MSc Sociological Research

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2027, the tuition fees are as follows:

• MSc (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £14,400
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £28,100

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students .
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

• The structure and organisation of a dissertation
• Doing a literature review
• Designing surveys
• Doing qualitative interviews
• Analysing quantitative data
• Analysing qualitative data
• Research ethics application
• Project management your dissertation: challenges, contingencies and problems-solving
• Writing the methodology chapter
• Presenting your findings: analyses and findings chapters

• To develop students' ability to design and implement their dissertation research project. 
• To provide students with the opportunity to develop their research projects through group-based learning and discussion and in so doing, to complement the work undertaken through individual supervision meetings under the dissertation programme. 
• To give students awareness of the role of the literature review in research design and how to plan, organise, and write a literature review in relation to their specific research aims. 
• To provide a practical learning forum for students to consolidate and further develop their academic knowledge about research methods and associated methodological debates that they have studied in other specialist modules. 
• To provide students with opportunities to develop their practical skills in conducting social research such as designing methods, data analysis etc. to assist them with their dissertation projects. 
• To provide students with the opportunity to develop their generic skills in written presentation and in group work.

Building on from Research Design 1, by the end of the course students should have: 

• Applied and developed their knowledge of methods and methodology through a focus on preparing their critical literature review for their dissertation and through discussion of their peers' research design. 
• Produced a critical literature review as a basis for the empirical work for their dissertation. 
• Presented and discussed their research design with a small peer group. 
• Developed their skills and experience in the oral presentation of their work (as well as in written presentation for the assessment). 
• Developed their evaluation skills through the discussion of their peers' research designs. 
• Developed practical skills in research design and delivery in preparation for their dissertation projects.

Each week contains a mix lectures and workshops

Provide a critical literature review based upon your chosen dissertation topic 100% (3000 words +/- 10%)

Mini-literature review 0% (750 words +/- 10%)

Updated research plan 0% (750 words +/- 10%)