Student op de brug voor Koopmans

Program and courses Research Master in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Study individual behavior in different social contexts from three social science perspectives: Social Psychology, Sociology, and Organization and Management studies. Throughout the program, you specialize by choosing one of four tracks: (1) Social Psychology, (2) Organization studies, (3) Sociology or (4) Methods and Statistics. Each track offers both internal and international traineeships, specialized content and research methods and statistics courses.

Program structure

This two-year program consists of 120 credits (ECTS):

  • 9 core courses (50 ECTS)
  • 9 track courses (46 ECTS) 
  • Master’s thesis (24 ECTS)

This program has one entry moment at the end of August.

Four tracks

  • Social Psychology
    Focus on social groups, interactions, behavioral decision-making in complex and uncertain situations, the factors that influence how we process information, and the importance of emotions and motivation in our interactions with others.
  • Sociology
    Study social inequality and social cohesion, with a comparative and dynamic perspective. You will unravel the mechanisms underlying peoples’ reactions to changes that are either episodic or structural and long-lasting.
  • Organization Studies
    Explore the complex relationships between and within organizational networks, as well as the relationships of organizations with their institutional environment.
  • Methods and Statistics
    Specialize in methods and statistics to tackle research questions with increasingly complex data. You will delve into individual behavior in different social contexts, answering questions that have a strong analytical and quantitative focus.

Program content

Core courses

During the first and second year you will take 9 core courses and three track-specific courses. You will write your Master's thesis during the second year. At the end of the first year, you will start your internal traineeship, which you will continue throughout the second year. You can use the summer holidays between the first and second year to do an international traineeship. 

Program content first year

  • Foundations of Social Psychology
  • Foundations of Sociology
  • Foundations of Organization Studies
  • Multivariate Analysis including Multilevel Models
  • Survey Research 
  • Experimental Research
  • Meta-Analysis
  • Programming
  • Academic Writing
  • Research Integrity and Ethics 
  • First-year Paper
  • Internal Traineeship
  • One track-specific course

Program content second year

  • Academic Presenting in Social Sciences
  • Internal Traineeship
  • Structural Equation Modeling and Analysis of Longitudinal Data
  • Colloquia and Seminars
  • Psychometrics
  • Master's thesis
  • Two track-specific courses

Track-specific courses
In addition to the core courses, you also take four track-specific courses, with which you specialize in your research area of interest. You can find more information about the track-specific courses below.

Social Psychology track courses

Year 1

During the first year, you will take all the core courses and one track-specific course in block 2. The track-specific course for Social Psychology is:

  • Behavioral Decision-Making
    Learn how people make decisions from the perspectives of psychology, consumer research, decision-making, and economics. In this course, you will mainly focus on how people make decisions in a context where the outcome of a decision is uncertain. 

Year 2

During your second year, you will take two track-specific courses apart from the core courses, your Master's thesis, and traineeships. The track-specific courses for Social Psychology are:

  • Social Cognition
    Get an in-depth look at the field of social cognition, including the processes underlying perception, memory and judgment of social stimuli, the effects of social, cultural and affective factors on the processing of information, and behavioral and interpersonal consequences of cognitive processes.
  • Emotion and Motivation
    Get familiar with the different psychological perspectives on what emotions are, what triggers specific emotions and the various processes through which emotions shape people's interactions with their (social) environments.

You will find a detailed description of the courses and required literature in our course catalog.

Go to the course descriptions

Organization Studies track courses

Year 1

During the first year, you will take all the core courses and one track-specific course in block 2. The track-specific course for Organization Studies is:

  • Organizational Networks
    Deepen your theoretical, methodological and empirical knowledge about the ways in which social actors create and maintain relationships, how networks form, and how social actors use their networks and relationships to foster the achievement of their goals.

Year 2

During your second year, you will take two track-specific courses apart from the core courses, your Master's thesis, and traineeships. The track-specific courses for Organization Studies are:

  • Organizations and Groups
    Study organizations as a social system of interaction between individuals, teams, within and between organizations. 
  • Institutions & Intra-organizational Teams
    Get an overview of institutional theory and the way in which social interaction, dissemination of norms and values, social capital and practices can be explained in a coherent way.

You will find a detailed description of the courses and required literature in our course catalog.

Go to the course descriptions

Sociology track courses

Year 1

During the first year, you will take all the core courses and one track-specific course in block 2. The track-specific course for Sociology is:

  • Networks and Cohesion
    Study the concept of social capital, its sources and its consequences. 

