Methodology and Statistics for the Behavioural, Biomedical and Social Sciences

Modern society is highly data-driven

Everything is monitored and measured, yet there are major challenges to finding optimal ways to design research, analyse data, and extract the most valuable information.

STATE-OF-THE-ART RESEARCH IN METHODOLOGY AND STATISTICS

This two-year Master’s programme trains students to become researchers who can bridge the gap between hard-core statistics and applications in empirical research in the social, behavioural, biostatistical, and medical sciences.

Our programme provides you with answers to questions such as:

• What is the best way to set up a clinical trial to test new medical treatments?
• How do we estimate the number of illegal immigrants in Europe?
• How do we obtain valid answers in a survey about sensitive topics like income or tax fraud?
• How do we accumulate knowledge through Bayesian updating techniques?
• Which machine learning technique can best be used to analyse certain data?

High Quality

This selective Master's programme is recognised as a high quality programme and has been awarded high ratings in the past years by established rankings in the Netherlands.  

Programme objective

You will learn to:

• develop methodological and statistical approaches
• evaluate commonly used methodological and statistical approaches; and
• apply methodological and statistical approaches in cooperation with behavioural, biomedical, and social sciences researchers.

Choose your own path

This selective Master’s programme combines the research expertise of the following departments:

• Department of Methodology and Statistics (UU)
• Department of Biostatistics, University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU)
• Department of Research Methodology, Measurement and Data Analysis (University of Twente)
• Statistics Netherlands
• Cito

The cooperation between these departments provides you with an exceptionally broad range of internship opportunities and thesis topics. You will be able to specialise in the research area that interests you most. You can choose to pursue your own, free track or choose one of our predefined tracks. 

Thesis and preparation

You can prepare for and write your thesis at one of the participating departments, or you can broaden your experience by working with other organisations, such as Cito, the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP), the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), or the Research Centre for Examination and Certification.

Excellent career prospects

The Methodology and Statistics programme prepares you for a scientific career in academia, research institutes, government organisations, NGOs, or private enterprises. Utrecht University, University Medical Centre Utrecht, the University of Twente and Statistics Netherlands maintain strong partnerships with various non-academic institutions, such as Cito, CentERData, TNO, UMCU, LSAC, ETS, AMC, SAS, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, Stichting Arq, the Dutch Inspectorate of Education, Danone, and Ex:plain, which provide excellent career prospects for our students.

After graduation, about 50% of our students continue to work in academia, for instance as PhD candidates for universities inside the Netherlands or abroad. The other half of our students pursue careers outside academia. You can find them holding positions such as data scientist, data analyst, consultant or teacher.