Research Process

Throughout our articles, we try to provide evidence-based advice across a wide range of complicated topics to help you have more impact with your career. 

However, the topics we cover are complicated, and filled with many uncertainties. Because of this, we want to be clear about how we produce our content.

Our process for producing content has three main components: literature review, expert consultation, and feedback.

Components of our research process

Literature review

In all our content, we conduct our own research by searching, reviewing, and incorporating existing resources and evidence. Where relevant, we try to prioritize peer-reviewed academic publications, but we also use other resources like articles, websites, and lectures. Throughout our content, we aim to provide links to the resources that have informed our views. Sometimes we may also link to external pages where we’ve more formally documented our literature review.

Expert advice

We consult with experts and others experienced in the field to help inform our articles and guide our research, particularly with our career profiles where specialist knowledge is essential. We publicly credit individuals at the end of any content they helped with (except those who wish to remain anonymous).

Feedback 

All our content receives feedback before publication. This includes at least one round of internal feedback, and many articles also receive feedback from external experts who helped us earlier in the research process. On top of this, we’re always looking to improve our content, even after it’s published. If you have relevant experience or knowledge in any of the topics we cover, we’d love to hear your feedback!

Career Profile Investigation Depth

We conduct research into all of our career profiles. However, the amount of time we spend investigating each career profile can vary. To reflect this, each career profile will have one of the following two labels.

Significant investigation

Career profiles with the significant investigation label are the product of a considerable amount of internal research as well as consultation with numerous domain experts. These profiles will cover a wide range of advice on the career path and are likely to be among the most comprehensive content you’ll be able to find on these careers from an impact-focused perspective.

What this means for you: We’ll be confident in many of the claims we make in career profiles labeled with significant investigation depth. However, there will still be some uncertainties, so we recommend you consult other resources as well.

Initial investigation

Career profiles with the initial investigation label are the product of our own internal research and, typically, consultation with at least one domain expert. They will address some of the most important considerations about the career they discuss, though we might not have looked into all of their relevant aspects and we’re likely to have some key uncertainties. 

What this means for you: These career profiles will help point you in the right direction, but it’s likely there will be quite a few considerations that need further investigation. We highly recommend consulting other resources in conjunction with these career profiles.