Questions to Ask in a Research Assistant Interview
Questions to ask the interviewer for a research position, written with research assistants in mind: a paid post after graduating, or a student place in a lab or research group. They are grouped by the work itself, supervision, training and methods, pay and terms, credit and growth, and closing. Not all of them are for the principal investigator: pay scales and visas belong with human resources, and the weekly routine with whoever would supervise you day to day.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The work
What would my main responsibilities be, and which project would I start on?
Why ask it
Postings for research assistants are often written broadly, sometimes because nobody yet knows which project will need hands. Ask what the first month would hold. A specific answer means the work exists now, and a vague one can mean the role will be shaped by whichever grant lands.
What does a typical week look like for a research assistant here?
Why ask it
Ask for last week as the example, because a real week is harder to tidy up than a typical one. Listen for the scheduling, ordering and chasing that postings leave out. If nobody holds the post yet, ask for the supervisor's best guess at a week in month three.
What is the main question this project is trying to answer?
Why ask it
You may know the published version from the group's papers. Asking gets you the current one, including what has shifted since the grant was written, and it shows where the tasks you would be given sit in the argument. That short version is also what you will need when a participant or a visitor asks what the study is for.
How much of the job is collecting data, and how much is analysing it?
Why ask it
Two posts with the same title can sit at opposite ends of this. If you want analysis skills for a graduate application, a role that is all collection will not build them however strong the group is, so say which you are hoping for.
What would you want me to have achieved six months in?
Why ask it
A good answer is concrete: a cohort recruited, a method you can run alone, a backlog of data cleaned. If it is much bigger than the first month they described, say so now while it is still a conversation. Write it down, because it is the nearest thing to a target you may be given.
What stage is the project at: setting up, collecting data or writing up?
Why ask it
The stage decides the job more than the topic does. Joining at set-up means approvals and piloting, joining mid-collection means running the same sessions for months, and joining at the write-up means cleaning data and making figures.
Where do you see this line of research going over the next few years?
Why ask it
The answer shows whether the project you would join is the centre of the group's plans or a strand that is winding down. A follow-on grant already submitted is the practical sign, since that is what further work, and sometimes a further contract, would be paid from.
Is this position attached to one project, or spread across several?
Why ask it
One project gives you depth and a clear claim to the output. Split across three, you can become the person who does everyone's shared tasks, which is useful experience and much harder to turn into a line on a paper.
Where does the data come from: participants, samples, fieldwork or an existing dataset?
Why ask it
Each source makes a different working day. Recruiting people brings phone calls and no-shows, samples bring bench time, and an existing dataset means a desk and a screen. Whichever it is, find out how reliably it has been arriving.
How many participants, samples or records would I get through in a typical week?
Why ask it
A number turns a description into a workload: forty interviews a week and four are different jobs. It is fair to follow up on where the target comes from and what happens in a week when the group falls short of it.
Which techniques or instruments would I use most weeks?
Why ask it
The named list is what you will be able to put on a CV at the end. Sort it into what you would run alone and what you would only assist with, because watching a method is not the same as having done it.
How much of the role is ordering, stock, equipment upkeep and other shared jobs?
Why ask it
In some groups the research assistant is the lab manager in all but title. That is reasonable when it is said plainly, and a rough number of hours a week, plus whether anyone shares the load, is enough to judge it.
Would I be doing literature searches or helping to write anything?
Why ask it
Literature reviews, ethics amendments and sections of grant applications often land on the research assistant. It is writing you can show later, so it is worth knowing whether the last assistant's drafting was credited anywhere.
What deadlines is the project working toward this year?
Why ask it
A funder's report, a recruitment target or a conference submission tells you when the heavy weeks will fall. Those dates are also the likeliest yardstick for your first months, whether or not anyone says so.
What is the biggest challenge the project is facing right now?
Why ask it
Slow recruitment, a method that will not replicate, a delayed approval or a gap in staffing are the usual candidates, and whichever is named is likely to land on your desk first. If the answer is that there are none, put the question to the person who runs the project day to day.
Supervision
Would I report to you day to day, or to a postdoc or a doctoral student?
