(First) Part time employee vs. contractor

[Matt Fisher]

I need help with marketing-primarily research- and I'm spinning in circles about whether I should hire an individual as an employee or as a contractor (and how a virtual assistant would be classified).

The initial work I need would be internet research for specific individuals that meet my marketing criteria.  It may be less than 10 hrs per week, it could be done at home and I'm very flexible about how and when they do it-I just need it in a format that I can use. I can see this role expanding into about a half-time position in a few months (expanded marketing stuff).

Hiring an employee seems to be an incredibly cumbersome task.  Hiring the same individual as a contractor seems much easier (in terms of added bookkeeping workload, etc.) but for my needs I'm not confident in the IRS' litmus tests...

Finally, I think that a VA would be GREAT for this, but I am having trouble finding how they are treated from a tax standpoint... Personally, I would prefer to hire locally but our tax code seems to make offshore VA's more attractive, but I digress...

Can anyone offer any advice or suggestions?  It's greatly appreciated!

Matt