General entry requirements

Minimum requirements

2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent).

English language requirements

You can find out more about our English language requirementsLink opens in a new window. This course requires the following:

• Band B
• IELTS overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

International qualifications

We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications.

For more information, please visit the international entry requirements pageLink opens in a new window.

Additional requirements

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Core modules

Big Data Research: Hype or Revolution?

Big data is said to be transforming science and social science. In this module, you will critically engage with this claim and explore the ways in which the rapid rise of big data impacts on research processes and practices in a growing range of disciplinary areas and fields of study.

In particular, the module considers the following questions: What is big data? To what extent is 'big data' different to other kinds of data? What key issues are raised by big data? To what extent is big data transforming research practices? How are the 'nuts and bolts' of research practice (e.g. ethics, sampling, method, analysis, etc.) transformed with big data? To what extent are core concepts relating to research practice - such as comparison, description, explanation and prediction - transformed? To what extent can we critically engage with big data? How is big data transforming the 'discipline'?

Dissertation

The CIM Master’s dissertation is a piece of work (10,000 words) which addresses a single student-selected subject. The topic may concern any aspect of the subject matter of their Master’s programme.

The dissertation is an exercise in independent study in which you can pursue a topic of interest. It allows you to further develop a range of independent research skills, including literature search and bibliography construction, theoretical argument, and generation/appraisal of empirical evidence.

Optional Core Modules

Term One

Data Science Across Disciplines: Principles, Practice and Critique

This module introduces students to the fundamental techniques, concepts and contemporary discussions across the broad field of data science. With data and data related artefacts becoming ubiquitous in all aspects of social life, data science gains access to new sources of data, is taken up across an expanding range of research fields and disciplines, and increasingly engages with societal challenges. The module provides an advanced introduction to the theoretical and scientific frameworks of data science, and to the fundamental techniques for working with data using appropriate procedures, algorithms and visualisation. Students learn how to critically approach data and data-driven artefacts, and engage with and critically reflect on contemporary discussions around the practice of data science, its compatibility with different analytics frameworks and disciplinary, and its relation to on-going digital transformations of society. As well as lectures discussing the theoretical, scientific and ethical frameworks of data science, the module features coding labs and workshops that expose students to the practice of working effectively with data, algorithms, and analytical techniques.

Or

Fundamentals in Quantitative Research Methods 

This module has two aims: to introduce students to academic quantitative literature, secondary data acquisition and management, and the use of applied statistics in the social sciences; and to prepare them to attend further statistical training (including PO92Q: Advanced Quantitative Research) and make use of statistics in future research works, such as master's or PhD dissertations.

This will not be an abstract statistics module, but a comprehensive approach to social and political numbers, in keeping with all method modules students may have attended previously and concurrently. It will include example data from diverse fields of social sciences, in particular surveys on attitudes and opinions. Exercises and essays will be based on a selection of datasets, such as the British Social Attitudes Survey, the European Social Survey, the World Values Survey, and the International Social Survey Programme.

Term Two

Scaling Data and Societies

Big data technologies involve scaling-up — scaling up quantities of data, scaling up data infrastructures, scaling up data management, and scaling up the number of participants in a given technological system. This module provides an understanding of the technical. methodological and conceptual changes in the new forms of thinking, research and engineering required for understanding and working with scalable socio-technical systems. Beginning with the question of what 'scale' is in general and how data-based transformations redefine the limits of scale, the module presents students with a series of different ‘lenses’ through which the impact of scale manifests itself differently across contemporary data spaces, including hands-on laboratory exercises. By the end of the module, students will have gained knowledge and a greater appreciation of the impact of big data on research in socio-technical systems at various scales and, conversely, the multiple ways in which the concept of scale is driving developments in big data.

Or

Advanced Quantitative Research

This module introduces students to a selected set of advanced statistical methods that are commonly used in quantitative social research. You will cover three advanced methods such as regression diagnostics and interactions, logistic and multinomial regression modelling, multilevel modelling, cluster analysis and factor analysis. These methods allow you to answer questions such as: Why do some people support a given public policy (e.g. the death penalty, Brexit or the GAFA tax), and others not? What are the main nuances and cleavages within a party (e.g. the Greens) or an ideological orientation (e.g. the populists)?

To gain hands-on experience with answering these questions with social and political science data of varying complexity, you will apply these methods to existing small- and large-scale data sets. The expectation is that by the end of the module you will understand the basic principles of the advanced statistical methods covered, appreciate the context in which the methods are best applied, and have had practical experience of applying these methods to real-world data.

