Course description
Programme highlights
-Recognised by the Economic and Social Research Council as meeting its postgraduate research training requirements for 1+ 3 PhD students
-Market Research Society accredited
-Professional research based work placements available as part of the programme
The skills you will learn are highly prized by a wide range of employers, and many of our postgraduates use the skills they learn with us to develop research as an important aspect of their work, increasing the likelihood of fast-track promotion. The programme also offers the opportunity to spend time in a professional research environment undertaking a short placement or a longer placement attached to the final MSc project report.
If you are contemplating a PhD or wish to develop your research skills prior to settling on a PhD research topic, the programme gives you the essential pre-requisites to equip you for research at this level. Many students find the range of modules we provide on qualitative and quantitative research to be of particular benefit in expanding their confidence as researchers. More generally, this programme will give you the know-how to present your research findings with conviction and authority.
Further student testimonials
Further study, research and employment opportunities
Many of our students come from a wide range of public service professions and use the training we provide to develop their careers and to expand their working responsibilities. Graduates have included students developing or seeking to develop careers in local government, youth work, the police force, the National Health Service, and industry and commerce where specialist research skills are highly sought after. The programme is equally attractive to students seeking to develop an academic research career. The programme"s emphasis on research is especially attractive to university departments wishing to appoint research assistants and recruit PhD students.
General programme structure
The programme is divided into two stages, postgraduate diploma and MSc. The PgDip element comprises all the taught modules with the exception of the dissertation or work-based placement, and can be taken as a stand – alone qualification. A further period spent researching and writing a dissertation or placement project leads to the MSc award.
If you study on a full-time basis, the MSc programme lasts one calendar year, starting in September. Attendance is for two full days a week during term times; these teaching days are almost always timetabled for Mondays and Fridays. Typically, part-time study takes two years, and attendance is for one day. In year one, this is a Monday, and in year two, Friday. However, you may take the programme over a maximum period of five years.
All modules, except the subject-specific options, can be taken as short courses by students requiring training in specific areas, without necessarily wanting to register for a formal qualification or for the full course.
Detailed programme structure
-Social research design
-Philosophical and methodological foundations of the social sciences
-Quantitative analysis using SPSS
-Bivariate and multivariate analysis
-Practical experience of fieldwork
-Qualitative approaches to social research
-Techniques of qualitative data analysis including computer-aided analysis
-Disciplinary-specific module options or placement
-Dissertation planning and literature search
-Dissertation or professional placement
This is an innovative training programme in research for the social sciences. The university has a long and distinguished record of social science research and is the major training outlet for many social science disciplines in the south-west peninsula.
It gives you the opportunity to learn about social research through practical experience and provides you with real opportunities for original research. The wide range of options enables you to choose a route to meet your own personal needs.
Learning and assessment
Each of the modules at the diploma stage are assessed without traditional formal examinations. The actual assessment takes many different forms such as essays, class tests, computer exercises or workshop presentations. The masters element comprises a dissertation of between 12,000 and 17,000 words in length which allows specialisation in an area of your choice.
Many of our part-time students take this opportunity to undertake a piece of research that has a direct impact upon their working environment.
