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Q-Step is a major strategic programme designed to promote a step-change in quantitative social science education and training in the UK.

Group of Q-Step students at celebration event

Social science explains how society works and is the key to making sense of data.

For students


Seventeen universities across the UK have a Q-Step Centre which supports the development and delivery of specialist undergraduate programmes.

This includes the creation of new courses, work placements, and pathways to postgraduate study with an emphasis on improving and growing undergraduates’ high-level quantitative skills.

Q-Step Centres deliver quantitative skills training that provides a deep and secure grasp of the quantitative research methods needed to evaluate evidence and analyse data. Courses include ‘3+1’ four-year degree programmes providing training equivalent to a combined Bachelors and Masters course – and sequences of courses leading to a BSc or BA. The majority of Q-Step Centres offer courses that provide links to Masters degrees.

Q-Step Centres also offer a broad range of summer schools, research placements and internships and most are engaged in outreach work with schools to support teachers and encourage student recruitment.

Why study a Q-step social science degree?


Social science is the scientific study of society and the ways in which we relate to one another. It helps explain how society works – from the causes of unemployment or what drives economic growth, to how and why people vote, or what makes people happy. Social scientists are influential because the work they do helps determine government policy and can change how we interact with the institutions and environments that influence our behaviour, such as the legal system, social services, our neighbourhoods, schools and universities.

During a Q-Step degree programme, you can learn how to:

  1. Design surveys and experiments, and how to analyse and interpret the data they generate.

  2. Analyse and interpret data from other sources, such as social media data, data collected by government departments and agencies, and data from longitudinal cohort studies.

  3. Evaluate the quality of other people’s data collection and analysis, as well as developing an understanding of what constitutes good – and bad! – evidence and how you can use it to make decisions.

  4. Plus, take part in work placements and apply your knowledge and skills in a professional environment. Q-Step students have completed placements in a range of organisations including Yougov, Office for National Statistics, Citizens Advice Bureau, HMI Probation and Ofstead.

Studying for a social science degree at a Q-Step Centre will enable you to ask important questions about society and give you the necessary skills to answer them. Why does life expectancy vary depending on where you live? Why do opinion polls sometimes get it wrong? Can we predict the next recession? Is the level of violent crime going up or down? Quantitative skills are highly desired by employees across all sectors and the skills you’ll learn during your Q-Step degree will equip you for a range of well-paid careers.

Q-Step career paths


Quantitative skills are interdisciplinary and transferable. With a Q-Step degree you could:

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    Pursue a career as a policy advisor or analyst in the public sector, in business or for a charity.

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    Work in market research for a professional services company, local government or a trade union.

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    Become an investigative or data journalist, an economist or statistician.

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    Undertake postgraduate study and become a researcher in your specialist area in a university, think tank, or the civil service.

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    Apply your skills in many different industries and services, such as healthcare, finance or education.

For employers


Seventeen universities across the UK have a Q-Step Centre which supports the development and delivery of specialist undergraduate programmes.

This includes the creation of new courses, work placements, and pathways to postgraduate study with an emphasis on improving and growing undergraduates’ high-level quantitative skills.

Q-Step Centres deliver quantitative skills training that provides a deep and secure grasp of the quantitative research methods needed to evaluate evidence and analyse data. Courses include ‘3+1’ four-year degree programmes providing training equivalent to a combined Bachelors and Masters course – and sequences of courses leading to a BSc or BA. The majority of Q-Step Centres offer courses that provide links to Masters degrees.

Q-Step Centres also offer a broad range of summer schools, research placements and internships and most are engaged in outreach work with schools to support teachers and encourage student recruitment.

Benefits to host organisations


Work placements give students the opportunity to use their training in quantitative research methodologies and contribute to a project with a significant data analysis component.

Most Q-Step degrees require students to undertake work placements, usually one day a week towards the end of their second year of study, or full-time over 4-8 weeks during the summer.

  1. Provide invaluable experience to students with strong quantitative research skills.

  2. Help develop talented students and offer graduate positions.

  3. Provide staff the opportunity to mentor a student and develop their management skills.

  4. Strengthen links with the higher education sector.

Working with Q-Step has given us access to strong students with good quantitative skills, who want to put these skills in practice. The Q-Step placement scheme is an excellent way that we can work together with social science students at the University of Leeds to undertake joint projects on important issues for the Yorkshire region. Mark Goldstone, Head of Business Representation and Policy, West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce

Provide a work placement


Q-Step Centres are always looking for employers who are interested in providing work placements. If you would like to learn more, please contact your local Q-Step centre stating your organisation, the type of project you could offer a Q-Step student and where the student would be based.

The Applied Quantitative Methods (AQM) pathway allows you to start a different conversation with employers – one about politics as an exciting, forward-thinking and data driven degree. As a student competing to get a job at a top agency, AQM has helped me stand out from other applicants. On my placement at Colchester Borough Council, I worked with huge datasets, learned a new programming language, and made an end product that I was proud of. The placement has helped me make decisions about what I want to do in life. James Potter, BA Politics, University of Essex

After completing his degree, James secured a job as a Marketing Executive for customer acquisition company, MVF Global.

Q-Step centres

Universities were selected to become Q-Step Centres through an open application process, with a panel of international peer reviewers and an independent selection board.