Why ask it
The principal investigator hires, but a postdoc or a senior doctoral student often runs the daily work. That person is likely to shape your year more than the name on the grant, so if it is someone else, ask to meet them before you accept.
Who else is in the group: postdocs, doctoral students, technicians, other assistants?
Why ask it
The mix tells you where you would sit. A group with no postdocs may ask more independence of you, a group with many can mean your time goes to supporting other people's projects, and a second assistant means someone to learn the routines from.
How would you describe the culture of the group?
Why ask it
On its own this invites adjectives, so follow it with something you can picture: whether people eat lunch together, how late the building is busy, what happened the last time someone made an expensive mistake. Then compare the answer with what you see on a visit.
Does the group work with other labs, departments or outside partners, and would I be dealing with them?
Why ask it
Collaborations decide who else can give you work and whose timetable you depend on, such as a clinic that supplies participants or a core facility that runs your samples. Get the name of the contact on each side, so a request from a collaborator does not arrive as a surprise.
How often does the group meet, and how often would I meet with you?
Why ask it
How often you meet is the plainest measure of supervision, and the range runs from weekly one-to-ones to almost nothing. If the answer is that the door is always open, follow up with when they last had a scheduled meeting with the current assistant.
How do you like to work with a research assistant: close direction, or a goal and room to reach it?
Why ask it
Neither style is a fault, but a mismatch is tiring for both sides. How it went with the last assistant is the better evidence, since what someone did is firmer evidence than what they say they prefer.
Who checks my work in the first few months, and how?
Why ask it
Double entry, a second coder, or someone sitting in on your first sessions all count. A group that checks a newcomer's work is protecting you: an unchecked error from week three can surface at analysis with your initials on it.
If a session or a run goes off protocol, do I decide what to do or stop and ask?
Why ask it
Deviations happen late in the day, with a participant in the room or a sample on the bench. Whether you are trusted to make the call, and where it gets written down afterwards, shows how much responsibility the post really carries.
What happens when an experiment or a round of recruitment stalls for weeks?
Why ask it
Stalls are an ordinary part of research and almost never appear in a job description. Listen for whether a failed run is something the group debugs together or the assistant's performance problem, and for who you would go to in the second week of nothing working.
Would I be training or supervising anyone, such as undergraduate volunteers?
Why ask it
Paid assistants are sometimes handed a rota of students to train and schedule. That is management experience worth having and it is also hours, so find out how many students there are and who steps in when one stops turning up.
Where would I sit, and who is around during the day?
Why ask it
A desk in the shared office and a bench in an otherwise empty basement are different jobs. Having someone nearby for the two-minute question matters most in the first months, when you cannot yet tell what is worth an email.
Are you planning a sabbatical, a move or a long spell away while I would be here?
Why ask it
Principal investigators change institutions and take leave, and a post can be asked to move with them or be left with thin supervision. A yes is not a reason to walk away, as long as someone is named to sign off your work in the meantime.
Training and methods
What do you expect me to know on day one, and what would I learn here?
Why ask it
The answer separates a training post from a production one. If everything on the list is something you are expected to arrive with, the role is about output, and it is worth a separate question about where growth is meant to come from.
Would I be trained on the protocols, or work from existing documentation?
Why ask it
Some groups run structured handovers, others give you a folder and the departing person's last week. Find out who trained the current assistant and whether that person is still around, because you only learn how good the documentation is once you have to rely on it.
How long does it usually take before a new assistant runs things alone?
Why ask it
A survey protocol might take a fortnight and an imaging or surgical one several months. A very short answer for a hard method can mean the training is thin, so ask what the sign-off looks like.
What software or programming language does the group analyse data in, and would I be taught it?
Why ask it
Hearing R, Python, Stata, SPSS or MATLAB by name lets you start learning before you arrive. Listen for whether teaching means a person's time or a link to a tutorial, since both get called training.
Can staff sit in on university courses or methods workshops, and who pays?
Why ask it
Some employers let research staff take classes free or at a reduced fee and others do not, so ask how it works there. Check too whether the time comes out of your working hours, since permission without time is hard to use.
