Clinical Research Coordinators
Plan, direct, or coordinate clinical research projects. Direct the activities of workers engaged in clinical research projects to ensure compliance with protocols and overall clinical objectives. May evaluate and analyze clinical data.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Speaking
- Coordination
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Administrative
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Administration and Management
- Biology
- Computers and Electronics
- Mathematics
What the work involves
- Review scientific literature, participate in continuing education activities, or attend conferences and seminars to maintain current knowledge of clinical studies affairs and issues.
- Prepare for or participate in quality assurance audits conducted by study sponsors, federal agencies, or specially designated review groups.
- Perform specific protocol procedures such as interviewing subjects, taking vital signs, and performing electrocardiograms.
- Develop advertising and other informational materials to be used in subject recruitment.
- Confer with health care professionals to determine the best recruitment practices for studies.
- Track enrollment status of subjects and document dropout information such as dropout causes and subject contact efforts.
- Review proposed study protocols to evaluate factors such as sample collection processes, data management plans, or potential subject risks.
- Record adverse event and side effect data and confer with investigators regarding the reporting of events to oversight agencies.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Investigative, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (60.1% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (33.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (42%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Clinical Research Coordinators is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 11-9121 (detailed_parent); it may describe a broader group.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 71% of occupations compared | 63% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 52% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 63% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 58% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 84% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 68% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 79% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 65% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Very serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 37.49%
- Constant contact with others: 62.51%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 26.59%
- Fairly important: 13.34%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 17.16%
- Extremely important: 42.91%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 8.19%
- Very important: 41.83%
- Extremely important: 49.98%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0.97%
- Limited freedom: 17.43%
- Some freedom: 41.29%
- A lot of freedom: 40.31%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 8.19%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 4.52%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 38.01%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 41.33%
- Every day: 7.95%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 20.32%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 35.56%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 15.17%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 24.51%
- Every day: 4.45%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 8.21%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 59.86%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 26.51%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 2.46%
- Every day: 2.96%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 24.49%
- Fairly serious: 20.47%
- Serious: 20.32%
- Very serious: 32.27%
- Extremely serious: 2.46%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 11-9121.01 · SOC 11-9121 (detailed_parent, medium confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8