MSc Social Policy (Research Methods)

The most important skill students should develop in graduate education is how to design research projects that withstand critical scrutiny. This module is designed to develop this skill at MSc level.

The class introduces students to the theoretical and practical issues they will need to address when designing and conducting research in social and public policy and related areas. During this module students will critically evaluate empirical research, develop an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different research designs, and build a foundation for their research projects and master theses.

This course introduces students to the use of quantitative methods in social research. Like qualitative methods, quantitative methods are tools in the social scientist’s toolkit. Learning when and how to use them will make you a better social researcher, open new scope for Masters or doctoral dissertation work, and improve your job prospects.

This class introduces students to some of the most important concepts which have shaped our understanding of social policy as an academic discipline, including such concepts as need, citizenship and entitlement, equality and justice, and happiness and wellbeing.

It also looks at issues surrounding the governance and implementation of social policy and the variety of ways in which our needs for welfare provision can be addressed. We also look at some of the main theoretical perspectives which have informed the development of social policy, such as social democracy, liberalism, conservatism, feminism, environmentalism, Marxism and the New Right.

The final part of the class looks at some of the main challenges facing social policy-makers today.

This class provides an overview of the ever-expanding field of qualitative methods in social science. This includes the examination of a wide variety of approaches, including case studies, small-N comparisons, ethnographies, historical research, and discourse analysis.

It also includes the study of a range of data collection and data analysis techniques such as observation, document analysis, elite interviews, and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA).

This class examines the ways in which different societies have sought to address welfare needs at different points in time.

It takes a broad view of the ‘field’ of social policy, examining issues associated not only with poverty but also health, housing and education. It explores the ways in which policies in these areas have developed in different countries and under different policy regimes over the last 200 years. It then looks at the varieties of social policy response in contemporary societies and examines the challenges to traditional social policy which are posed by population movements and the development of transnational welfare institutions.

The aim of this class is to provide students with the opportunity to undertake an individual research project in one of our specialist research areas. Our staff have a wide range of interests, including such topics as:

• the history of social policy in the UK
• the mixed economy of welfare
• long-term changes in health, welfare and the standard of living
• citizenship & welfare
• race, ethnicity & social policy
• welfare & migration
• child poverty
• technology and welfare

Students will have the opportunity to review the literature in their chosen area, formulate their own research questions, develop their presentational skills and prepare their own projects.

This class will provide a particularly useful foundation for those students who wish to undertake a dissertation or go on to more advanced research.

This class revolves around the different aims for conducting comparative policy analysis such as explaining the variation of policy output and outcome across different institutional, economic, social and cultural settings, generalising a given theory of policy process in different geographical contexts and by taking time into consideration, as well as capturing the interdependence of countries. Units of analysis include countries, states/regions, local governments, and international organisations. Students will be introduced to concepts, research design and methods.

International organisations (IOs), like the World Trade Organisation, the United Nations, NATO, or the European Union have become common place in how governments govern their international relations. IOs are often seen as the solution to international cooperation problems, be it in areas of conflict, trade, human rights, or the global environment. Whether IOs can live up to this promise and can indeed change national governments' behaviour to solve global cooperation problems will be the central question this course addresses. Specifically, we will examine why IOs differ in their rules and decision-making processes and how this variation translates into different policy outputs and outcomes. The first part of the class builds the theoretical and analytical foundation to address these key questions in a principled manner across different policy domains, while the second part applies these insights to specific IOs. We will discuss prominent IOs, such as the World Bank, IMF, or NATO together with newer forms of transnational governance as well as international courts.

The Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences offers a large number of other MSc programmes, including programmes in Education, Government & Public Policy, History, Journalism, Law, Psychological Sciences & Health, and Social Work. Many of these programmes include classes which are directly relevant to Social Policy. You'll have the opportunity to complete your programme by selecting a class from one of these programmes, subject to availability.

In order to complete the MSc, all students will be required to undertake a 15,000-word dissertation on a topic of their choice.

The dissertation will be supervised by a member of staff but is intended to provide students with the opportunity to develop their skills as independent researchers.