 people in the SSE Hydro in Glasgow to present the results from the 1996 Scottish House Conditions Survey, getting a standing ovation, and being given an 8% pay rise for excellence that year. The team was incredible. We had a 20-year celebratory reunion in my house in 2017. People travelled hundreds of miles to be there and see each other again!

...and worst?
Getting stuck in the toilet on a train to Aberdeen on my way to a review of the Health Economics Research Unit. I had to raise the alarm, stop the train and be rescued by the guard.

Do you have a social research hero/heroine?
It would have to be Gerald Hoinville and Roger Jowell for setting up SCPR in 1969. And Jane Ritchie for setting up the Qualitative Research Unit there in the 1980s. Those three contributed so much to the development of social research. With hindsight their efforts seem heroic.

Do you have a favourite quote?
‘Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards’ (Soren Kierkegaard). I learnt this quote from Richard Holloway (former Bishop of Edinburgh). I have found it to be absolutely the case.

What would you say to encourage a young person today considering a social research career?
If you think a career in social research is for you, then find yourself a mentor who works in your field of interest. Someone you can talk to without any filtering. Someone with a lot of experience. Someone you trust. Take your first step. And then your next step. You will find that one thing leads to another. And you will understand it all in 30 years time!