Hello everyone, and welcome to this 365 Data Science special where we will talk
about yet another gateway into data science - a position that large enterprises simply
can’t do without – the research analyst. In this video, we’ll learn who the research analyst is,
what they do, how much they make, and what skills and degree you need to become one.
But before we begin, we just want to remind you that there are plenty of amazing career
paths you can explore within the field of data science and data analytics, such as:
Machine Learning engineer Data analyst
Business analyst Marketing analyst…
We’ll do a video just like this for each of these career opportunities and many more, so be sure to
subscribe to our channel and check them out too! Alright! Now, let’s start with a quick
overview of the research analyst role. Who are they and how do they fit inside a company?
If you imagine the research analyst as the quiet colleague sitting in solitude,
spending endless hours in research, you are, well… wrong. Despite being an entry-level position,
the research analyst role is much more dynamic and important than meets the eye,
as it involves day-to-day interactions with various teams and the opportunity
to communicate with multiple stakeholders in the organization. The reason for that?
For starters, research analysts work closely with the master data team to define
what data will be necessary for particular research topics and to review data quality.
They also collaborate with the project team to define research questions, organize the data
collection process, and, finally, report findings to the project or team lead.
A research analyst receives special requests and investigates certain
topics ad-hoc to support the stakeholders’ decision-making process on a frequent basis.
Not to mention that they also serve as task lead for a wide range of research-related activities
across departments within the company. So, that’s quite a lot of different responsibilities
and certainly no time to get bored on the job. That’s the brief profile of this interesting job
role. But to get a better idea of what it’s like to be a research analyst, we need to get familiar
with their typical duties in terms of activities. As mentioned, research analysts are busy with
numerous versatile tasks. Here’s a shortlist of their most typical responsibilities:
Working with project teams to set up project evaluation mechanisms;
Communicating with different stakeholders and forming hypotheses to be tested;
Data collection and database organization of research data;
Collaborating with marketing or other divisions to prepare survey materials
or to train interviewers collecting qualitative data;
Analyzing data, and forming conclusions based on statistical analysis;
Communicating insights verbally and in formal reports.
Pretty cool, right? If you can see yourself thriving in this job role,
you’ll probably be curious to find out more about the financial aspect, as well.
So, how much do research analysts make? According to Glassdoor, a research analyst makes
$56,893 on average. That said, if you’re just starting your research analyst career,
expect a median salary of $40k a year. Of course, with experience, your annual pay can rise to $84k!
Okay! Let’s explore the possible career path if this is your profession of choice.
А research analyst job can pave the way for career success as an analytics manager… and why not even
a data scientist further down the road? In fact, when it comes to job outlook,
the position is typically high in-demand in large companies oriented towards analytical data-driven
decision making. Research analysts are hired across a wide range of industries, including
the Consumer, FMCG, and Pharmaceutical fields. With that in mind, it’s time to address the
crucial question: what are the key skills you need to apply for a research analyst job?
To give the most accurate answer, we looked into currently active job postings to discover the
in-demand tools and skills an eligible candidate must have… just like a research analyst would do!
Here’s what the data says: 63% of job postings emphasized Excel skills
53% mentioned strong communication And 9 % requested Python
Other notable mentions include SQL, SAS, SPSS.
What about academic background? Unsurprisingly, 81% of job posts
require a Bachelor’s degree, preferably with a concentration in IT, Economics. Statistics,
Engineering, Mathematics, or Data Science. It’s also worth noting that, in terms of years
on the job, the average expected experience is 3.37years. That makes the research analyst job
a low-hanging fruit compared to other roles in analytics and data science.
However, you shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that it’s easy to become one. Understanding of research
methods, statistics and statistical modeling, domain knowledge, technical skills, database
administration, working with large quantities of data, formulating hypotheses, A/B testing are all
frequent prerequisites we’ve seen in job postings. So, it turns out research analysts and data
scientists have much more in common that one would think at first.
Both professions need high statistics skills. At the same time, research analysts must be able to
formulate a research question and determine how it can be answered numerically. And,
although they have a limited arsenal in terms of programming abilities and don’t use advanced
statistical tools such as neural networks, a good research analyst needs most of the other
technical skills required for a data scientist. And we’ve got you covered. We developed the
‘3-6-5 Data Science Program’ to help people of all backgrounds enter the field of data
science and data analytics. We have trained more than 500,000 people around the world
and are committed to continue doing so. If you are interested to learn more,
you can find a link in the description that will also give you a special offer on all of our plans.
Alright! Now you’re aware of the most important aspects of the research analyst position,
what to expect from the job, and what skills to acquire to become one.
Nevertheless, if you feel like you still need additional career advice and a more
detailed analysis of the career opportunities in data science – we wrote a super-comprehensive
guide about this, and the link is in the description, if you want to learn more.
In the meantime, thanks for watching, and best of luck on your data science journey!