Our people | Rachel Gibbins
Social Researcher
I manage the Keep In Touch Survey, which is part of the larger General Household Survey that asks people about their household, income, citizenship, migration, smoking, drinking and health. Households can be interviewed for up to four consecutive years and, through Keep In Touch, I ensure respondents are contacted when they should be and their details are kept up-to-date.
In liaison with Information management and the Field team I create the questionnaire. I also brief the Field Interviewers, process the data and produce tables for publication on our website. I enjoy the contact I have with the various teams and producing data that can be used to monitor government policy.
In the six years I've worked here, I've travelled nationally and internationally to conferences and to meet with customers. The project I enjoyed most was probably the development of surveys to measure e-commerce in the UK. Policy departments were particularly interested in it and it had a very high profile in ONS. I contributed to the survey design and methodology, as well as the launch of the first national statistics on online sales and purchases by businesses. It was a real challenge and gave me a great sense of achievement.
I want to continue developing my career in official statistics. ONS provides you with good training and learning support, and I'm sure that's contributed to my being promoted twice. Also, being a large employer, the variety and number of job opportunities they can offer is bigger than most. You can specialise in survey methodology or concentrate on project management or data dissemination. The flexi–working system ONS operates means you can have the right work/life balance, which – together with other facilities such as the gym, shop and staff restaurant – make it a very good place to work.
