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Associate research specialist vs research leader

The differences between associate research specialists and research leaders can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an associate research specialist and a research leader. Additionally, a research leader has an average salary of $107,345, which is higher than the $48,302 average annual salary of an associate research specialist.

The top three skills for an associate research specialist include research projects, informed consent and data collection. The most important skills for a research leader are data collection, data analysis, and market research.

Associate research specialist vs research leader overview

Associate Research SpecialistResearch Leader
Yearly salary$48,302$107,345
Hourly rate$23.22$51.61
Growth rate19%19%
Number of jobs56,83477,051
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 75%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age3737
Years of experience66

Associate research specialist vs research leader salary

Associate research specialists and research leaders have different pay scales, as shown below.

Associate Research SpecialistResearch Leader
Average salary$48,302$107,345
Salary rangeBetween $33,000 And $69,000Between $64,000 And $178,000
Highest paying CitySeattle, WAJersey City, NJ
Highest paying stateWashingtonNew Jersey
Best paying companySAS InstituteMeta
Best paying industryFinancePharmaceutical

Differences between associate research specialist and research leader education

There are a few differences between an associate research specialist and a research leader in terms of educational background:

Associate Research SpecialistResearch Leader
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 75%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common majorBiologyPsychology
Most common collegeUniversity of Maryland - College ParkNorthwestern University

Associate research specialist vs research leader demographics

Here are the differences between associate research specialists' and research leaders' demographics:

Associate Research SpecialistResearch Leader
Average age3737
Gender ratioMale, 37.4% Female, 62.6%Male, 56.4% Female, 43.6%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.3% Asian, 14.4% White, 64.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.3% Asian, 14.3% White, 64.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between associate research specialist and research leader duties and responsibilities

Associate research specialist example responsibilities.

  • Attain and practice medical insurance information rapidly and correctly; including main carriers and Medicaid.
  • Develop an interactive mapping system which utilizes a SAS programming platform and geospatial technology.
  • Participate in a summer research intensive that provide hands-on training in interdisciplinary biomedical laboratory techniques with an emphasis in advance instrumentation.
  • Develop and implement clinical and community-base research and evaluation projects in HIV prevention, smoking interventions, and domestic violence

Research leader example responsibilities.

  • Lead social path-to-purchase study, incorporating social media analytics into insight community to identify spectrum of social engagement among customers.
  • Develop new business development initiatives by performing comprehensive research, evaluation and analysis of national and international healthcare markets.
  • Train other analysts to perform ELISA assay.
  • Used SQL to create reports and extract data.
  • Conduct statistical tests to find results by operating SPSS.
  • Attend seminars and lectures on various research topics in mathematics.
  • Show more

Associate research specialist vs research leader skills

Common associate research specialist skills
  • Research Projects, 13%
  • Informed Consent, 9%
  • Data Collection, 9%
  • Laboratory Analysis, 7%
  • IRB, 7%
  • Chemistry, 5%
Common research leader skills
  • Data Collection, 7%
  • Data Analysis, 6%
  • Market Research, 6%
  • Python, 6%
  • Research Methods, 5%
  • Research Findings, 4%

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