Research with an MA in Sociology

[speechfan222]

I am currently enrolled in an online Master's program in Sociology. Once I graduate with my degree, I am interested in research, data collection/analysis, and statistics. I am hoping to work with a large company conducting research and analyzing my findings. There are a few required courses within the program that will give me more information about my career interests, but I'm wondering about research options with a Master's degree. 

Will I be required to collect data on my own and then analyze it or will I be provided data and then asked to analyze it? I'm just curious which options are most popular. I'm assuming it depends on each company. 

I just completed the required research methods course within my program and I'm curious how I will be conducting research and collecting data. Will I be sending out surveys or calling individuals to participate in a survey? 

I am very interested in Sociology as a whole, but most importantly, research. I have a BS degree in another field, so I am new to this major and area of study. 

Is there anything else I should know about data collection and research? Any tips or suggestions? Any help is appreciated. Thanks! 

 

[pinoysoc]

Great to hear this, @speechfan222

Usually, with research jobs, you're usually given data to analyze. There are also instances where you become part of the designing process (for the study) within the company and collect the data yourself. Is there a specific field you're looking at to work in?

[speechfan222]

I'm interested in any and every field of research. I would be interested in researching products, services, and anything else that would help benefit a company, just as an example. 

I'm assuming research positions are pretty competitive and I don't have any experience. I'm hoping my Masters Degree will be sufficient and will gain me a research position with a larger company somewhere. 

[speechfan222]

I just thought of something else relating to research...

I've been browsing research positions online just to see what the job details are and what companies require. Most of them require knowledge with several types of programming software such as SPSS and Python. As I'm not sure which company I will be working for and I don't think I can become familiar with all programming software, how should I become familiar with these so that I have the knowledge needed when I apply for positions? I can research them and become somewhat familiar with them, but there are quite a few. 

Any suggestions are helpful. 

[geedowg]

Python and R are open source and most heavily used in the industry. You’ll find a bit more of stata once you get closer to think tanks or academia from what I’ve heard. So you’d probably be able to make a strong case of you’d know some R or python on top of whatever you used for class. 

[speechfan222]

Does anyone know what type of research is available for someone with a Masters degree in Sociology? I just browsed some job openings to see the different job requirements and options that are available, but I'm sure there are plenty more. As long as a company is looking for a research candidate, I'm assuming I could conduct research in many different areas? 

I'm taking the first Capstone of my program this Spring and hope to learn much more about research and the career areas I am interested in. I just wanted to check here too just in case others had more information for me. 

Also, would I most likely be analyzing research rather than conducting it and finding it on my own? Please let me know. Any responses and suggestions are appreciated. 

[pinoysoc]

2 hours ago, speechfan222 said:

Does anyone know what type of research is available for someone with a Masters degree in Sociology? I just browsed some job openings to see the different job requirements and options that are available, but I'm sure there are plenty more. As long as a company is looking for a research candidate, I'm assuming I could conduct research in many different areas? 

I'm taking the first Capstone of my program this Spring and hope to learn much more about research and the career areas I am interested in. I just wanted to check here too just in case others had more information for me. 

Also, would I most likely be analyzing research rather than conducting it and finding it on my own? Please let me know. Any responses and suggestions are appreciated. 

Hey @speechfan222

There's a lot of type of research that you can do with master's degree in Sociology. For instance, I'm in health/medical research since my thesis and MA was centered in medical sociology.

What are you interested in? By answering this question, you can narrow what field you can work in. In general, however, as long as your versed in statistical analysis, you should be a strong job candidate.

[speechfan222]

2 hours ago, pinoysoc said:

Hey @speechfan222

There's a lot of type of research that you can do with master's degree in Sociology. For instance, I'm in health/medical research since my thesis and MA was centered in medical sociology.

What are you interested in? By answering this question, you can narrow what field you can work in. In general, however, as long as your versed in statistical analysis, you should be a strong job candidate.

I am interested in healthcare and medicine, family studies, education, and more. I would be interested in doing research in any field. Would you say that knowing stats would be the most important thing to know? I dont have any experience and dont have knowledge with statistical software programs other than SPSS. Im hoping this doesnt decrease my chances of obtaining employment. I wonder if I should become familiar with some of the stats software programs? 

Edited January 1, 2018 by speechfan222

[abenz]

Morning! Happy new year

My advice from working for an NGO in their research team is:

- get as much stats experience as you can - either through courses or general reading (but ideally courses so you can document it). If you are starting to look at your thesis, can you incorporate quant/statistical methods rather than pure qualitative? Qualitative research positions seem to be rarer so quant experience helps.

- learn programming. We use SPSS so I learned that, I’m not familiar with R or Python right now but if you have opportunities to learn, take them! You will probably never has any much access to people who know this stuff apart from at university so make the most of it and see if there are any short courses in or out of your department that might be useful.

I would also say that while this forum is helpful, this is something to raise both with your advisors and people in the department, and your university’s career service. They will be the best people to advice what kind of courses and background you will need, and give more tailored advice based on what they know about your skills already.

[pinoysoc]

9 hours ago, speechfan222 said:

I am interested in healthcare and medicine, family studies, education, and more. I would be interested in doing research in any field. Would you say that knowing stats would be the most important thing to know? I dont have any experience and dont have knowledge with statistical software programs other than SPSS. Im hoping this doesnt decrease my chances of obtaining employment. I wonder if I should become familiar with some of the stats software programs? 

I really suggest you take in as much as you can like @abenz said. You can target places like the Pew Research Center, RAND Corporation, NORC at the University of Chicago, etc. Used LinkedIn (that's why I do). But really take advantage of your courses not only to learn new things, but also pick up skills you lack that you think will be useful.

 

[speechfan222]

This definitely helps, thanks guys. I want to learn as much as I can so I can be prepared for a research position once I graduate. Im new to this field, so I dont know what software programs to be familiar with or how much stats I need to know. I already took the required stats course within my program, but Im hoping to learn even more. I know its early, but Im afraid I wont be able to gain a research position because of my lack of experience or knowledge with software programs and stats. 

I would like to do research within the healthcare system or with pharmaceuticals. Any suggestions about these areas? 

[rising_star]

If I were you, I'd try to take additional stats courses if possible. You may have to go outside of your own department to do this, so check courses in political science and other social science departments too. In addition, I'd try to take additional research methods courses. There may be specific courses on health research methods offered by the School/Department of Public Health for example. Given your research interests, it might also be helpful to take a course on epidemiology.

[speechfan222]

11 minutes ago, rising_star said:

If I were you, I'd try to take additional stats courses if possible. You may have to go outside of your own department to do this, so check courses in political science and other social science departments too. In addition, I'd try to take additional research methods courses. There may be specific courses on health research methods offered by the School/Department of Public Health for example. Given your research interests, it might also be helpful to take a course on epidemiology.

This helps too, thanks. I actually looked for other stats courses within the dept and the only other course is the undergrad stats class that corresponds with the grad level stats class I took. I have not looked within different departments yet, but I will. I actually dont have a required grad level course to take the first section of Spring semester, so I enrolled in an undergrad Sociology course to help meet credit requirement. Since classes start next Mon, I think its too late to switch courses and try to find another stats course I could take. Also, Im in an accelerated program online and Im afraid to take two course at once, especially stats. I wish I thought of this before. Now Im worried about not having enough stats experience and knowledge.