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Research volunteer vs assistant research scientist

The differences between research volunteers and assistant research scientists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a research volunteer and an assistant research scientist. Additionally, an assistant research scientist has an average salary of $62,780, which is higher than the $54,668 average annual salary of a research volunteer.

The top three skills for a research volunteer include lab procedures, cell culture and laboratory techniques. The most important skills for an assistant research scientist are research projects, data collection, and data analysis.

Research volunteer vs assistant research scientist overview

Research VolunteerAssistant Research Scientist
Yearly salary$54,668$62,780
Hourly rate$26.28$30.18
Growth rate19%17%
Number of jobs50,33488,786
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Average age3838
Years of experience22

Research volunteer vs assistant research scientist salary

Research volunteers and assistant research scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Research VolunteerAssistant Research Scientist
Average salary$54,668$62,780
Salary rangeBetween $34,000 And $85,000Between $43,000 And $89,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-Massachusetts
Best paying company-University of California
Best paying industry-Education

Differences between research volunteer and assistant research scientist education

There are a few differences between a research volunteer and an assistant research scientist in terms of educational background:

Research VolunteerAssistant Research Scientist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Most common majorBiologyBiology
Most common collegeHarvard UniversityHarvard University

Research volunteer vs assistant research scientist demographics

Here are the differences between research volunteers' and assistant research scientists' demographics:

Research VolunteerAssistant Research Scientist
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 38.7% Female, 61.3%Male, 55.6% Female, 44.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 15.4% Asian, 16.9% White, 52.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% Asian, 16.7% White, 52.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between research volunteer and assistant research scientist duties and responsibilities

Research volunteer example responsibilities.

  • Evaluate patients' study eligibility via medical history, obtain informed consent, enroll patients, and achieve enrollment quotas.
  • Assist in monitoring MRI scans.
  • Assist in cloning and expression for RNA research.
  • Analyze cell lysates and purify proteins by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis.
  • Design a PowerPoint presentation to teach senior adults about email accounts.
  • Assist with laboratory experiments, collect data and DNA samples, contribute to lab protocols.
  • Show more

Assistant research scientist example responsibilities.

  • Lead a group of four employees in optimizing DNA purification technologies for production DNA sequencing.
  • Evaluate patients' study eligibility via medical history, obtain informed consent, enroll patients, and achieve enrollment quotas.
  • Experience in SAS programming in biomedical research.
  • Prepare salivary samples for Cortisol ELISA assays.
  • Gather and code quantitative and qualitative data using SPSS and Atlas.ti.
  • Standardize assays to elucidate the mechanism of action of lead molecules.
  • Show more

Research volunteer vs assistant research scientist skills

Common research volunteer skills
  • Lab Procedures, 11%
  • Cell Culture, 8%
  • Laboratory Techniques, 7%
  • Data Collection, 6%
  • R, 4%
  • RT-PCR, 4%
Common assistant research scientist skills
  • Research Projects, 8%
  • Data Collection, 7%
  • Data Analysis, 6%
  • Lab Equipment, 4%
  • Cell Culture, 4%
  • Chemistry, 4%

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