The curriculum of your study programme depends on your choice out of three methodological specialisations:

• Empirical-analytical
• Interpretative (with an option between a long fieldwork period (24 ECTS) OR a shorter fieldwork period (12 ECTS) + an Internship (12 ECTS)
• Mixed methods (with an option between Fieldwork (12 ECTS) and/or Internship (12 ECTS) and/or Methods Electives (12 ECTS)

You will follow compulsory and elective methods courses within the chosen methods specialisation.

The first year consists of three blocks:

Block 1

During the first block, students will follow one general course,
aiming to address some key epistemological, quality-related, and ethical issues that Social Science Research engages with  Students also have the opportunity to get acquainted with the programme and staff members, and start thinking about  their methodological specialisation.

Block 2 and 3

In the second and third block, students will follow two thematic electives and will choose their methods specialisation

Block 4, 5 and 6

In block Four, Five and Six, students will start with the methodological course work within their own methodological specialisation, consisting of mandatory courses and Methods Electives. Students that will do fieldwork in the second year will work on their research proposal in this Semester. Additionally, all students follow the ‘Team Work Research Seminar’.

The second year consists of two semesters.

Semester 1

In Block 1 and Block 2 of the first semester(depending on the methodological specialisation) students conduct fieldwork, and/or an internship and/or follow a number of methods electives.

Students go on fieldwork to gain experience in doing qualitative in-depth research. The data gathered during the fieldwork period is used for the research project resulting in the thesis of the student. The aim of the internship is to gain experience in doing research in the field of social sciences in an on-going research project. The internship can be internal or external to the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research.

In Block 3, students that have done fieldwork will start working with their collected data. Students that have not done fieldwork will start working on their research proposals

Semester 2

For students in alle methods specialisations, the second semester consists of independent research and thesis writing in the form of an academic article or a monograph. In this period, all students follow a mandatory course (called ‘Thesis Seminar’) that will guide you in the thesis writing process. All students follow three short workshops in Academic and Professional skills as well.

The Master's thesis is based on individual research by the student and will be published in the form of a monograph or manuscript for an academic article.

The programme maintains a high academic standard and is also demanding. We expect you to devote your full attention to your studies for the duration of the programme and estimate as an average a 40 hours workload a week. The programme offers a combination of teaching methods: small-sized reading seminars and group discussions, supervised hands-on training during methods courses or in the field, and incidental frontal lectures.