The University of Birmingham is a public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham, and Mason Science College, making it the first English civic or 'red brick' university to receive its own royal charter. The University have a long and proud history of firsts, at the University of Birmingham; they were the first – and are now one of the largest - civic universities in the UK.

At Birmingham, the institution teach and research across the full breadth of academic disciplines, creating a vibrant community with multi-disciplinary opportunities for research and education. The University is a truly international community consisting of more than thousands of staff, students, and alumni. The student community is not only one of the largest of any UK university, it is highly diverse, with 82 per cent of home undergraduate students from state schools, 32 per cent from a BAME background, and 35 per cent in the first generation of their family to attend university.

Unless indicated otherwise the modules listed for this programme are for students starting in 2023.

Core modules
Dissertation, 60 credits
Philosophy of Social Science Research
This module will consider fundamental philosophical debates about what counts as ‘knowledge’ across the social sciences. These will include the debates around structure/agency, individualism/holism, and explanation/ interpretation. The module will consider (natural) science as a method of obtaining knowledge, and the strengths and critiques of science, as well as thinking about whether the natural sciences can (or should) be a model for the social sciences.

Research Design, Practice and Ethics
The module will introduce you to the theory and practice of social science research design. The purpose of research design is to prepare you for doing research by providing focus and guidance for practice and reflection. The module is centred on your projects and experiences to help you develop your research designs and strengthen your ability to conduct research in a productive and confident manner.

Fundamentals in Quantitative Research Methods
This module will focus on concepts, methods and skills central to quantitative social research, including data collection approaches and concept operationalization. Building on a grounding in ideas relating to probability sampling, sampling error and statistical inference, coverage of techniques will extend from comparisons of means and simple cross-tabular analyses to a discussion of multivariate analysis approaches, focusing on linear regression.

Foundations in Qualitative Research
By the end of this module you will be able to: critically evaluate the range and content of different qualitative methods as applied to textual, visual and aural data; explain their theoretical underpinnings and potential applications; demonstrate an understanding of how qualitative approaches can be used within mixed methods frameworks; understand the utility of appropriate software packages for analysing qualitative data; and appreciate how qualitative methods might be used both within your own discipline/research area and by other social science disciplines.

Optional modules
Choose 40 credits from the following. Each module is worth 10 credits:

Advanced Qualitative Data Analysis
Analysing Hierarchical and Panel Data
Documentary Research in Education, History + the Social Science
Factor Analysis
Linguistic Ethnography
Multivariate Linear + Logistic Regression
Narrative Research
Policy Evaluation
Please note: The modules listed on the website for this programme are regularly reviewed to ensure they are up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods. On rare occasions, we may need to make unexpected changes to compulsory modules; in this event we will contact offer holders as soon as possible to inform or consult them as appropriate.

You will need to book the accommodation after you have been accepted.

You can choose to live on campus or off campus in private accommodation.

• Make a booking online after you have been accepted (in this case please let us know your choice when you apply).
• Register when you arrive - its not possible to reserve a room before arriving. You can arrive a few days before and book it