"Conducted interviews with 47 participants." "Conducted a literature review." "Conducted experiments on RNA sequencing." The verb is everywhere, and it says almost nothing.

"Conducted" is the default verb for anyone who touched a study, ran an experiment, or asked questions—but it collapses design, execution, analysis, and reporting into one bland word. Hiring committees in academia, research labs, and newsrooms want to know what you owned.

Synonyms for 'conducted' in academia

Academic hiring committees read dozens of CVs. They're looking for signals of intellectual ownership, methodological rigor, and publication readiness.

Designed — You built the study architecture, not just ran someone else's protocol.
"Designed a mixed-methods study of 230 undergraduates examining retention across first-gen cohorts, published in Journal of Higher Education"

Administered — You managed the logistics: IRB, recruitment, scheduling, data collection.
"Administered a 12-week longitudinal survey across three campuses, achieving 89% retention and zero protocol violations"

Analyzed — You did the statistical or qualitative work, not just collected responses.
"Analyzed interview transcripts from 52 faculty using thematic coding in NVivo, identifying four emergent themes around tenure anxiety"

Published — You saw the work through to peer review and print.
"Published findings from a 340-student experiment on active learning in Science Education, cited 19 times in first year"

Piloted — You ran a preliminary version to test feasibility before scaling.
"Piloted a flipped-classroom intervention with two sections (N=58), refining protocol before campus-wide rollout"

Synonyms for 'conducted' in research

Research hiring managers—whether academic labs, industry R&D, or think tanks—want to see technical depth and contribution to the literature.

Executed — You carried out the experimental plan with precision.
"Executed a 14-week field study of soil microbiomes across 22 sites, processing 880 samples through RNA-seq pipeline"

Led — You coordinated the team, managed timelines, and made methodological calls.
"Led a multi-site randomized trial (N=1,200) testing vaccine efficacy, coordinating four PIs and IRB amendments across institutions"

Investigated — You probed a question with hypothesis-driven rigor.
"Investigated CRISPR off-target effects in 96 cell lines, identifying three novel loci and contributing data to consortium meta-analysis"

Facilitated — You ran sessions, managed participants, or coordinated data flow.
"Facilitated 34 cognitive interviews for survey pretesting, reducing item non-response by 41% in final fielding"

Reported — You wrote up findings for internal stakeholders, funders, or publications.
"Reported interim findings from phase-II trial to NIH program officer, securing no-cost extension and $180K supplement"

Synonyms for 'conducted' in journalism

Editors and news directors want to see enterprise, sourcing rigor, and output. "Conducted" hides whether you broke news or rewrote a press release.

Reported — You gathered original information through interviews, FOIA, or on-the-ground observation.
"Reported a three-part investigative series on eviction court practices, interviewing 29 tenants and analyzing 1,400 case records"

Interviewed — You secured and questioned sources, on or off the record.
"Interviewed 14 city council members across eight months for a long-read feature on housing policy, published in The Atlantic"

Investigated — You dug into records, followed leads, and uncovered new information.
"Investigated procurement fraud in local school district, filing 11 FOIA requests and breaking story picked up by regional AP bureau"

Documented — You recorded events, testimony, or conditions for the record.
"Documented community opposition to pipeline expansion through 50+ interviews and attendance at 12 public hearings across four counties"

Covered — You were the beat reporter responsible for a topic or institution.
"Covered state legislature education committee for two sessions, filing 87 stories and breaking news on charter-school audit findings"

When 'conducted' is fine to keep

If you were part of a large team and your specific contribution isn't separable, "conducted" is honest. "Conducted fieldwork as part of a 9-person team collecting water samples across the Amazon basin" is clear and accurate.

If the verb itself isn't the headline—the what is—"conducted" can stay. "Conducted the first-ever survey of unhoused youth in Portland (N=340)" works because the novelty and scale carry the bullet.

If you're writing for a general audience or a funder report and precision matters less than accessibility, "conducted" is fine. Save the specific verbs for hiring committees in your field.

Verb consistency vs variety across seniority

Junior resumes benefit from variety. A grad student or early-career researcher showing range—"designed" one study, "analyzed" another dataset, "facilitated" focus groups—signals adaptability and a willingness to do the grunt work alongside the intellectual work.

Senior resumes benefit from consistency within a tier. A tenured professor or principal investigator should cluster around ownership verbs: "led," "designed," "published," "secured funding." Mixing in "assisted" or "supported" reads as filler or misrepresents hierarchy.

The trap is using variety to hide a pattern of low ownership. If every bullet is a different verb but none of them commits to full ownership—"contributed to," "participated in," "helped conduct"—the resume reads as someone who showed up but didn't drive. Pick a verb that matches your actual role, then use that tier consistently. Mid-career researchers should be landing on "executed," "analyzed," "reported." If you're still writing "assisted," you're either underselling or not yet ready for the role you're applying to.

Hiring committees notice verb drift across a CV. If your postdoc bullets say "led" and "designed" but your current role says "conducted" and "supported," they'll wonder if you stepped down in responsibility or if the earlier verbs were inflated. Verb consistency within a role and a reasonable upward ladder across roles is the tell of someone who knows what they owned.

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If you're a grad student writing your first research cover letter for an internship, remember that the cover letter can carry softer, reflective verbs—"explored," "learned," "collaborated." The resume is where you commit to ownership verbs that match what you actually did.

For more: computed synonym, conceptualized synonym, consolidated synonym, contributed synonym, cultivated synonym