Business Analytics , Data Analytics Master’s program at Brown University

W.E.B. Du Bois, Race, and Racism Ph.D. Certificate.

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. In its latest assessment of labor market trends, the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics expects the number of market research analysts to grow by 19% and data scientists by 36% during the decade of 2021-2031. These rates far outpace average growth in other professions ensuring great employment opportunities for MSDA graduates. The demand for data analysts requires professionals that are not only technically skilled, but also thoughtful how best to use and interpret data.

Through this program, students will develop the pragmatic and logical skills that will prepare them for a career in social research, whether basic research (such as found in academia or research institutions) or applied (such as found in policy and market research). Students will put these newly developed skills to work, as they apply the techniques they learn to the analysis of actual data from the social sciences.

The master program is ideal for early-career students who have an existing foundation in basic statistics and social science research and who desire focused training in order to be not only prepared, but highly competitive, in acquiring careers in market or social research or as analysts at research and policy institutions.

While this degree is based in the Sociology Department, its value extends across disciplines. The Spatial Analysis courses in this program are taught by experts affiliated with the Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences (S4) Initiative.

All entering students are required to have (1) a one-semester introductory statistics course (SOC 1100 Introductory Statistics for Social Research or an equivalent), (2) a advanced course in statistics or a course in college calculus (MATH 0050 and 0060, or MATH 0090 or an equivalent), and (3) a one-semester course in research methods (SOC 1020 Methods of Social Research or an equivalent).

The Sc.M. degree in Social Data Analytics consists of a total of 8 courses:.

Five of any of the following elective advanced analysis courses across three topical areas:.

Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis for the Social Sciences (SOC 2612).

Spatial Data Analysis Techniques in the Social Sciences (SOC 2960G).

Advanced Multivariate Methods for Population Analysis and Behavioral Modeling.

Statistical Methods for Hierarchical and Panel Data (SOC 2960S).

To be selected from a preapproved list of graduate courses (2000-level) taught in the Sociology.

The internship provides students with hands-on experience in social research. Activities may range from data collection, data entry, data file management, descriptive analyses, and advanced model estimation.