The master’s (Sc.M.) program in Social Data Analytics trains students in advanced techniques for data collection and analysis.
For more information on admission and program requirements, please visit the following website: https://graduateprograms.brown.edu/graduate-program/social-data-analytics-scm
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
- One-semester introductory statistics course (SOC 1100 Introductory Statistics for Social Research or an equivalent),
- More advanced course in statistics or a course in college calculus (MATH 0050 and 0060, or MATH 0090 or an equivalent), and
- One-semester course in research methods (SOC 1020 Methods of Social Research or an equivalent).
| Two Required Courses | ||
| Multivariate Statistical Methods I | ||
| Multivariate Statistical Methods II | ||
| Five Elective Advanced Analysis Courses Across Three Topical Areas | ||
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.
Optional Tracks
The master’s in Social Data Analytics offers tracks that allow students to specialize in one of three methodological areas. The tracks are: Qualitative Analysis, Spatial Analysis, and Demographic Analysis. The track name will appear in parentheses at the end of the official transcript below the program name, for example: Social Data Analytics (Spatial Analysis). The completion of a track signals strength and expertise in a particular set of methods to potential employers. Students who wish to pursue a track must either take at least four of their elective courses from an approved list of courses for that track; or take three approved courses from that track plus one pre-approved course from another track. Students may only select one track. Students applying to a track must do so by the end of the first week of classes in their second semester. Students are not required to select a track and may opt for a more general mixed-method training.
In any given academic year, not all of the courses listed under each track are offered, and new courses not listed on the table may be offered. Students who are interested in pursuing a track need to choose their courses carefully in consultation with a program advisor. In exceptional cases, a course taken outside of the Population Studies and Training Center or the Department of Sociology can be used to meet a track requirement with the permission of the program advisor.