How To Become A Survey Researcher: What It Is and Career Path

What is a survey researcher and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Pedar Foss Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a survey researcher. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.23 an hour? That's $50,405 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 700 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a survey researcher?

Pedar Foss Ph.D.

Professor of Classical Studies, DePauw University

The advice to students who are graduating is that college prepares them not just for their first job but for a lifetime of adapting to the changing labor landscape. What matters is not what one is doing at age 25, but at age 40. Flexibility, adaptability, and nimbleness, combined with an open mind and exposure to multiple points of view and numerous disciplinary approaches to problems, will ensure that a student can surf their career and not get swamped by a wave of change that overcomes someone who has learned/done only one thing and is therefore stuck in that job.

ScoreSurvey ResearcherUS Average

Salary

3.9

Avg. Salary $50,405

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.1

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.09%

Asian 7.92%

Black or African American 6.94%

Hispanic or Latino 14.11%

Unknown 6.43%

White 63.50%

Gender

female 57.99%

male 42.01%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

6.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.0

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a survey researcher

Explore survey researcher education requirements

Most common survey researcher degrees

Bachelor's

58.1 %

High School Diploma

14.5 %

Associate

12.8 %

Start to develop specific survey researcher skills

Skills	Percentages
Conduct Interviews	13.99%
Conduct Surveys	12.42%
Public Health	9.27%
Customer Service	6.53%
Market Research	6.43%

Complete relevant survey researcher training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New survey researchers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a survey researcher based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real survey researcher resumes.

Research survey researcher duties and responsibilities

Develop software tools to automate cad work.
Modify standard Nielsen script as required to achieve customer cooperation.
Assist in calculating records of survey, plats, Alta's, and parcel maps.
Administer computer-assist telephone interviews (CATI) targeting specific respondents for data.

Prepare your survey researcher resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your survey researcher resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a survey researcher resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable survey researcher resume templates

Build a professional survey researcher resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your survey researcher resume.