Social Research

On this course you'll become well-versed in the theoretical concepts in social research. Choose from a wide range of modules that reflect your interests, and apply your qualitative and quantitative skills to your field of research. Our graduates go on to PhD research or careers that demand world-class research skills.

Course description

Whether you are starting your career in social research, are an experienced researcher seeking to enhance your skills or looking to further your academic research career, this course will build on your existing expertise, equipping you with advanced mixed methods research skills, along with the theoretical foundations of social research.

You'll gain a versatile range of cutting-edge qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research skills. We will develop your ability to successfully deliver complex research projects from proposal through to the design, implementation and communication of the results. You will learn how to:

• Formulate research questions
• Develop an appropriate research design
• Apply practical quantitative and qualitative research skills including data visualisation and interviewing techniques
• Manage and analyse your data and meaningfully communicate the results to project stakeholders, maximising the chances of your research making a difference

You'll develop widely transferable and practical skills that can be applied to real-life research problems and support your career development. Our innovative teaching methods will enable you to learn by doing, giving you the chance to use your new knowledge in your current role or to further your PhD studies.

Guided by our expert staff, as part of your course you will complete either a hands-on research project in the form of a dissertation or extended research proposal, where you have the opportunity to design a large-scale research project. We try to pair you with a supervisor that shares an interest in your research topic, providing you with further expert insight.

You can tailor your course to your own interests by selecting optional modules from a wide range of departments from across the Faculty of Social Sciences, exposing you to the latest debates within your field of research.

The course has been specifically developed to meet the ESRC postgraduate training and development guidelines.

Part-time study option

The MA Social Research course is 180 credits, 60 of which are the dissertation/proposal, which comes at the end.

On a full-time basis that amounts to 60 credits per semester, followed by the 60 credit dissertation/proposal completed over the summer. Part time study is half of that, so depending on the way you choose to organise your studies, it's 30 credits per semester (over four semesters) followed by the dissertation/proposal.

We can and do help students organise modules around work commitments but it definitely helps if employers are willing to be flexible.

The amount of contact time for part-time students is about 5 to 6 hours per week. We do try and cluster core teaching into as few days as possible but students can be expected to attend campus for up to five days per week, depending on optional module choices.

The course is best experienced through small group in-person teaching so there is no online or remote learning option.