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Contract researcher vs senior research analyst

The differences between contract researchers and senior research analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a contract researcher and a senior research analyst. Additionally, a senior research analyst has an average salary of $75,056, which is higher than the $50,230 average annual salary of a contract researcher.

The top three skills for a contract researcher include R, database management and data collection. The most important skills for a senior research analyst are analytics, data analysis, and data collection.

Contract researcher vs senior research analyst overview

Contract ResearcherSenior Research Analyst
Yearly salary$50,230$75,056
Hourly rate$24.15$36.08
Growth rate19%19%
Number of jobs18,22371,891
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age3737
Years of experience66

What does a contract researcher do?

A Contract Researcher provides research support services for various industries, such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology. They are contracted by companies to lead the company's trials, duties, and functions.

What does a senior research analyst do?

The duties of a senior research analyst depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around coordinating with different departments to gather necessary data, performing research and analysis to identify consumer and market needs, finding new business opportunities, and devising strategies to optimize workflow and workforce processes. Furthermore, as a senior research analyst, it is essential to lead and encourage the team members and serve as a mentor to junior analysts, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

Contract researcher vs senior research analyst salary

Contract researchers and senior research analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.

Contract ResearcherSenior Research Analyst
Average salary$50,230$75,056
Salary rangeBetween $20,000 And $122,000Between $57,000 And $98,000
Highest paying City-Olympia, WA
Highest paying state-Washington
Best paying company-JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Best paying industry-Finance

Differences between contract researcher and senior research analyst education

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

Contract ResearcherSenior Research Analyst
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia

Contract researcher vs senior research analyst demographics

Here are the differences between contract researchers' and senior research analysts' demographics:

Contract ResearcherSenior Research Analyst
Average age3737
Gender ratioMale, 51.5% Female, 48.5%Male, 54.1% Female, 45.9%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.4% Asian, 14.5% White, 64.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 14.1% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between contract researcher and senior research analyst duties and responsibilities

Contract researcher example responsibilities.

  • Manage placental research for high-risk obstetric patients with the purpose of determining relationship between the altitude and birth weight.
  • Attain and practice medical insurance information rapidly and correctly; including main carriers and Medicaid.
  • Analyze water chemistry (i.e.
  • Perform DNA analysis on applicable samples to include extractions, amplifications, and processing of amplify DNA.
  • Used SAS data steps, procedures and functions to create analysis datasets, tabulation datasets and listing datasets.
  • Assist research on the biological and environmental impacts of on-site construction using HPLC, GC-MS as an environmental engineer assistant.
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Senior research analyst example responsibilities.

  • Manage research department employees and resources, operational budget preparation and oversight.
  • Work with SAS to manipulate data and perform analysis by using macros, metadata, loops, counts and macro variables.
  • Develop and automate front-end data querying and reporting tools for client presentations and reports in VBA and SQL.
  • Conduct statistical analyses with SAS using grocery store scanner data of consumer package goods for test households throughout the U.S.
  • Develop and redesign SQL databases for condensation and reporting efficiency.
  • Analyze quantitative project data using SPSS and serve as statistical consultant for company.
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Contract researcher vs senior research analyst skills

Common contract researcher skills
  • R, 14%
  • Database Management, 14%
  • Data Collection, 6%
  • Market Research Data, 5%
  • Quantitative Data, 5%
  • Statistical Analysis, 5%
Common senior research analyst skills
  • Analytics, 7%
  • Data Analysis, 6%
  • Data Collection, 5%
  • PowerPoint, 5%
  • Research Projects, 4%
  • Healthcare, 4%

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