Clinical researcher vs senior clinical research associate

The differences between clinical researchers and senior clinical research associates can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a clinical researcher and a senior clinical research associate. Additionally, a senior clinical research associate has an average salary of $95,878, which is higher than the $55,453 average annual salary of a clinical researcher.

The top three skills for a clinical researcher include patients, informed consent and IRB. The most important skills for a senior clinical research associate are patients, informed consent, and oncology.

Clinical researcher vs senior clinical research associate overview

	Clinical Researcher	Senior Clinical Research Associate
Yearly salary	$55,453	$95,878
Hourly rate	$26.66	$46.10
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	60,864	94,045
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	2	2

What does a clinical researcher do?

A clinical researcher is primarily in charge of conducting research trials for medicine and health care development. Their responsibilities mainly revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis by gathering samples, performing experiments, working with research participants, and collaborating with other researchers and scientists. Moreover, as a clinical researcher, it is essential to maintain records of all experiments, summarize findings into reports and presentations, and monitor every progress, all while adhering to the research's deadlines, budgets, goals, and policies.

What does a senior clinical research associate do?

A Senior Clinical Research Associate performs and coordinates all aspects of the clinical monitoring and site management process. They design, implement, and monitor clinical trials.

Clinical researcher vs senior clinical research associate salary

Clinical researchers and senior clinical research associates have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Clinical Researcher	Senior Clinical Research Associate
Average salary	$55,453	$95,878
Salary range	Between $38,000 And $79,000	Between $64,000 And $142,000
Highest paying City	Santa Rosa, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	Washington
Best paying company	Edwards Lifesciences	Acorda Therapeutics
Best paying industry	Pharmaceutical	Pharmaceutical

Differences between clinical researcher and senior clinical research associate education

There are a few differences between a clinical researcher and a senior clinical research associate in terms of educational background:

	Clinical Researcher	Senior Clinical Research Associate
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Biology	Biology
Most common college	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	Duke University

Clinical researcher vs senior clinical research associate demographics

Here are the differences between clinical researchers' and senior clinical research associates' demographics:

	Clinical Researcher	Senior Clinical Research Associate
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 38.3% Female, 61.7%	Male, 28.2% Female, 71.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 2.5% Unknown, 7.4% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 13.5% White, 62.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 2.6% Unknown, 7.6% Hispanic or Latino, 15.0% Asian, 11.6% White, 62.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between clinical researcher and senior clinical research associate duties and responsibilities

Clinical researcher example responsibilities.

Manage site master file contents and work with sites to ensure communication requirements between site and IRB are adhere to.
Establish and maintain strong community partnerships to achieve HIV prevention objectives.
Maintain study database to in compliance with FDA regulations.
Perform NIH studies, coordinate interviews of clinical research trial participant's.
Support IRB applications and analyze collected data.
Interact with and assess patients to determine effectiveness of medicine.

Senior clinical research associate example responsibilities.

Manage a consultant to review scientific support and create dossiers on each product that make health claims in the EU.
Interact with FDA and other regulatory authorities to manage and facilitate approval of regulatory submissions.
Monitor U.S. sites in accordance with ICH and GCP guidelines.
Maintain investigators and subjects files, review investigators files for compliance with GCP and FDA regulations, review drug utilization records.
Verify informed consent procedures and protocol requirements base on applicable regulatory requirements to ensure protection of study patients.
Provide site management for both therapeutic and supportive care oncology protocols that are complex and require knowledge in advance therapeutic areas.

Clinical researcher vs senior clinical research associate skills

Common clinical researcher skills

Patients, 16%
Informed Consent, 12%
IRB, 10%
Clinical Trials, 8%
Data Collection, 8%
FDA, 6%

Common senior clinical research associate skills

Patients, 11%
Informed Consent, 6%
Oncology, 5%
CRA, 5%
Site Management, 5%
Field Training, 4%

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Clinical Researcher
Clinical Researcher vs Senior Clinical Research Associate

Updated January 8, 2025

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