  • University of Bristol Q-Step Centre

    BSc / MSci Childhood Studies with Quantitative Research Methods (L522/L523)
    BSc / MSci Geography with Quantitative Research Methods (F802 / F804)
    BSc / MSci Politics with Quantitative Research Methods (L202 / L203)
    BSc / MSci Social Policy with Quantitative Research Methods (L402 / L403)
    BSc / MSci Sociology with Quantitative Research Methods (L302 / L303)

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  • Cardiff University Q-Step Centre

    BSc Social Analytics (J3G5)

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  • City, University of London Q-Step Centre

    BSc Criminology with Quantitative Methods (4T82)
    BSc Sociology with Quantitative Methods (L300)
    BSc Criminology and Sociology with Quantitative Methods (L390)
    BSc Media, Communication and Sociology with Quantitative Methods (PL33)

    The with Quantitative Methods courses are available to students at the end of their first year of study.

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  • University of Edinburgh Q-Step Centre

    MA (Hons) Government, Policy and Society with Quantitative Methods (L231)
    MA (Hons) International Relations with Quantitative Methods (2W3A)
    MA (Hons) Politics with Quantitative Methods (8M9D)
    MA (Hons) Social Policy with Quantitative Methods (4T6H)
    MA (Hons) Sociology with Quantitative Methods (5S9K)

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  • University of Essex Q-Step Centre

    BSc Accounting and Finance (Applied Quantitative Methods) (N420)
    BSc Banking and Finance (Applied Quantitative Methods) (N390)
    BSc Finance (Applied Quantitative Methods) (N300)
    BA International Relations (Applied Quantitative Methods) (L258)
    BA Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Applied Quantitative Methods) (L0V0)
    BA Politics (Applied Quantitative Methods) (L200)
    BA Sociology (Applied Quantitative Methods) (L300)
    BA Sociology and Criminology (Applied Quantitative Methods) (LM39)
    BA Sociology with Social Psychology (Applied Quantitative Methods) (CL83)

    The Applied Quantitative Methods (AQA) pathway is available for over 30 different degrees at the University of Essex.

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  • University of Exeter Q-Step Centre

    BSc Politics and International Relations (L292)
    BSc Sociology with Applied Data Analysis (L303)
    BSc Criminology (M900)

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  • University of Glasgow Q-Step Centre

    MA (Social Sciences) Sociology with Quantitative Methods (L292/L293)
    MA (Social Sciences) Politics with Quantitative Methods (L302/L303)
    MA (Social Sciences) Social and Public Policy with Quantitative Methods (L430)
    MA (Social Sciences) Central and East European Studies with Quantitative Methods (RL84)
    MA (Social Sciences) Economic and Social History with Quantitative Methods (V300)

    The with Quantitative Methods courses are available to students at the end of their first year of study.

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  • University of Kent Q-Step Centre

    BSc (Hons) Statistical Social Research (3+1 option) (L9G3)

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  • University of Leeds Q-Step Centre

    BA Politics with Quantitative Methods (L200)
    BA Politics and Parliamentary Studies with Quantitative Methods (L242)
    BA International Relations with Quantitative Methods (L254)
    BA International Development with Quantitative Methods (L920)
    BA Geography (with Quantitative Research Methods)

    All programmes are offered as a four-year variant including either a study abroad year or a placement year between years two and four. The with Quantitative Methods courses are available to students at the end of their first year of study.

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  • Manchester Metropolitan University Q-Step Centre

    BSc Sociology with Quantitative Methods (S5Q7)
    BSc Criminology with Quantitative Methods (C268)
    BSc Criminology and Sociology with Quantitative Methods (C2S7)
    MSc Applied Quantitative Methods

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  • University of Manchester Q-Step Centre

    BA Sociology and Quantitative Methods (52L8)
    BA Politics and Quantitative Methods (P467)
    BA Criminology and Quantitative Methods (C856)
    BA Philosophy and Quantitative Methods (P567)
    BA Social Anthropology and Quantitative Methods (S456)

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  • University of Nottingham Q-Step Centre

    BA Criminology with Quantitative Methods
    BA Geography with Quantitative Methods
    BA Law with Quantitative Methods
    BA Politics and International Relations with Quantitative Methods
    BA Sociology with Quantitative Methods

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  • University of Oxford Q-Step Centre

    BA Philosophy, Politics and Economics (L0V0)
    BA History and Politics (LV21)

    Revised curriculum in Politics contains a compulsory Quantitative Methods component.

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  • University of Sheffield Q-Step Centre

    BA Quantitative Social Sciences (L435)
    BA Applied Social Sciences (L431)
    BSc Applied Social Sciences (L305)
    MA Social Research

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  • Queen’s University Belfast Q-Step Centre

    BA Sociology and Quantitative Research (L301)

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  • University College London Q-Step Centre

    BA Geography with Quantitative Methods (L700)
    BSc Philosophy, Politics and Economics (4V86)
    BSc Population Health (170C)
    BSc Social Sciences with Quantitative Methods (LG33)
    BA European Social and Political Studies (R990)

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  • University of Warwick Q-Step Centre

    BA Sociology and Quantitative Methods (52L8)
    BA Politics, International Studies and Quantitative Methods (7L29)

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Commonly asked questions

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