Methods of Social Research – (M.A.)

The MA in Methods of Social Research aims to provide a training that will prepare students to work as social science researchers, and/or to appreciate and make effective use of social research in a variety of different settings. The programme has ESRC recognition for 1+3 studentships.

It aims to:

* Provide essential training for those who will go on to employment involving the use of social research or to further research in the social sciences.
* Introduce students to a variety of different approaches to social science research, presented in a multi-disciplinary context and at an advanced level
* Cover the principles of research design and strategy, including formulating research questions or hypotheses and translating these into practicable research designs
* Make students aware of the range of secondary data available and equip them to evaluate its utility for their research
* Develop skills in searching for and retrieving information, using library and Internet resources in a multi-disciplinary context
* Introduce students to the philosophical, theoretical and ethical issues surrounding research and to debates about the relationship between theory and research, about problems of evidence and inference, and about the limits to objectivity
* Develop skills in the main statistical techniques for data analysis, including the use of SPSS and multivariate analysis
* Develop skills in writing, in the preparation of a research proposal, in the presentation of research results and in verbal communication
* Help students to prepare their research results for wider dissemination, in theform of seminar papers, conference presentations, reports and publications, in a form suitable for a range of different audiences, including academics, policy makers, professionals, service users and the general public