Create new pathways for social change! The Certificate in Applied Social Research will help students acquire concrete skills and research tools that employers look for on resumes. 15 credits, open to all majors.

The Certificate in Applied Social Research advances and refines students' ability to identify, gather, interpret, and organize information about today’s pressing social issues. The courses provide hands-on training so students acquire the research tools needed to produce and communicate evidence-driven arguments about how to address social inequalities and social justice issues. The Certificate in Applied Social Research gives students a strategic advantage in the competitive job market and provides the skills necessary to identify and create new pathways for social change.

To add a Certificate in Applied Social Research, contact the Department of Sociology at (970) 491-6044 or cla-soc_dept_info@mail.colostate.edu. 

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this certificate, students will be able to:

  1. Link sociological theory to the development of research questions.
  2. Apply a variety of research design strategies to research questions.
  3. Assess the quality and limitations of both quantitative and qualitative data.
  4. Discuss socio-cultural, ethical, and political considerations in social science research.
  5. Collect both quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of sources, including considerations of sampling, conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement.
  6. Manage different types of social science data, including restructuring data for analysis, transcription, coding, and integrating data from diverse sources.
  7. Identify and apply appropriate techniques for analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data.
  8. Effectively present and write up research results for a variety of audiences, including considerations of causality, data display and visualization, and integrating quantitative and qualitative results.

Effective Spring 2023

Each course used to satisfy requirements of the certificate requires a minimum grade of C (2.000), i.e. all SOC courses AND electives.

Additional coursework may be required due to prerequisites.

Required Courses:
SOC 311Sociological Research Methods3
SOC 314Applications of Quantitative Research3
SOC 315Applications of Qualitative Research3
Select two courses from the following:6
ANTH 441
Method in Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 443
Ethnographic Field Methods
ANTH 444
Cultures of Virtual Worlds–Research Methods
CO 301C
Writing in the Disciplines: Social Sciences (GT-CO3)
CO 302
Writing in Digital Environments (GT-CO3)
ECON 235/LB 235
Working With Data
ECON 335/AREC 335
Introduction to Econometrics
ETST 441
Indigenous Knowledges
ETST 493
Capstone Seminar
GR 315
Quantitative Geographical Methods
HIST 392
Seminar in Historical Methods
JTC 300
Strategic Writing and Communication (GT-CO3)
JTC 319
Science and Environmental Communication
JTC 417
Data Visualization Design
POLS 320
Empirical Political Analysis
POLS 459
Program Evaluation for Public Administrators
POLS 465
Public Policy Analysis
SPCM 334
Co-Cultural Communication
SPCM 335
Gender and Communication
SPCM 401
Rhetoric in Social Movements
SPCM 434
Intercultural Communication
Program Total Credits:15