Bachelor of Science / Master of Science in Social Analysis and Research

Careers in the 21st century increasingly place a premium on the ability to collect, process, analyze, and interpret large-scale data on human attributes, preferences, attitudes, and behaviors and complex systems of human interactions. Such skills have concrete application and relevance to a wide variety of careers, including market research, program evaluation, policy work, advanced study in the social sciences, and financial analysis. The McKinsey Global Institute, a management consulting group, estimates that by 2018, the US may face a 50-60% gap between the need for individuals who can analyze complex data and the supply of those with the training and skills to do so. The demand for data analysts requires professionals that are not only technically skilled, but also thoughtful about how best to use and interpret data. The master’s (Sc.M.) program in Social Analysis and Research (MSAR) in the Sociology Department of Brown University trains students in advanced techniques for data collection and analysis. The hallmarks of the program are focused methodological training in both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, with cores in spatial analysis and market research, classroom instruction by active and internationally renowned researchers, and individualized supervision of applied, hands-on data analytic research on a faculty project or with an off-campus organization.