Optional modules

Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:

• Introduction to Contemporary AI: Techniques and Critiques
• User Interface Cultures: Design, Method and Critique
• Visualisation Foundations
• Generative AI: Histories, Techniques, Cultures and Impacts 
• Digital Sociology
• Foundations of Data Analytics
• Data Mining
• Digital Methods
• Natural Language Processing
• Data Visualisation in Science, Culture and Public Policy
• Approaches to the Digital
• Urban Infrastructures
• Platform Economy, Science & Culture
• Advanced Visualisation Labs
• Adventures in Interdisciplinarity
• Global Digital Health and Human Rights

Teaching

Modules in this course make use of a range of teaching and learning techniques, including, for example:

• Blended learning including the use of an online virtual learning environment
• Student group and project work
• Lectures
• Seminars
• Reading and directed critical discussion
• Independent research by students
• Practice-based activities

Class sizes

For this course, a typical workshop contains around 20-30 students, and a typical seminar around 16 students.

Typical contact hours

There are around 8-10 hours contact hours per week for this course, depending on type and number of optional modules chosen.

Assessment

A combination of essays, reports, design projects, technical report writing, practice assessments, group work and presentations and an individual research project (10,000 word dissertation).

Reading lists 

If you would like to view reading lists for current or previous cohorts of students, most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library on the Talis Aspire platformLink opens in a new window. 

You can search for reading lists by module title, code or convenor. Please see the modules tab of this page or the module catalogueLink opens in a new window.  

Please note that some reading lists may have restricted access or be unavailable at certain times of year due to not yet being published. If you cannot access the reading list for a particular module, please check again later or contact the module’s host department.  

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules shortly before joining us.

Your career

Big Data & Digital Futures graduates have gone on to be employed by UK-based startups like Skyscanner, StatsBomb, Fresha, Lyst and WeFarm as well as games companies like Sumo Digital and automotive firms like Stellantis. Other firms include Accenture, Amazon, AXA, BaiDu, Estée Lauder, GroupM, Inmarsat, Kandua, Multiverse, Schneider Electric, Sherpany, Slack, Tableau Software, TCMPartners, University of Warwick, Viacom18, and YouView TV. Students have also gone on to Ph.D. programmes at University of Warwick, King’s College London, University of Siegen, and GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.

Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant Link opens in a new windowoffering impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:

• Warwick careers fairs throughout the year
• Careers in AI and Data Science
• Discovering Careers in the Creative Industries
• Discuss What’s Next After Your CIM Master’s Degree

Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM)

The Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM) was established at Warwick in 2012 to foster innovative and experimental forms of knowledge production through a sustained focus on methodology. CIM is dedicated to expanding the role of interdisciplinary methods through new lines of inquiry that cut across disciplinary boundaries, both intellectually and institutionally.

Method is central to the formation and transformation of disciplinary knowledges, and the challenge of working across and in between disciplines is both exciting and pressing. Our research team is drawn from across the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences, with expertise in a variety of substantive domains.

Within Warwick, CIM is an advocate of interdisciplinary research and study. Beyond Warwick and beyond the academy, CIM explores new forms of public engagement, both with potential research users and with the experts, experimenters and institutions in business, civil society and government that are at the forefront of applied methodological innovation.

Find out more about us on our website.

Our Postgraduate courses

• Big Data and Digital Futures (MSc/PGDip)
• Data Visualisation (MASc/PGDip/PGCert)
• Digital Media and Culture (MA)
• Interdisciplinary Studies (MPhil/PhD)

Tuition fees

Tuition fees are payable for each year of your course at the start of the academic year, or at the start of your course, if later. Academic fees cover the cost of tuition, examinations and registration and some student amenities.

Find your taught course fees  

Fee Status Guidance

We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.

Do you need your fee classification to be reviewed?

If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.

Find out more about how universities assess fee status

Additional course costs

As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad.

For departmental specific costs, please see the Modules tab on the course web page for the list of core and optional core modules with hyperlinks to our Module Catalogue (please visit the Department’s website if the Module Catalogue hyperlinks are not provided).

Associated costs can be found on the Study tab for each module listed in the Module Catalogue (please note most of the module content applies to 2022/23 year of study). Information about module department specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below:

• Core text books
• Printer credits
• Dissertation binding
• Robe hire for your degree ceremony

Scholarships and bursaries

How to apply

The application process for courses that start in September and October 2025 opens on 2 October 2024.

Applications will close on 2 August 2025 for students who require a visa to study in the UK, to allow time to receive a CAS and complete the visa application process.

Places are often limited, so we recommend that you submit your application as early as possible.

How to apply for a postgraduate taught course