Social Research Methods MSc

This course gives equal priority to quantitative and qualitative approaches, and begins with a comprehensive overview of the research essentials. This includes the formulation of research questions and the connections of theory and method, as well as the core data collection approaches and secondary data sources available to researchers, and the main analytic techniques.

Once you’ve established the foundation skills for advanced social research, in the second semester you’ll select four modules from a suite of advanced methods courses taught intensively in week-long modules. We designed this innovative modular format to give you an in-depth understanding of particular research techniques, combining structured lectures with practical workshops in our in-house computer lab. It enables you to fully immerse yourself in particular research approaches, while also providing an effective structure for us to build advanced understanding. This also allows you to tailor your learning experience, focusing more closely on qualitative or quantitative options.

Our MSc Social Research Methods is designed to give you an in-depth understanding of the full methodological toolkit available to social science researchers. These skills are in high demand, and many of our graduates go on to work in research agencies such as the Office for National Statistics, Ipsos Mori and the Home Office, while others go on to study for a PhD.

We have an unrivalled research methods heritage, and our teaching is backed by decades of experience. We were the first in the UK to run this type of course in 1974.