Program research specialist vs research consultant

The differences between program research specialists and research consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a program research specialist and a research consultant. Additionally, a research consultant has an average salary of $83,492, which is higher than the $60,904 average annual salary of a program research specialist.

The top three skills for a program research specialist include data analysis, data collection and mathematics. The most important skills for a research consultant are data collection, medicaid, and business development.

Program research specialist vs research consultant overview

	Program Research Specialist	Research Consultant
Yearly salary	$60,904	$83,492
Hourly rate	$29.28	$40.14
Growth rate	19%	19%
Number of jobs	115,466	61,865
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age	37	37
Years of experience	6	6

What does a program research specialist do?

Program research specialists are professionals who are responsible for performing duties related to the business research program of an organization. These specialists must manage several major marketing research projects that aim to assess CRM solutions, marketing automation, and customer service processes. They must collect qualitative data and perform data analysis to create internal reports and provide recommendations to clients to improve services. Program research specialists must also use various software packages that can summarize and interpret statistical results.

What does a research consultant do?

A research consultant is an individual who is responsible for collecting and analyzing multiple types of data across a variety of formats and present research reports for research and analytics companies, public institutions, and private businesses. Research consultants are required to design research strategies to complete the needs of research projects as well as create a basic plan of action for finding data. They may use online resources, phone surveys, and other data-collection methods to find and collect data. Research consultants must also assign investigative teams to verify and double-check the collected data.

Program research specialist vs research consultant salary

Program research specialists and research consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Program Research Specialist	Research Consultant
Average salary	$60,904	$83,492
Salary range	Between $40,000 And $90,000	Between $60,000 And $115,000
Highest paying City	Sacramento, CA	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Delaware	New York
Best paying company	SAP	Microsoft
Best paying industry	Technology	Education

Differences between program research specialist and research consultant education

There are a few differences between a program research specialist and a research consultant in terms of educational background:

	Program Research Specialist	Research Consultant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common major	Biology	Psychology
Most common college	Northwestern University	University of Georgia

Program research specialist vs research consultant demographics

Here are the differences between program research specialists' and research consultants' demographics:

	Program Research Specialist	Research Consultant
Average age	37	37
Gender ratio	Male, 39.0% Female, 61.0%	Male, 48.2% Female, 51.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 14.2% White, 64.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 14.0% White, 65.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between program research specialist and research consultant duties and responsibilities

Program research specialist example responsibilities.

Manage study documentation throughout study life cycle including IRB annual renewals, modifications, patient study charts and regulatory binder.
Used SAS to review further information for merging projects.
Time code numerous videos for postdoctoral research on developmental behavior and violence -convert subject data into statistical input using IBM SPSS.
Evaluate antibodies by sandwich ELISA to determine their ability to capture or detect proteins.
Modify ELISA and western-blotting protocols to investigate biotin-labele protein-DNA complexes.
Participate in and run biofeedback experiments in the field of psychophysiology.

Research consultant example responsibilities.

Lead research team in IRB transition from traditional hard copy submission to electronic submission.
Develop an SQL solution to automate performance attribution reports.
Attain and practice medical insurance information rapidly and correctly; including main carriers and Medicaid.
Design and oversee implementation of decision-analytic models and database analyses using SAS, SPSS, and STATA.
Pull, merge data by using SAS, and assign tags.
Isolate, purify and quantify DNA from human blood.

Program research specialist vs research consultant skills

Common program research specialist skills

Data Analysis, 14%
Data Collection, 10%
Mathematics, 10%
Public Health, 7%
Research Program, 6%
Research Studies, 5%

Common research consultant skills

Data Collection, 12%
Medicaid, 8%
Business Development, 6%
Study Design, 5%
Data Analysis, 5%
Survey Design, 5%

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Program Research Specialist
Program Research Specialist vs Research Consultant

Updated January 8, 2025

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