What ethics or compliance approvals would I need before I could start work?
Why ask it
Work with human participants or animals generally needs approvals and training before you can touch anything, and how long they take depends on the institution. The answer tells you how much of your first month will be forms and online modules instead of research.
Does the work involve hazards I should know about, such as chemicals, animals or working alone?
Why ask it
A good answer names the risk along with the training and protective kit that go with it. If you have an allergy, or you are unsure how you feel about animal work, the interview is the moment to say so, not the third week.
Is the equipment I would depend on shared, and how far ahead does it get booked?
Why ask it
A microscope, scanner or sequencer with a three-week queue sets your timetable for you, and the free slots tend to be early or late. The sharper follow-up is who gets priority when two projects need the same day.
How are data and records kept, and would I be responsible for any of that?
Why ask it
Electronic notebooks, sample tracking, and code version control are either a system or an accumulation of habits. Inheriting an undocumented freezer or a folder of spreadsheets named final_v3 is a real part of the workload.
Would I handle identifiable participant data, and where is it allowed to be stored?
Why ask it
The rules on personal and health data differ by country, funder and institution, so ask how it works there. The practical consequence is whether any of the job can be done on your own laptop or away from the building.
Does anyone rerun an analysis before it goes into a paper, and would that be part of my job?
Why ask it
Shared scripts, a second person rerunning the numbers, or a plan registered before collection are all real answers. A group with a routine for this teaches habits that carry into any later post. A shrug means the checking would be yours to invent.
Pay and terms
How long is the funding, and what usually happens when it ends?
Why ask it
Many research assistant posts are paid from a grant with a fixed end date. What happened to the last two people when their money ran out shows whether renewals are routine here or whether the end date is real.
What is the pay, and is it set by a fixed scale?
Why ask it
University pay is often tied to a grade or to a line in the grant budget, which can leave little to negotiate. The two things to pin down are where on the scale you would start and whether a yearly step up happens without anyone having to request it. If the interviewer is unsure, human resources will know.
How many hours a week is the post, and is the schedule fixed or agreed week by week?
Why ask it
Part-time and student posts range from a few hours to nearly full time, and the posting does not always give the figure. A fixed timetable is easier to plan classes or a second job around, while one that follows participant bookings changes weekly. Ask how hours are recorded, because a timesheet and an understanding are treated very differently when weeks run long.
Is this post paid, for course credit or voluntary, and what is the minimum commitment?
Why ask it
All three exist, especially for students, and the posting does not always say which. If it is unpaid, get the hours a week and the number of terms expected, then weigh that against the training and the reference you would leave with.
Would my employer be the university, a hospital or someone else, and what comes with that?
Why ask it
Clinical and institute posts are sometimes held by a hospital, a foundation or an agency instead of the university. Leave, pension, library access and fee discounts usually follow the employer, so the useful thing to leave with is the name of the office that answers those questions.
Do participants, animals or experiments ever need me in on evenings or weekends?
Why ask it
Participant scheduling, animal care, time-course experiments and field visits all break the ordinary week in ways a posting rarely mentions. When the current assistant last worked a weekend, and why, is a better guide than a general policy. How those hours are paid or given back varies by employer.
Could the hours bend around classes, or around interviews if I apply to graduate programmes?
Why ask it
Student assistants need to know before timetables are fixed, and anyone applying onward will need days away in interview season. A supervisor who has had assistants leave for doctoral study will already have a way of handling it.
How does time off work when a study has fixed time points?
Why ask it
Longitudinal visits, animal cohorts and cell cultures do not pause for a holiday. Someone has to cover, leave may need arranging well ahead, and the honest answer is sometimes that one month of the year is off limits.
Is all of the work on site, or can analysis and writing days be done elsewhere?
Why ask it
Bench and participant work cannot move, but coding, reading and writing can. Go by what people in the group do now, since a policy that allows remote days and a supervisor who likes to see everyone are not the same thing.
Can the employer sponsor a work visa for this post?
Why ask it
Whether sponsorship is possible depends on the country, the employer and often the salary level, and the person interviewing you may not know. Ask who in human resources can confirm it in writing before you turn down anything else.
