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MA/PGDip/PGCert Social Research Methods

  • DeadlineStudy Details:

    MA/PGDip/PGCert 1 year (full-time) or 2 years (part-time)

Course Description

This programme is designed for students looking to embark on a successful career as a researcher or academic, and provides you with the necessary training as part of your study for your MPhil/PhD.

It’s distinctive in providing students with an exciting opportunity to develop expertise in a range of both quantitative and qualitative research methods of data collection and analysis with a focus on their application to real-world issues.

The course has 1+3 recognition from the Economic and Social Research Council. Only three Education Departments in post-92 universities have this prestigious kitemark.

In order to enhance your engagement with the issues to be examined, and to allow flexibility over how you manage your time, the Social Research Methods programme will be delivered through weekly sessions in the Autumn and Spring semesters supplemented by tutorial support available (both face-to-face and electronically). Evening sessions are provided for part-time students.

Course content

The programme introduces the processes and issues involved in designing a quantitative or qualitative research project. You will also undertake modules that will introduce you to the methods of quantitative (including use of SPSS) and qualitative (including use of CAQDAS) research, giving you the skills and confidence to use these approaches to data collection and analysis in your own research.

You will explore the philosophy of social science research where you will examine the relationship between epistemology, ontology and methodology. Furthermore, you will explore concepts that underpin educational and social research including empiricism, rationalism, hermeneutics, feminism, post-modernism and critical realism and critique their relation to objectivity, causation, and validity.

You will also focus on key elements of the Research Councils’ Joint Statement of Skills Training for Research Students. You can then choose to study interpretations of the concept of education – and their implications for research – and the role of values in educational theory and research methodologies, or the basic theoretical concepts in social theory, with a particular emphasis on sociology and social policy.

Students will complete a dissertation in an area of their choosing in the fields of education or the social sciences.

 

Entry Requirements

You should usually hold a second-class honours degree (certain programmes may require a 2:1) from a recognised British or overseas university. Advice on recognition can be obtained from the Admissions Office. Non-graduates with appropriate professional qualifications will be considered on an individual basis by Programme Conveners; contact details can be found on the individual programme page. Applicants will be expected to apply and register for the full master’s award. Those with a third-class honours degree are encouraged to complete an application as we will consider an applicant’s wider circumstances in making a decision on an application. Please contact admissions@roehampton.ac.uk if you have any questions.

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Fees

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