Social Research (Taught)

Our postgraduate social research course offers you advanced training in qualitative and quantitative research methods to equip you with the skills to tackle complex social issues.

Why choose this course?

• With a focus on real-world application, this course allows you to gain expertise in research that makes a tangible impact on society.

• You will have the opportunity to work with world-class scholars across different social science disciplines.

• It is ideal if you are pursuing a career in research or academia.

• It offers you a diverse selection of modules in computational, quantitative and qualitative social science research.

What you will learn

This course provides you with a wide range of core modules in qualitative and quantitative methods that meet Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) training requirements. Our popular qualitative modules cover a broad variety of approaches that provide you with the necessary skills to plan and conduct independent research. We also offer three comprehensive quantitative modules that build upon each other and are delivered along with the use of R, one of the most widely used statistical programming languages within and outside academia.

If you decide to pursue the Postgraduate Diploma or MSc, you will also have the chance to study a module on investigating the social world. This will provide you with a historical and philosophical toolkit for understanding how to theorise different political and socioeconomic events. You will also take a module offering you a masterclass in social research to develop your in-depth knowledge of advanced research methods. This is taught by experienced guest lecturers who use each of these approaches in their own work.

How you will learn

You can study this social research course full- or part-time with classes in the evening to help you balance your studies with work or other commitments.

Teaching on the course combines pre-recorded lectures with on-campus tutorials and seminars.

For the MSc, you will undertake a dissertation on a topic of your choice putting into practice the methods and theoretical concepts you have been taught.

Highlights

• Birkbeck is a leading research institute in social sciences, housing the Birkbeck Institute for Social Research (BISR) and many other world-leading research centres.

• We provide rigorous training in a diverse range of contemporary social research methods that prepare you to become a professional independent social researcher.

• Our approach to research is interdisciplinary, theoretically informed and creative. We focus on methods offering a wide range of interesting examples from current topics in social sciences.

Careers and employability

On successfully graduating from this social research course, you will have gained an array of important transferable skills such as:

• proficiency in analysing complex data using qualitative and quantitative methods

• the ability to design and implement rigorous research projects

• strong written and oral communication skills for presenting research findings

• effective project management, including managing research timelines and resources

• critical thinking and problem-solving to address real-world social issues.

Graduates can pursue career paths in government departments, think tanks, NGOs, the Civil Service and political parties. Possible professions include:

• social researcher

• government social researcher

• human resources officer

• higher education lecturer

• politician’s assistant.

We offer a comprehensive careers service - Careers and Enterprise - your career partner during your time at Birkbeck and beyond. At every stage of your career journey, we empower you to take ownership of your future, helping you to make the connection between your experience, education and future ambitions.