Research volunteer vs senior research fellow

The differences between research volunteers and senior research fellows can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a research volunteer, becoming a senior research fellow takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a senior research fellow has an average salary of $62,129, 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 senior research fellow are python, research projects, and data analysis.

Research volunteer vs senior research fellow overview

	Research Volunteer	Senior Research Fellow
Yearly salary	$54,668	$62,129
Hourly rate	$26.28	$29.87
Growth rate	19%	17%
Number of jobs	50,334	53,535
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Average age	38	41
Years of experience	2	4

Research volunteer vs senior research fellow salary

Research volunteers and senior research fellows have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Research Volunteer	Senior Research Fellow
Average salary	$54,668	$62,129
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $85,000	Between $40,000 And $95,000
Highest paying City	-	Urban Honolulu, HI
Highest paying state	-	Hawaii
Best paying company	-	Google
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between research volunteer and senior research fellow education

There are a few differences between a research volunteer and a senior research fellow in terms of educational background:

	Research Volunteer	Senior Research Fellow
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common major	Biology	Chemistry
Most common college	Harvard University	Duke University

Research volunteer vs senior research fellow demographics

Here are the differences between research volunteers' and senior research fellows' demographics:

	Research Volunteer	Senior Research Fellow
Average age	38	41
Gender ratio	Male, 38.7% Female, 61.3%	Male, 56.1% Female, 43.9%
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, 6.2% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 26.5% White, 53.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between research volunteer and senior research fellow 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.

Senior research fellow example responsibilities.

Lead a project aim at improving DNA yields from various soil types in Dr. Connell's lab.
Manage grant base research and submit the grant proposal to ICAR and get approved for fund research.
Mentore a graduate student on the following topics: study design, literature reviews, drafting data plans and SAS.
Contribute to the creation of new markup standards for scholarship in the humanities.
Research unidentify payments and patients.
Conduct long-term observations of grind water dynamics and chemistry.

Research volunteer vs senior research fellow skills

Common research volunteer skills

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

Common senior research fellow skills

Python, 12%
Research Projects, 8%
Data Analysis, 6%
C++, 6%
Research Findings, 5%
Data Collection, 4%

Research Volunteer vs. similar jobs

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Research Volunteer
Research Volunteer vs Senior Research Fellow

Updated January 8, 2025

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