Applied Social Research, Accelerated Master’s BA/MA

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The purpose of this accelerated program is to allow undergraduate students to complete an undergraduate and graduate degree.

Undergraduate students with at least 60 credits, once accepted into the program, may take up to three graduate courses (9 credits) and count them toward both their BA and MA degrees in the department of Criminology and Sociology. Students may take any three 500-level courses offered by the MA program. Recommended courses are SOC 550 - Applied Social Research Methods, SOC 551 - Social Statistics I, and one graduate seminar elective or SOC 540 - Social Theory and Application. SOC 550 - Applied Social Research Methods will replace SOC 353 - Methods of Social Research , and SOC 540 - Social Theory and Application will replace SOC 352 - Sociological Theory in the undergraduate degree. With permission of instructor, students may be allowed to replace SOC 354 - Quantitative Sociological Research (or equivalent undergraduate statistic course) with SOC 551 - Social Statistics I, but this will not be automatic and will require substitution through Degree Audit.

Following the recommended path, during their one year of graduate coursework, students will take SOC 552 - Social Statistics II, SOC 695 - Masters Research Practicum/SOC 690 - Masters Research Internship, either SOC 540 - Social Theory and Application or a graduate elective, and three Tool Skill electives. The expectation is that students will take 9 credit hours per AY semester to complete the accelerated program in one year, though students may choose to take 6 credits per semester and remain in the program longer.

Overview

To be eligible for admission to the accelerated program, the student must:

Have a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 or higher;
Major in criminology or sociology;
Have completed 60 credit hours of their Bachelor of Arts and have a major or minor in Criminology or Sociology.

GRE scores are not required. Undergraduate students must submit the Accelerated Master’s program application to the graduate program director of the Master of Arts in Applied Social Research program. Immediately upon approval of the application, the Graduate Program Director will process this paperwork and notify students that they are accepted pending successful completion of the semester. The graduate program director will be assigned as an advisor, and the undergraduate program directors in their undergraduate major division also will be consulting advisors as needed.

Course Requirements

In addition to meeting all University requirements, degree candidates must successfully complete a minimum of thirty credit hours, or ten courses. These must include five core courses (with a choice of either SOC 695 or SOC 690) two graduate-level seminars and three tool skill electives.

1. CORE COURSES (15 CREDITS):

Students must take either SOC 695 (3 credits) or SOC 690 (3 credits), not both. All other courses listed are required.

SOC 540 - Social Theory and Application
SOC 550 - Applied and Evaluation Research Methods
SOC 551 - Social Statistics I
SOC 552 - Social Statistics II
SOC 690 - Masters Research Internship or SOC 695 - Masters Research Practicum

2. TWO GRADUATE-LEVEL SEMINARS (6 CREDITS):

SOC 512 - Sociology of Mental Illness
SOC 519 - Sociology of Religion
SOC 520 - Globalization
SOC 525 - Sustainable Development
SOC 530 - Evaluation Research
SOC 541 - Juvenile Delinquency
SOC 545 - Social Control
SOC 560 - Interpersonal Violence and Its Control
SOC 561 - Aging and the Life Course
SOC 564 - Aspects of Police Work
SOC 565 - Incarceration and Health
SOC 568 - Sociology of Health and Health Care
SOC 570 - Gender and Society
SOC 575 - Ecology of Crime and Punishment
SOC 580 - Racial & Ethnic Inequality
SOC 584 - Urban Social Change
SOC 588 - Sociology of Work and Organization
SOC 593 - Special Topics in Social Research

3. THREE TOOL SKILL ELECTIVES (9 CREDITS):

Three tool skill courses including SOC 590, SOC 595, or approved graduate-level courses from related social science and interdisciplinary social science departments. At least one must be taken outside of Criminology and Sociology, but most students will take at least two from another department or college. The department has a list of pre-approved outside tool skill courses, but others may be taken with permission.

SOC 590 - Internship
SOC 595 - Writing for the Profession
COM 631 - Multivariate Statistical Methods
COM 634 - Qualitative Research Methods
ECN 503 - Economic Concepts
ECN 622 - Econometrics
HSC 510 - Principles of Evidence-Based Practice in Health Sciences
HSC 533 - Program Development & Evaluation
SWK 624 - The Social Worker as Leader and Manager
SWK 627 - Program Evaluation
UST 510 - Proposal Writing
UST 585 - GIS Principles
UST 586 - GIS Methods