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The differences between social research assistants and graduate research assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a social research assistant has an average salary of $52,089, which is higher than the $34,230 average annual salary of a graduate research assistant.
The top three skills for a social research assistant include social work, data entry and SPSS. The most important skills for a graduate research assistant are R, technical reports, and research projects.
| Social Research Assistant | Graduate Research Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $52,089 | $34,230 |
| Hourly rate | $25.04 | $16.46 |
| Growth rate | 19% | 19% |
| Number of jobs | 74,385 | 52,695 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Average age | 38 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 2 | - |
Social Research Assistants are responsible for providing support to social scientists in the area of surveys, laboratory work, and other related social research. Their duties include editing and submitting research documentation, acquiring research subjects' consent, preparing reports, managing databases, designing survey instruments, filter subject suitability, track participant's progress, manage laboratory resources and conduct data entry work. They also assist in research findings presentation, administer surveys, collect specimens, perform statistical analyses, supervise standardized testing, manage scheduling and recruitment of participants, and participate in basic researching.
Graduate research assistants are students who work for senior researchers or professors. They help professors in their research. Usually, graduate research assistants are given allowances or stipends in exchange for their help. Graduate research assistants help the researcher in testing research tools, gathering data, and analyzing data. They may also help researchers in creating presentations, interpreting data through graphs, and crafting other collateral that the researcher may need. It is usually required that the graduate research assistant is studying a specific field related to the research topic.
Social research assistants and graduate research assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Social Research Assistant | Graduate Research Assistant | |
| Average salary | $52,089 | $34,230 |
| Salary range | Between $32,000 And $83,000 | Between $22,000 And $52,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | New York University | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
| Best paying industry | Education | Education |
There are a few differences between a social research assistant and a graduate research assistant in terms of educational background:
| Social Research Assistant | Graduate Research Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor | Georgia Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between social research assistants' and graduate research assistants' demographics:
| Social Research Assistant | Graduate Research Assistant | |
| Average age | 38 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 32.6% Female, 67.4% | Male, 54.2% Female, 45.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 11.3% White, 55.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | 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% |