Credit and growth
Do research assistants here end up as authors on papers, and what does it take?
Why ask it
Norms vary by field and by group, from written contribution criteria to whatever the principal investigator decides. An example beats a principle: whether the last assistant appeared on a paper, and in which position.
When my work does not reach authorship, how is it acknowledged?
Why ask it
Acknowledgement sections, poster author lists and dataset credits are the realistic outputs of a one-year post. A recent paper or poster that names an assistant takes ten seconds to find if it happens, so it is fair to ask to see one.
Would I have a say in how a study is designed, or is the protocol already fixed?
Why ask it
On a funded project the design is often locked by the grant and the ethics approval, so the honest answer may be no for now. The opening tends to come at the next study or an amendment, and whether assistants are in the room when that is planned shows if suggestions from the person running the sessions are wanted.
Would there be room to take on a small piece of work of my own?
Why ask it
Some supervisors expect this and some treat it as a distraction, and neither is wrong. It sorts the post into a place to develop a question of your own or a place to carry out someone else's carefully. If it is the second, leave the point alone in the interview.
Would I present at lab meetings or take a turn leading journal club?
Why ask it
Presenting is how the group learns that you can think as well as pipette or code. Where assistants stay in the audience, a later reference has less to say about your ideas.
Could I submit a poster to a conference, and would the grant cover the trip?
Why ask it
A poster is a realistic first output and something concrete for an application. Whether the last assistant went to a conference is the real test, because travel money that exists in principle is often already spoken for.
Could work I do here count toward a thesis or an honours project?
Why ask it
For students this can turn hours in the lab into a degree requirement, but it needs agreeing early. Who owns the data varies by project and institution, so ask what you would be allowed to write up before you plan around it.
If I apply for a doctorate or medical school in a year or two, how would this post help?
Why ask it
A supervisor who has sent assistants on can say what those people had to show for their time: a poster, a method they could run alone, a detailed letter. The candid ones also say what gets in the way, such as a collection schedule that peaks in interview season.
How long do you hope someone will stay in this post?
Why ask it
Some supervisors want two years because the first is mostly training. Say what you are planning, since a one-year plan meeting a two-year hope is far easier to settle now than at month ten.
Where did your last few research assistants go next?
Why ask it
It is the nearest thing to a track record the post has. Named people and named programmes suggest a supervisor who stays in touch. If nobody comes to mind, ask how long ago the last assistant left before reading anything into it.
Do research assistants here ever move into a doctoral place or a longer post in the group?
Why ask it
The two routes are funded differently. A doctoral place usually goes through the university's own admissions and funding process, which a supervisor can support but may not control, so ask how it works there. If someone has made the move, find out whether they applied in open competition and how long they had been in the post.
When assistants here apply onward, who writes their letters: you, or whoever supervised them day to day?
Why ask it
A letter from the principal investigator carries the name, and one from the postdoc who watched you work carries the detail. Some groups send both or co-sign. Ask what the last assistant's letter was able to say, because that is close to a description of doing this job well.
Closing
What do new research assistants here find harder than they expected?
Why ask it
The answers are usually unglamorous: recruitment that stalls, equipment that fails, data cleaning, or a protocol you run four hundred times. If nothing comes to mind, put the same question to the current assistant when you meet them.
Is there a probation period or a formal review, and what would it be judged on?
Why ask it
Probation rules come from the employer, and beyond them many research posts have no review at all, so expectations stay unspoken until something goes wrong. If that is the case here, suggest agreeing two or three markers in your first month, such as running a session alone by a set date.
Is this a new post on a new grant, or would I be replacing someone?
Why ask it
A post opened by someone leaving for a doctoral programme reads very differently from one opened by someone leaving mid-project. If the role is new, nobody has tested the workload yet, so expect the job to shift in its first months.
What did the best research assistant you have worked with do differently?
Why ask it
The answer is rarely about brilliance. It tends to be careful notes, saying early when something looked wrong, or finishing the dull tasks, and whichever they name is what they will be watching for in you.
Which part of the group's work are you most excited about right now?
