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Teaching & research assistant vs research assistant

The differences between teaching & research assistants and research assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a research assistant has an average salary of $42,896, which is higher than the $36,796 average annual salary of a teaching & research assistant.

The top three skills for a teaching & research assistant include lab reports, laboratory sessions and organic chemistry. The most important skills for a research assistant are patients, lab equipment, and data collection.

Teaching & research assistant vs research assistant overview

Teaching & Research AssistantResearch Assistant
Yearly salary$36,796$42,896
Hourly rate$17.69$20.62
Growth rate-19%
Number of jobs48,93651,080
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Average age4438
Years of experience-2

What does a teaching & research assistant do?

The job of teaching and research assistants is to support faculty members in course material preparation and instruction. They often work in educational institutions such as universities and colleges. They perform varied duties and responsibilities that may include organizing visual aids and reference materials, conducting discussion groups, laboratory sessions, and seminars, and grading term papers, exams, and laboratory reports. Teaching and research assistants may also teach sections, conduct tutorials, and assist in overseeing study projects. The skills and qualifications required for this role may include being enrolled in a doctoral or master's study program and excellent communication skills.

What does a research assistant do?

Research assistants give support to researchers or other professionals who need assistance as they conduct experiments, studies, or other research projects. Research assistants help in conducting experiments, surveys, or interviews under the supervision of the primary researcher. They also work on research activities such as literature reviews, collect data, assist in interpreting results, prepare designs or visuals for the presentation of the results, and even ensure that all the tools and documentation related to the study are properly organized. They also assist in fact-checking the output and ensure that the data presented are accurate. Research assistants usually possess an academic background that is related to the main research topic.

Teaching & research assistant vs research assistant salary

Teaching & research assistants and research assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

Teaching & Research AssistantResearch Assistant
Average salary$36,796$42,896
Salary rangeBetween $20,000 And $64,000Between $28,000 And $64,000
Highest paying City-New Brunswick, NJ
Highest paying state-New Jersey
Best paying company-JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Best paying industry-Health Care

Differences between teaching & research assistant and research assistant education

There are a few differences between a teaching & research assistant and a research assistant in terms of educational background:

Teaching & Research AssistantResearch Assistant
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Most common majorChemistryPsychology
Most common collegeNortheastern UniversityHarvard University

Teaching & research assistant vs research assistant demographics

Here are the differences between teaching & research assistants' and research assistants' demographics:

Teaching & Research AssistantResearch Assistant
Average age4438
Gender ratioMale, 56.0% Female, 44.0%Male, 46.3% Female, 53.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% Asian, 11.6% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%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%
LGBT Percentage6%8%

Differences between teaching & research assistant and research assistant duties and responsibilities

Teaching & research assistant example responsibilities.

  • Evaluate patients' study eligibility via medical history, obtain informed consent, enroll patients, and achieve enrollment quotas.
  • Design and teach workshops on serial communication, basic python, and open computer vision library.
  • Guide and monitor classroom lab activities involving SPSS software, research analysis, and data compilation.
  • Assemble, correlate and analyze research outcomes using SPSS, and synthesize data and findings graphically using charts.
  • Prepare and teach lab sections for undergraduate-level cartography and spatial statistics courses, and graduate-level raster GIS course.
  • Design questionnaire for tobacco study, collect data by going on fields, enter data, create SAS databases.
  • Show more

Research assistant example responsibilities.

  • Update twitter profile and manage social media campaign.
  • Manage social media publications to spread awareness and notifications on Facebook.
  • Evaluate patients' study eligibility via medical history, obtain informed consent, enroll patients, and achieve enrollment quotas.
  • Learned many laboratory techniques, assays, and protocols; western blot, real-time PCR, tick collection, DNA extraction.
  • Analyze the effects of estrogen on various tissues using molecular biology techniques such as RT-PCR, RNA and DNA extractions.
  • Gain familiarity with research terminology, development procedures, data collection and management, and IRB considerations.
  • Show more

Teaching & research assistant vs research assistant skills

Common teaching & research assistant skills
  • Lab Reports, 19%
  • Laboratory Sessions, 9%
  • Organic Chemistry, 7%
  • R, 6%
  • Research Projects, 6%
  • Undergraduate Courses, 5%
Common research assistant skills
  • Patients, 9%
  • Lab Equipment, 9%
  • Data Collection, 8%
  • Laboratory Equipment, 5%
  • Research Projects, 5%
  • Data Analysis, 5%

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