Year 2

During your second year, you will take two track-specific courses apart from the core courses, your Master's thesis, and traineeships. The track-specific courses for Sociology are:

  • Intergenerational Relations & Reproduction
    Examine several aspects of the parent-child relationship, such as the way in which parents transfer lifestyles and values to their children, intergenerational reproduction of educational and occupational opportunities, mutual support between parents and their children and the way in which support patterns change over time, and how family composition affect children's outcomes, like wellbeing and educational success.
  • Public Understanding of Science
    Examine current events within the field of public understanding of science. You will have theoretical discussions about rationalization and modernization versus post-modernization.

You will find a detailed description of the courses and required literature in our course catalog.

Go to the course descriptions

Methods and Statistics track courses

Year 1

During the first year, you will take all the core courses and one track-specific course in block 2. The track-specific course for Methods and Statistics is:

  • Mathematical Methods
    Study differential and integral calculus, matrix algebra and probability and statistical inference.

Year 2

During your second year, you will take two track-specific courses apart from the core courses, your Master's thesis, and traineeships. The track-specific courses for Methods and Statistics are:

  • Categorical Data Analysis
    Study regression models belonging to the generalized linear modelling family, technical aspects of maximum likelihood estimation, likelihood-based statistical inference, and class analysis. 
  • Bayesian Statistics
    Study the concept of subjective probability, prior knowledge, prior specification, Bayesian estimation, Bayesian hypothesis testing using the Bayes factor, posterior predictive checking, and Bayesian computation using Gibbs sampling.

You will find a detailed description of the courses and required literature in our course catalog.

Go to the course descriptions

Master’s thesis

In your second year, you will write your Master’s thesis (24 ECTS), in English, under supervision of a knowledgeable staff member who will supervise you during both the research and thesis-writing processes. You write your thesis within your track. Your thesis should have a track related subject.

  • You will choose your own research topic and supervisor.
  • You will learn how to conduct all aspects of the research process: creating hypotheses, collecting data, analyzing data, and writing a scientific article.
  • Prior to writing the thesis, you will write an individual research proposal (IRP) based on an original idea, which your supervisor must approve.
  • You will conduct the research and work on your Master's thesis independently, for most of the time. However, you will be in constant and close contact with your supervisor.
  • The Master’s thesis should be written as a manuscript that could be submitted for publication in an ISI journal.

Examples of thesis subjects:

  • Trust behavior and dispositional greed 
  • On shame-proneness, public exposure and bribe acceptance 
  • Flat Earth and scientific boundary construction on Twitter 
  • Statistical reporting inconsistencies in Psychology 
  • Transgenders’ experiences stigma and its effect on mental health 
  • A thermal imaging approach to detect deception 
  • Karmic belief, karmic investment and emotions 
  • Malicious and benign envy 
  • Bayesian hierarchical models 
Traineeships

During year 1 and 2 students participate in four in-house research traineeships and one international research traineeship. 

  • Through the in-house traineeships students acquire, improve, and effectively use their knowledge and skills required for performing scientific research by working together with staff members.
  • Through the international traineeship (summer in between year 1 and year 2), students get acquainted with scientific research and researchers abroad by attending summer school, participating and presenting at an international conference, or by temporarily joining an international research group.   
  • Students acquire a thorough methodological and statistical education and write two scientific papers as part of the curriculum (first-year paper + Master’s Thesis).  
  • Students need to attend 10 colloquia and/or seminars per year, to get more insights into the functioning of the academic world.

Watch a trial lecture


Please note: programs are subject to change. We advise you to look up the current program in OSIRIS Student at the start of the year.


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Short overview of the Research Master in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Delve into the individual’s behavior in different social contexts, like peers, family, groups, social networks and specialize within a research area of your interest. Acquire a thorough methodological and statistical education and write two scientific papers as part of the curriculum.

  • The only Research Master’s program in the Netherlands that trains you in both social and behavioral sciences, and has a strong analytical and quantitative focus.
  • Personalize your educational experience by choosing a specialization in your area of interest with a track in Social Psychology, Organization Studies, Sociology or Methods and Statistics. You will receive personal guidance from renowned scholars and researchers in a small-scale and interactive learning environment. 
  • Participate in four in-house research traineeships and 1 international research traineeship, and work together with renowned national and international academics.  You acquire, improve, and effectively use the knowledge and skills required for performing scientific research.
  • Your research skills and methodological knowledge, together with your interdisciplinary knowledge of social and behavioral sciences and specialization, will give you a competitive advantage on a wide range of applied or fundamental (research) positions at universities (PhD), research and development departments, or private companies and organizations.

Interested in the Research Master in Social and Behavioral Sciences?

Do you have:

  • the ambitions for an intellectual challenge

  • strong critical and analytical abilities

  • an interest in and experience with doing research

Then check your eligibility and the deadlines for application.