Themes
Our themes reflect the range of approaches and advanced methods employed across the institute in social and political research.
This theme focuses on the development and application of statistical models to investigate substantive phenomena in the social sciences. This includes adapting and creating libraries, packages, and bespoke software for advanced statistical models.
Recent research topics include the development and application of the following models:
- Multilevel (hierarchical) Models for analysing data that have hierarchical, clustered, or cross-classified structure
- Bayesian hierarchical models for integrating traditional and new forms of data
- Longitudinal Models
- Models for Social Networks, such as Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) for the analysis of social network structures
- Structural Equation Models
Theme Coordinator
This research theme focuses on open data, reproducible research, digital skills, and statistical literacy in the social sciences.
Selected projects and grants
UK Data Service
The UK Data Service is a comprehensive resource funded by the ESRC to support researchers, teachers and policymakers who depend on high-quality social and economic data.
Here you will find a single point of access to a wide range of secondary data including large-scale government surveys, international macro data, business microdata, qualitative studies and census data from 1971 to 2011.
All are backed with extensive support, training and guidance to meet the needs of data users, owners and creators.
The CMI team provide expertise on government surveys, census microdata, and user support and training.
Q-Step
Q-Step is a £19.5 million programme designed to promote a step-change in quantitative social science training.
The Manchester Q-Step Centre is undertaking a range of activities to support the development of quantitative skills in our undergraduate social science courses.
These include a range of new courses, dissertation support and a nationally recognised programme of summer internships.
We place up to 50 students a year with a wide range of organisations, working on projects designed to develop and practice quantitative data skills in a real research setting.
National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM)
In 2004 the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) set up the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) at the University of Southampton.
NCRM was tasked to increase the quality and range of methodological approaches used by UK social scientists through a programme of training and capacity building, and with driving forward methodological development and innovation through its research programme.
In October 2014 the NCRM formed a partnership between The University of Edinburgh and The University of Manchester, both of which have international reputations in methodological research and training in the social sciences.
methods@manchester
methods@manchester is an initiative that highlights Manchester's strength in research methods in the social sciences.
We run ‘What is..?’ and ‘How to…?' events, a postgraduate Methods Fair every November, and a Summer School.
We are increasingly engaging with external organisations who undertake data analysis.
Theme Coordinator
This theme focuses on substantive and methodological issues in demography and its interdisciplinary context. The theme aims to bring together people and ideas involved with the changes and challenges in contemporary fertility and family research, internal and international migration questions, and mortality and health disparities, as well as their intersections with related research fields in the social sciences. Alongside the substantive questions, the theme also furthers discussion and implementation of new approaches in methodology for measuring, estimating and forecasting demographic processes.
Theme Coordinator
Social Data Science is a newly formed research theme focusing on the empirical, methodological, and technical dimensions of large-scale data in social contexts.
The theme brings together researchers with quantitative and qualitative backgrounds from different fields to tackle emerging challenges using unstructured, heterogeneous data in social science research. The theme includes but is not limited to:
- delivering methodological innovations driven by social theory;
- providing fresh insights into new and existing questions about human and social behaviour using e.g. digital trace data;
- integrating and developing statistical tools from computational social science / data science (e.g., large language models, machine learning, etc.) into social science research
Theme Coordinator
This themes provides a focal point for researchers in the development and application of survey methodology and the analysis of complex survey data.
More specifically, the theme covers topics in survey methods and statistics, including questionnaire design, sampling frames and data collection (including longitudinal data), measurement error, interviewer effects, compensating for non-response, small area estimation, non-probability sampling, data linkage and integration, confidentiality, and privacy.