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Research staff member vs research fellow

The differences between research staff members and research fellows can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a research staff member and a research fellow. Additionally, a research staff member has an average salary of $110,035, which is higher than the $53,823 average annual salary of a research fellow.

The top three skills for a research staff member include python, machine learning and research projects. The most important skills for a research fellow are patients, research projects, and data analysis.

Research staff member vs research fellow overview

Research Staff MemberResearch Fellow
Yearly salary$110,035$53,823
Hourly rate$52.90$25.88
Growth rate17%17%
Number of jobs118,66159,746
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 58%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age4141
Years of experience44

What does a research staff member do?

A Research Staff Member is a part of the research team who will assist in the entire research project. The staff member will work on various research stages and assist in collating information from different sources. One of the research staff members' responsibilities is to understand all facets of conducting research, get all government policies regarding the particular topic in research, and ensure that all procedures are legal and ethical. The research staff member is a broad term for a person part of a research team and is often given specific tasks when one is officially part of the team.

What does a research fellow do?

A research fellow is an academic researcher who conducts research and analysis of comprehensive literature, data, and results and provides literature reviews. He/She supervises research assistants and recruits study participants to interview them for a particular study. To become a research fellow, a candidate should have a doctorate in a relevant discipline and publish peer-reviewed papers. Also, a research fellow can be an independent investigator or be supervised by a principal investigator.

Research staff member vs research fellow salary

Research staff members and research fellows have different pay scales, as shown below.

Research Staff MemberResearch Fellow
Average salary$110,035$53,823
Salary rangeBetween $77,000 And $156,000Between $39,000 And $72,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASouth San Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateConnecticutHawaii
Best paying companyPARCMcKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industryTechnologyNon Profits

Differences between research staff member and research fellow education

There are a few differences between a research staff member and a research fellow in terms of educational background:

Research Staff MemberResearch Fellow
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 58%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common majorElectrical EngineeringChemistry
Most common collegeDuke UniversityDuke University

Research staff member vs research fellow demographics

Here are the differences between research staff members' and research fellows' demographics:

Research Staff MemberResearch Fellow
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 68.9% Female, 31.1%Male, 55.3% Female, 44.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 26.2% White, 53.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 27.1% White, 52.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between research staff member and research fellow duties and responsibilities

Research staff member example responsibilities.

  • Invent and develop new (user) input technology then lead the design and prototyping of its applications.
  • Design, analyze, and oversee HIV relate research projects including IRB protocol.
  • Perform testing for urinalysis, blood sugar, EKG, eye examinations, and blood pressure.
  • Prove that single amino acid changes affect protein oligomerization as well as DNA / RNA - protein binding.
  • Develop advance visualization components and diagrams using C++ third party libraries.
  • Research chemistry and biology projects pertaining to the synthesis of gamma amino derivatives
  • Show more

Research fellow example responsibilities.

  • Collaborate with software engineers to automate identification of 15N- and 13C- labele LC-MS features.
  • Process and manage GIS databases to contribute towards research in human transportation behavior.
  • Manage investigator initiate and cooperative group correlative studies to identify biomarkers to ascertain tumor burden and clinical outcomes in lymphoma.
  • Analyze quantitative and qualitative data through statistical software SAS and SPSS.
  • Conduct sampling, PCR, data analysis and oral presentations of the work
  • Implement python and C++ codes for numerical computation of transport properties in models and materials.
  • Show more

Research staff member vs research fellow skills

Common research staff member skills
  • Python, 17%
  • Machine Learning, 14%
  • Research Projects, 6%
  • DOE, 6%
  • Data Analysis, 5%
  • Java, 4%
Common research fellow skills
  • Patients, 10%
  • Research Projects, 6%
  • Data Analysis, 5%
  • Cell Culture, 5%
  • Immunology, 4%
  • CRISPR, 4%

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