A clinical data associate is responsible for tracking data and results in a research study. As a clinical data associate, your job duties are to collect data, perform data management, and input data into any software used by your team. You work on a research team, so you must be able to work collaboratively and have excellent organizational skills. While you spend most of your time in an office, you may be required to work in the field to record data. The only universal qualifications needed for this career are a background in health care or medical science research and experience with data management software like Oracle Clinical, Microsoft Excel, and SPSS.