Intern Questionnaire Overview
The intern questionnaire is a section of the intake form for research students and postdoctoral research fellows. It is designed to assess the validity of contingent worker internship positions, defined as any unpaid research student or postdoctoral fellow role at BILH/BIDMC.
At its core, an unpaid position should primarily benefit the intern, rather than serve the operational needs of the employer. In other words, the central focus of an unpaid research role must be on learning and mentorship for the student or postdoctoral fellow, regardless of the tasks performed. In fact, unpaid research interns may require additional effort from the employer and, due to the level of mentorship involved, could even slow down project progress.
Unpaid interns should not be responsible for managing major projects or tasks. Their contributions should be supportive and geared toward educational development. If an unpaid intern were to leave their position abruptly, the employer’s daily operations should remain unaffected.
The questions in the questionnaire, assessing the validity of an unpaid position are as follows:
|
Question |
Necessary Answer for Approval |
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Is this internship similar to training that would be provided in an educational institution? |
YES: While the hands-on experience of conducting research may differ from how the content is taught in the classroom, the experience itself should still be related to the student’s or postdoc’s current or previous education and career path. |
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Is the internship experience for the benefit of the intern, rather than for the benefit to BIDMC's operations? |
Yes: The opportunity for the intern to learn and grow must supersede any benefit to the lab, research outcomes, or BIDMC. |
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Will the intern perform work that other employees also perform, with the student doing the work for the purpose of learning and not necessarily performing a task for BIDMC? |
YES: Since learning is the main focus of the research opportunity, the emphasize should be placed first and foremost on the intern learning new skills and experience vs. outcomes of the research. |
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Will you provide an opportunity for the intern to learn a skill, process, or other business function, or operate equipment? |
YES: Since learning is the main focus of the research opportunity, the emphasize should be placed first and foremost on the intern learning new skills and experience vs. outcomes of the research. |
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Will you provide an opportunity for the intern to learn a skill, process, or other business function, or operate equipment? |
Yes: Since learning is the main focus of the research opportunity, the emphasize should be placed first and foremost on the intern learning new skills and experience vs. outcomes of the research. |
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Will the intern be supervised by you or one of your staff members? |
YES: It is vital that this role is supervised by a qualified researcher, who can provide guidance and mentorship throughout the opportunity. |
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Is it clear that the student will not replace a regular employee, but instead will learn while working under the close supervision of existing staff? |
YES: Since learning is the main focus of the research opportunity, the emphasize should be placed first and foremost on the intern learning new skills and experience vs. outcomes of the research. They, under no circumstances, should be conducting the work of and/or displacing a paid individual. |
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Will the intern be enrolled in an academic program during the internship? |
NO: It is not a requirement for the intern to be enrolled in an academic program during this learning opportunity, however they can only be enrolled in an unpaid role without any funding, either via BILH payroll or external sources to support their time in the experience, for up to one calendar year maximum. You will need to provide an explanation in the questionnaire if you select no. |
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Will the intern receive academic credit for the internship or is the internship required for a course or for graduation? |
NO: It is not required that an unpaid intern receive academic credit for the experience, however it should be directly related to their current, or previous, academic program and career path. You will need to provide an explanation in the questionnaire if you select no. |
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Is it clear that a job is not guaranteed upon completion of the internship or completion of the student's schooling? |
YES: This is a learning experience, not a work experience. A paid job cannot be guaranteed at the end of the opportunity as a result of the experience. |
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The employer and intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship |
YES: Both the intern and employer must understand and agree that the intern is not entitled to wages for this experience. |
Furthermore, for unpaid research students, you will be required to answer the following, open-ended questions, backing up your responses to the questionnaire:
1.) Description of Intern's Role for this Program or for this Phase.
This section should provide a 1-2 sentence description stating specifically how the internship will be geared towards the completion of the Student Intern's academic program at his or her home institution.
2.) Please list the names and titles of those who will provide continuous (for example, daily) supervision of the Intern, including the primary supervisor. What are these persons' qualifications to teach the planned learning?
This section should detail the frequency with which the faculty sponsor and the Student Intern will meet; a general agenda for their meetings; and what information the faculty sponsor will review to assess the status of the Student Intern's projects. Include the name of the faculty sponsor; his/her official title at the department; and a few sentences about the his/her qualifications to provide supervision.
3.) What specific knowledge, skills, or techniques will be learned?
The response to this question should expand on the previous answer. It should provide substantial details regarding what the Student Intern is going to learn by the end of the internship.
4.) How specifically will these knowledge, skills, or techniques be taught? Include any specific tasks and activities and/or methodology of training and chronology/syllabus that may apply to the Intern.
This question requires that you describe specifically how the Student Intern will be taught during the internship.
Please review the intern questionnaire carefully. The Office of Student Engagement and Experience (OSEE) will follow up if there are any questions regarding the responses provided.