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Clinical researcher vs study director

The differences between clinical researchers and study directors 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 study director. Additionally, a study director has an average salary of $82,066, 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 study director are toxicology, data collection, and study design.

Clinical researcher vs study director overview

Clinical ResearcherStudy Director
Yearly salary$55,453$82,066
Hourly rate$26.66$39.45
Growth rate6%6%
Number of jobs60,8646,789
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 58%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age4444
Years of experience22

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 study director do?

Technically, a study director carries out scientific responsibilities for protocol design or study plan and approval. Study directors supervise the gathering, analysis, interpretation, documentation, and reporting of data results. They handle the matriculation of students with regard to data management system development. Working with the computer systems team is part of their duties so they will be able to establish a data management system in tracking the study participants. They also support the toxicology team or group on different project teams.

Clinical researcher vs study director salary

Clinical researchers and study directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

Clinical ResearcherStudy Director
Average salary$55,453$82,066
Salary rangeBetween $38,000 And $79,000Between $56,000 And $118,000
Highest paying CitySanta Rosa, CASacramento, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyEdwards LifesciencesAbbVie
Best paying industryPharmaceuticalHealth Care

Differences between clinical researcher and study director education

There are a few differences between a clinical researcher and a study director in terms of educational background:

Clinical ResearcherStudy Director
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 58%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common majorBiologyBiology
Most common collegeUniversity of Michigan - Ann Arbor-

Clinical researcher vs study director demographics

Here are the differences between clinical researchers' and study directors' demographics:

Clinical ResearcherStudy Director
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 38.3% Female, 61.7%Male, 54.9% Female, 45.1%
Race ratioBlack 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, 2.5% Unknown, 7.5% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 12.0% White, 62.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage9%9%

Differences between clinical researcher and study director 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.
    • Show more

Study director example responsibilities.

  • Design, conducts and manages studies for EPA and oce compliance, such as water solubility and partition coefficient studies.
  • Manage all outsource toxicology studies at contract research laboratories.
  • Establish and maintain strong community partnerships to achieve HIV prevention objectives.
  • Evaluate study design and toxicology data as needed.
  • Consult drug development scientists on data interpretation and study conclusions for FDA submission.
  • Participate on the ISO certification team.
    • Show more

Clinical researcher vs study director skills

Common clinical researcher skills
  • Patients, 16%
  • Informed Consent, 12%
  • IRB, 10%
  • Clinical Trials, 8%
  • Data Collection, 8%
  • FDA, 6%
Common study director skills
  • Toxicology, 10%
  • Data Collection, 7%
  • Study Design, 7%
  • Project Management, 6%
  • Data Analysis, 6%
  • FDA, 6%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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