MSc — 2025 entry Social Research

The MSc Social Research prepares you to conduct, commission and evaluate social research to inform policy and practice in the real world. This degree develops your expertise in cutting-edge qualitative and quantitative techniques, research design and communication, aiming to prepare you for a career as social researcher or for PhD studies in social science.

Key course information

Typical offer
2:2 minimum
Start date
September 2025
Attendance
Full-time
Duration
1 year
UK fees
To be confirmed
Overseas fees
To be confirmed
Subject area
Sociology
Campus
Stag Hill

Why choose
this course?

  • We focus on “real world” social research training for a variety of destinations, enabling graduates to pursue careers in commercial, government and non-profit settings, or to go on to PhD research.
  • The course offers flexibility in full-time/part-attendance and in choice of specialisms across advanced qualitative and quantitative methods.
  • The course is forward-looking: we combine a solid grounding in established methods with exploring the latest developments in digital social research. 
  • The course builds on a strong track record of pioneering teaching and innovation in methods for social research. Social research methods have been taught at Masters level at Surrey for over 40 years.
  • Surrey has been home to the Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS) Networking Project since 1994, and this underpins our delivery of cutting-edge training in software support for qualitative analysis.
Find out more information

Statistics

Top 10

Surrey is ranked 9th in the UK for overall satisfaction (Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey 2023)

Fantastic graduate prospects

100% of our sociology postgraduate students go on to employment or further study (Graduate Outcomes 2024, HESA)

About the University of Surrey

Need more information?

Contact our Admissions team or talk to a current University of Surrey student online.

Terms and conditions

When you accept an offer to study at the University of Surrey, you are agreeing to follow our policies and procedures, student regulations, and terms and conditions.

We provide these terms and conditions in two stages:

  • First when we make an offer.
  • Second when students accept their offer and register to study with us (registration terms and conditions will vary depending on your course and academic year).

View our generic registration terms and conditions (PDF) for the 2023/24 academic year, as a guide on what to expect.

Disclaimer

This online prospectus has been published in advance of the academic year to which it applies.

Whilst we have done everything possible to ensure this information is accurate, some changes may happen between publishing and the start of the course.

It is important to check this website for any updates before you apply for a course with us. Read our full disclaimer.