Research Methodology Prerequisites

[kaycee17]

Hi! I'm working on applying for MSW programs, my choices right now are York Uni, Wilfrid Laurier, Carleton, Lakehead Uni, Dalhousie, and University of Manitoba. At least four of these schools have a requirement for research methodology courses. I am applying through Non-BSW pathways so I never came across these courses during my undergraduate years.
Please what are my options to fulfill these requirements, bear in mind that I can only take online courses and I am looking for affordable options.

[AverageEccentric]

Unless something is very different in Canada than it is in the US, you probably need to ask the individual schools.  Are you saying they list a prerequisite for applying, or just that if you haven't done it before you'll have to take it during the program?  What was your undergraduate major?  

I'm taking an interdisciplinary Methodologies course at the moment as part of an add-on certificate to a MA in the United States, with classmates from humanities and social sciences, including social work.  I also applied to PhD programs in multiple disciplines and had to answer different questions about methodologies.  In both places I have learned that "methodologies" is highly contextual and means many different things.  For instance one program said "our program includes both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and while you take the courses in the program we worry that humanities folks won't be able to pass quantitative, so take a statistics course this term if you can."  Some specifically want quantitative *or* qualitative, and those may be discipline-specific.  Some of my peers in sociology have a single "research methodologies" course, and the psychology folks do too (exact same title) but those courses teach different things.  And if someone says "just take a methodologies course, any methodologies course" it might be niches or perspectives like feminist, queer, Indigenous, decolonizing, or critical research methodologies.  

More to the point, if you're heading toward an MSW but your undergrad was in a different discipline, it's likely very important to have a talk with someone in each MSW program about what they look for from an applicant with your background, and what your chances are of being accepted.  As I was considering a similar pivot from MA to PhD, I learned that some programs considered me well-prepared, some considered me well prepared IF I took one or two specific courses, and some weren't worth applying to at all.  Not to mention, making that contact with someone in the grad program to which you're applying (or otherwise making completely sure there's a very close match between their research and yours) is a really crucial step for grad school anyway, in all except the programs that admit basically everyone who applies.  Again, that is at least in the US context, but I've been applying to Canadian institutions and it seems to be very similar in both countries. 

Good luck! 

Edited March 9 by AverageEccentric
clarity

[kaycee17]

It is listed as a prerequisite, that is I have to obtain the credits before I begin the application process for my MSW program. My UG was in law and while we had a lesson or two on legal research, the requirement says it should be a research methodology course in the social sciences, which is nothing like what I had to do for my bachelors.

At least one school Wilfrid Laurier University lists out the schools or courses I could take the research methodology course at, but what I've seen so far is either really expensive for just one course or I need to be enrolled as a full time student to be able to take the course. 

I think I'll try out your idea of reaching out to students already in the program though I'm not exactly sure how to go about that.