The Master's Programme in Applied Social Research 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.

Sociology is the science about human social behaviour and relations between people and societies. Frequent sociological issues deal with processes and patterns of the interaction of groups and individuals, forms of organization of social groups, relations between groups, influence of groups on the behaviour of individuals and differencies among people in terms of power resources and life chances. This year the Sociology subject at Stockholm university ranks 34 in the world – and number 7 in Europe in the list of the best universities in the world in the prestigious Shanghai ranking.

We welcome 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 programme 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.

Teachers at the programme are researchers that are highly active in the international research community, in several of Stockholm University's leading research areas.

Programme overview

The first three semesters consist of compulsory and elective courses (see below for details on the courses).

The compulsory courses provide the student with the skills and competences to critically analyze and use sociological theories, different types of evaluation methods and research designs and a wide range of methods of analysis.

The elective courses make it easier for students to specialize, either methodologically or subject-wise. The elective courses can, after consultation with the department, be taken at another Swedish university or a university abroad. During the fourth semester, the student writes a master's thesis in sociology.

Career opportunities

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.