Why study social research at Surrey?

Social research training at Surrey is rooted in a long track record of teaching and innovating. Our first postgraduate degrees in this area were established over 40 years ago.

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Through full-time and part-time masters courses we have supported students to take their first steps on a journey into research and have assisted the career development of those already in workplaces where research skills are required. Graduates of our courses hold positions in prestigious research organisations including the Office of National Statistics, the National Centre for Social Research and the Home Office, and others have gone on to successful academic research careers both in the UK and internationally.

Professional development

In addition to degree-level provision, we also have considerable experience in offering training for continuing professional development. The CAQDAS Networking Project has been providing advice and training for users of computer-aided qualitative data analysis software since 1994, offering an independent evaluation of the various packages available and delivering training to over 7,000 researchers worldwide to date. The Project aims to provide a critical oversight of developments in the field such as the emerging possibilities of artificial intelligence in qualitative analysis.

Pioneering methods development

Our research methods training is built on innovation in research methods spanning qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches and continually evolving to rise to the challenges and opportunities of emerging digital technologies. The Innovations in Methodologies research group brings together colleagues developing methodological techniques in a wide range of substantive areas. For example:

Professor Ian Brunton-Smith

Ian explores advanced quantitative approaches to address problems across the social sciences, and recently led the ESRC funded Re-Counting Crime project, exploring how new statistical methods can help improve the accuracy and precision of crime estimates.

Dr Giulia Berlusconi

Giulia develops approaches using social network analysis on publicly available data and has worked with colleagues from Cardiff University on the ESRC funded Cyber-TNOC project using network models to analyse online dark web market data and traditional offline trafficking flows.

Professor Christine Hine

Christine has a long-standing focus on ethnographic research methods in relation to digital phenomena. She published on autoethnographic approaches to the study of smart home technologies, in an article that won the 2021 SAGE Prize for Innovation and/or Excellence.

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Research methods for policy

Sociology at Surrey has a track record of innovating in research methods that span the qualitative/quantitative boundary and offer insights targeted at informing and shaping policy.

The Centre for Research in Social Simulation (CRESS) has carried out pioneering work combining social sciences, computer science and agent-based modelling to promote and support the use of social simulation in research in the human sciences.
The Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) has been transforming the practice of policy evaluation through pioneering, testing and promoting innovative policy evaluation approaches with UK Government departments.

Our research culture

Sociology at Surrey has a vibrant research culture that spans substantive interests in sociology, media and communications and criminology, drawing on and developing an array of research methods to enable us to make a difference to policy and practice across these domains. Our research training is embedded within and contributes to that culture and constantly evolves to reflect the contemporary challenges and opportunities that new technologies bring.

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