Why ask it
People describe a favourite project without a script, so you hear how they think. If it is not the project you would be on, that is worth noticing, because a supervisor's attention tends to follow their excitement.
What do you like about working in this group, and what would you change?
Why ask it
It works best on a postdoc, a student or a panel member who did not write the job description. The second half matters more than the first: a small, specific complaint, such as the booking system or the walk between sites, suggests a candid answer you can weigh. With a principal investigator who built the group, the question about what excites them does the same job better.
Is there anything in my background that makes you hesitate?
Why ask it
Assistants are often hired on promise more than record, so the doubt is usually a missing skill such as coding or bench hours. Hearing it lets you answer on the spot, or offer to close the gap before you start. It lands better one to one than in front of a panel.
Could I visit the lab and talk to the current research assistant before deciding?
Why ask it
Ten minutes with the person doing the job, without the supervisor in the room, can tell you more than the formal interview did. Two things to put to them: what they would change, and how often they see the principal investigator.
What are the next steps, and when do you expect to make a decision?
Why ask it
Put this to whoever is running the hiring, and try to leave with a date. The answer tells you whether there is a second round, a lab visit or a task to complete, and when a short follow-up would be reasonable. If you are holding another offer with a deadline, this is the moment to mention it.
Once you decide, how long does it take to turn that into a contract and a start date?
Why ask it
Academic hiring often passes through posting rules, reference checks and sometimes occupational health, so a spoken yes can sit for weeks. Knowing the usual gap helps you plan your notice, your housing and any other offers you are holding.
Is there anything I could read or learn before I start?
Why ask it
A named paper, a codebook or a tutorial gives you a head start on the first week. It works best as the last question, because it leaves the conversation on what you would do next.
Interviewing for a research assistant post
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the interview
- 1Read two recent papers from the group and note which authors appear on both. Those are likely to be the people running the projects you would join.
- 2Work out which grant or project the posting most likely sits under, and be ready to say what interests you about that specific line of work.
- 3Prepare one concrete example of data you have handled, including what went wrong with it and what you did about it.
- 4Know your own priority before you walk in: technical training, publications, a letter, or income while you apply elsewhere. Each leads to different questions.
- 5Have your availability clear. Approvals and onboarding can push the real start date well past the day an offer is made.
Choosing from a long list
- You may only get time for four or five questions. Take one about the work, one about supervision, one about funding or terms, and one about credit and growth, then close with whichever answer would change your decision.
- Match the question to the person. The principal investigator can speak to funding, authorship and where assistants go next. The postdoc or student who would supervise you knows the training, the weekly routine and the equipment queue.
- Take pay scales, the employer of record, benefits and visas to human resources or the department administrator. The person interviewing you often does not know the detail, and a guess is worse than no answer.
- If you are a student applying for a part-time, credit or volunteer research position, lead with hours, commitment and what you would learn. Authorship and conferences can wait until you have been there a term.
- Start at least one question from a paper of theirs you have read. A question that could only be asked of this group lands better than anything on a general list.
Reading the answers
- A supervisor who names the current research assistant and describes their work is describing a real role. One who speaks only in generalities may not have thought the post through.
- Ask any training question twice, once to the principal investigator and once to whoever would supervise you daily. Where the two answers differ, the second is usually closer to what happens.
- If authorship gets an abstract answer about contribution, follow up with the last three papers and who was on them.
- Watch how they describe the current group. Warm, specific descriptions of colleagues are a better sign than any statement about culture.
- If the post was advertised as paid and you are asked to start unpaid or to volunteer first, treat that as information about how the group treats staff. For a student place taken for credit it is ordinary, so ask what the commitment is instead.
When an offer comes
- Confirm the contract end date as well as the start, and whether it is fixed-term or rolling.
- Where pay follows a scale, ask which grade and point the post starts at and whether moving up happens automatically.
- Check whether training courses, conference travel, or fees for a part-time degree are supported, and from whose budget.
- Clarify who owns the data and the code you produce, and whether you can carry any analysis with you when you leave.
- If someone is doing the job now, ask to speak with them briefly. If the group will not arrange it, ask why.