MSc Social Research Methods and Statistics

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

• MSc (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £16,600
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £34,200

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.

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 course is an introductory module for postgraduate students that take the QRM courses. The first two sessions are the same as for SOCY60230, while the remaining five sessions are specific to this course. 

The course aims to introduce students to qualitative research by looking at the ontological and epistemological foundations from an historical perspective, and at the range of instruments available both for collecting and analysing data. 

The first lecture (SOCY60230) introduces the course and overviews the structure of the QRM programme. The lecture proper will discuss some key characteristics of qualitative research, and we will go over some basic methodological terminology that will be in use throughout the module. 

The second lecture (SOCY60230) discusses the key elements of doing qualitative research projects: thinking carefully about research questions, working through the advantages/disadvantages of different sampling strategies and attending to ethics from the outset. 

The following five lectures (SOCY60231) overview the various theoretical perspectives that have adopted qualitative methods in social science's research, the methods for collecting and analysing qualitative data, and introduce some advanced perspectives on mixed methods. These lectures are intended as introductory sessions to orientate the students in the selection of the 5-credit QRM units in the qualitative methods they're particularly interested in. In the concluding session, the module discusses the possibility for generalizing qualitative results.

On completion of these units successful students will be able to: 

• Be familiar with the foundational ontological and epistemological elements of qualitative research. 
• Critically engage with the debate over the incompatibilities between qualitative and quantitative methods by placing the paradigm war into its historical perspective. 
• Recognize and understand the various methods for data collection and analysis that are available in qualitative research. 
• Familiarize with the recent advancement in the debate that pushes toward mixed methods approaches. 
• Understand the possibilities for generalizing qualitative results and present them in a coherent and robust way. 

Each week comprises a 1-hour lecture for the whole class and a 1-hour workshop in smaller groups. Your tasks for each week are specified in detail in the weekly folders on Canvas. So, for each topic you should, at least: 

• Read the essential reading(s), plus one other recommended reading as listed on Reading Lists Online. 
• Carry out additional preparation for scheduled workshops s as specified on the Canvas website. 
• Attend the lecture and participate in the workshop. 

One assessed essay with a maximum limit of 2,000 words makes up 100% of the overall course mark. The word limit allows for +/- 10%, i.e. in the range 1,800-2,200 words.

Note: You must include an accurate word count on the front page of your essay. Failure to do so 
will lead to an automatic 2 mark deduction. Your word count should include all text in the essay (including any footnotes, tables and so on) but does not include the bibliography. 

Choose two research articles (from a list of articles available on Canvas). Critically discuss and compare, across the two articles:

1. The paradigmatic foundation of the article, reflecting upon the ontological and epistemological implications. 
2. The strategy for data collection and analysis, and the sample strategies that the researchers have adopted. 
3. The type of analysis they have conducted. 
4. The claims and inferences that they make in the article, including claims for generalisation (if any).

More details on the assessment are available on Canvas.