Department of Sociology

Master’s Completion Requirements

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Master’s Completion Requirements

The master’s program in Social Data Analytics is a terminal degree program designed to be completed in two semesters. The program requires eight courses including an optional intensive Research Internship that is attached to a faculty Directed Research Practicum.

Brown undergraduates who enter the program as fifth-year Master’s students are allowed to use up to two undergraduate courses to count towards the eight credit requirements if the courses are among the required or elective courses for the program.

All entering students are required to have

  1. One-semester introductory statistics course (SOC 1100 Introductory Statistics for Social Research or an equivalent),
  2. More advanced course in statistics or a course in college calculus (MATH 0050 and 0060, or MATH 0090 or an equivalent), and
  3. One-semester course in research methods (SOC 1020 Methods of Social Research or an equivalent).

Total of 8 Courses

Two Required Courses

  • Multivariate Statistical Methods I (SOC 2010)
  • Multivariate Statistical Methods II (SOC 2020)

Five Elective Advanced Analysis Courses Across Three Topical Areas

  • Focus Groups for Market and Social Research (SOC 1117)
  • Context Research for Innovation (SOC 1118)
  • Market and Social Surveys (SOC 1120)
  • EPIC: Ethnographic Praxis in Industry (SOC 1127)
  • Market Research in Public and Private Sectors (SOC 1260)
  • Qualitative Methods (SOC 2210)
  • Ethnography: Theory and Practice (SOC 2250)
  • Fields and Methods of Social Research (SOC 2430) 
  • Comparative Historical Analysis (SOC 2600)
  • Principles and Methods of Geographic Information Systems (SOC 1340)
  • Geographical Analysis of Society (SOC 1871W)
  • Spatial Thinking in Social Science (SOC 2610)
  • Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis for the Social Sciences (SOC 2612)
  • Spatial Data Analysis Techniques in the Social Sciences (SOC 2960G)
  • Applications in Geographic Information Systems (SOC 2961B)
  • Techniques of Demographic Analysis (SOC 2230)
  • Event History Analysis (SOC 2240)
  • Statistical Methods for Hierarchical and Panel Data (SOC 2960S)
  • Causal Analysis (SOC 2960Y)
  • Computational Methods for Social Scientists (SOC 2961M)

One Substantive Course in Sociology

  • To be selected from a pre-approved list of graduate courses (2000-level) taught in the Department of Sociology

Research Internship and Directed Research Practicum

Students may elect to enroll in a faculty Directed Research Practicum (SOC 2982) in the first or second semester in conjunction with a research internship. The internship provides students with hands-on experience in social research. Internship experiences may occur outside of the department (either off-campus with a local organization in the for-profit or not-for-profit sector or an on-campus organization) or on a faculty member's research project. Activities may range from data collection, data entry, data file management, descriptive analyses, and more advanced model estimation. Students sometimes opt to design their own project under the supervision of a faculty member.