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The differences between graduate research assistants and research scientists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a research scientist has an average salary of $89,998, which is higher than the $34,230 average annual salary of a graduate research assistant.
The top three skills for a graduate research assistant include R, technical reports and research projects. The most important skills for a research scientist are python, data analysis, and patients.
| Graduate Research Assistant | Research Scientist | |
| Yearly salary | $34,230 | $89,998 |
| Hourly rate | $16.46 | $43.27 |
| Growth rate | 19% | 17% |
| Number of jobs | 52,695 | 93,013 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Average age | 44 | 41 |
| Years of experience | - | 4 |
Graduate research assistants are students who work for senior researchers or professors. They help professors in their research. Usually, graduate research assistants are given allowances or stipends in exchange for their help. Graduate research assistants help the researcher in testing research tools, gathering data, and analyzing data. They may also help researchers in creating presentations, interpreting data through graphs, and crafting other collateral that the researcher may need. It is usually required that the graduate research assistant is studying a specific field related to the research topic.
The job of research scientists is to design, undertake, and analyze information from experiments, trials, and laboratory-based investigations. They usually perform experiments in different areas, including medical research, pharmacology, and geoscience. They have varied duties and responsibilities that include planning and carrying out experiments, conducting fieldwork, and overseeing junior staff members like the technicians. They are typically working for a government laboratory, an environmental agency, and other organizations. Many of these scientists also work in teams and support staff.
Graduate research assistants and research scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Graduate Research Assistant | Research Scientist | |
| Average salary | $34,230 | $89,998 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $52,000 | Between $58,000 And $137,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Menlo Park, CA |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | California |
| Best paying company | Los Alamos National Laboratory | Lyft |
| Best paying industry | Education | - |
There are a few differences between a graduate research assistant and a research scientist in terms of educational background:
| Graduate Research Assistant | Research Scientist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Chemistry |
| Most common college | Georgia Institute of Technology | Duke University |
Here are the differences between graduate research assistants' and research scientists' demographics:
| Graduate Research Assistant | Research Scientist | |
| Average age | 44 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.2% Female, 45.8% | Male, 62.5% Female, 37.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% Asian, 11.8% White, 53.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 29.6% White, 50.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 8% |