Master's Programme in Applied Social Research

The Master’s Programme in Applied Social Research, offered by the Department of Sociology at Stockholm University, is a specialized and research-oriented Master’s programme with the objective of training highly qualified sociologists with special skills in statistical and other quantitative methods. The distinguishing feature of the programme is its combination of rigorous sociological theory with quantitative empirical methods to analyze and contribute to the solution of challenging problems in sociology and society. The programme meets an increasing demand in public authorities and firms for skills in research design, measurement, data collection, and data analysis, and welcomes students who want to attain an advanced knowledge of quantitative social research methods, and how these can be used to address problems where the empirical analysis of data is a crucial component. The first three semesters consist of compulsory courses and elective courses. The compulsory courses provide students with skills in analyzing and using modern sociological theories, research designs, and a variety of quantitative social research methods. All courses aim at giving students hands-on knowledge of applying research methods to address research questions, and cover a variety of techniques and approaches commonly used inside and outside of academia (e.g., surveys, forecasts, evaluations, network analysis, regression techniques). The elective courses facilitate for students to specialize, either methodologically or field-wise. During the fourth semester, the student independently conducts research work that is reported as a master’s thesis in sociology.