Research volunteer vs doctoral student

The differences between research volunteers and doctoral students can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a doctoral student has an average salary of $56,000, 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 a doctoral student are C++, python, and java.

Research volunteer vs doctoral student overview

	Research Volunteer	Doctoral Student
Yearly salary	$54,668	$56,000
Hourly rate	$26.28	$26.92
Growth rate	19%	17%
Number of jobs	50,334	15,502
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Average age	38	44
Years of experience	2	-

Research volunteer vs doctoral student salary

Research volunteers and doctoral students have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Research Volunteer	Doctoral Student
Average salary	$54,668	$56,000
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $85,000	Between $39,000 And $78,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between research volunteer and doctoral student education

There are a few differences between a research volunteer and a doctoral student in terms of educational background:

	Research Volunteer	Doctoral Student
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Most common major	Biology	Biology
Most common college	Harvard University	Stanford University

Research volunteer vs doctoral student demographics

Here are the differences between research volunteers' and doctoral students' demographics:

	Research Volunteer	Doctoral Student
Average age	38	44
Gender ratio	Male, 38.7% Female, 61.3%	Male, 52.9% Female, 47.1%
Race ratio	Black 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, 11.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% Asian, 11.8% White, 53.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	6%

Differences between research volunteer and doctoral student 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.

Doctoral student example responsibilities.

Manage multiple collaborative projects peripheral to dissertation that leverage experience in characterization and inorganic synthesis.
Lead the in-vitro biophysical and biochemical characterization of homologous recombination and investigate structure-function effects of mutant enzymes.
Used RT-PCR, ELISA, western blot, culture of establish cell lines, and immunohistochemistry.
Apply NMR techniques to assess the effect of a health supplement on neurological changes in Alzheimer s disease.
Analyze the molecular structures by NMR and FR-IR, determine the molecular weight and polymerization kinetics by GPC.
Develop complex ELISA and western blot methods to study and characterize the host immune response to intracellular parasitism.

Research volunteer vs doctoral student skills

Common research volunteer skills

Lab Procedures, 11%
Cell Culture, 8%
Laboratory Techniques, 7%
Data Collection, 6%
R, 4%
RT-PCR, 4%

Common doctoral student skills

C++, 15%
Python, 11%
Java, 10%
Cell Culture, 6%
Chemistry, 6%
Data Analysis, 5%

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Research Volunteer
Research Volunteer vs Doctoral Student

Updated January 8, 2025

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