Research Associate (General)
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Research Associate assists with a research program or project. Works in a variety of fields within science or the social sciences, in programs based at a university or research institution, or works on government or industry sponsored research projects. Conducts field or library research or recruits participants for a study; may also assist with legal research.
Job Outlook
There were 1012 Research Associate (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 37491 in the United States.
We do not have this data at this time.
Salary
Many new Research Associate (General) jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $82,203.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $75,336.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Research Associate (General) postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $66,678.
Education and Experience
Posted Research Associate (General) jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 37.76% |
| Master's Degree | 24.55% |
| Doctoral Degree | 37.81% |
| Other | 4.74% |
Posted Research Associate (General) jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 55.86% |
| 3 to 5 years | 36.5% |
| 6 to 8 years | 4.98% |
| 9+ years | 2.66% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Research Associate (General) positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Research (90.78%)
- Communication (31.09%)
- Writing (27.96%)
- Management (17.5%)
- Presentations (16.78%)
- Detail Oriented (16.21%)
- Verbal Communication Skills (11.1%)
- Operations (10.63%)
- Self-Motivation (10.3%)
- Problem Solving (9.97%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Molecular Biology (15.97%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Statistical Analysis (6.26%)
- Clinical Research (11.45%)
- Biochemical Assays (13.01%)
- Chemistry (12.42%)
- Biochemistry (13.79%)
- Clinical Trials (11.79%)
- Biology (25.94%)
- Python (Programming Language) (12.61%)
- Data Collection (17.74%)
- Computer Science (8.26%)
- R (Programming Language) (11.09%)
- Finance (6.03%)
- Data Analysis (26.99%)
- Research Methodologies (5.85%)
- Physics (9.07%)
- Project Management (9.91%)
- Research Experiences (13.26%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Collaborative Research (3.3%)
- Cell Biology (11.01%)
- Flow Cytometry (6%)
- Cell Cultures (11.66%)
- Securities Research (1.67%)
- Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent (ELISA) Assay (5.24%)
- Western Blot (4.67%)
- Postdoctoral Research (4.25%)
- Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reactions (4.38%)
- Ribonucleic Acid Sequencing (6.83%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Collaborative Research (12.31%)
- Cell Cultures (43.46%)
- Flow Cytometry (22.37%)
- Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent (ELISA) Assay (19.51%)
- Securities Research (6.22%)
- Western Blot (17.4%)
- Postdoctoral Research (15.83%)
- Ribonucleic Acid Sequencing (25.43%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Research Associate (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Research Associate
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Research Fellow
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Clinical Research Associate
- Postdoctoral Associate
- Associate Director of Research
- Institutional Research Associate
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Research Assistant
- Biomedical Scientist
- Research Scientist
- Research Technician
- Biologist (General)
- Natural Science Research Manager (General)
- Research and Development Manager
- Research Analyst
- Molecular Biologist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Research Associate (General) jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- University of California (1023)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (817)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (483)
- Mayo Clinic (454)
- University of Pennsylvania (424)
- Cedars-Sinai (421)
- The University of Texas System (373)
- Princeton University (323)
- Actalent (318)
- Merck KGaA Darmstadt Germany (292)
North Carolina
- University of North Carolina (148)
- North Carolina State University (110)
- Duke University (67)
- North Carolina State Of (48)
- Accellacare (34)
- Wake Forest Baptist Health (33)
- North Carolina A&T State University (25)
- Atrium Health Floyd (19)
- Atrium Health (16)
- East Carolina University (16)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Agriculture Data Science Graduate Certificates
- Fundamentals of Entomology Undergraduate Certificates
- Microbiology Undergraduate Certificates
- Statistics Master's Degrees
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.