Program Overview

Survey Science Certificate

Overview

The Odum Institute’s graduate Certificate in Survey Science (CSS) teaches students and working professionals specialized skills in survey design, data collection methods, data analysis, and reporting. Fully online, the 12-hour program is designed for people wanting to strengthen their research capabilities while gaining practical skills in survey science. Applying knowledge and skills gained from the CSS helps graduates pursue employment and advance careers not only within survey research but in a variety of fields such as the social sciences, business, data science, public health, education, social work, journalism, political science, and public administration.

Course Requirements

• Core Courses:
  • Three required semester courses (9 hours)
    • SOCI 761: Questionnaire Design 1
    • or POLI 861: Questionnaire Design
    • or PLAN 731: Questionnaire Design
    • SOCI 760: Data Collection Methods 2
    • or POLI 860: Data Collection Methods
    • or PLAN 730: Data Collection Methods
    • SOCI 754: Survey Sampling 3
• Electives:
  • One elective semester course of choice that focuses on survey science, research methodology, or data science (3 hours)
  • Choose from electives list below:
    • ANTH 725: Quantitative Methods in Anthropology (3 hours)
    • BIOS 662: Intermediate Statistical Methods (4 hours)
    • BIOS 665: Analysis of Categorical Data (3 hours)
    • BIOS 667: Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis (3 hours)
    • BIOS 668: Design of Public Health Studies (3 hours)
    • BIOS 670: Demographic Techniques I (3 hours)
    • BIOS 764: Advanced Survey Sampling Methods (3 hours)
    • BUSI 808: Applied Research Methods I (3 hours)
    • BUSI 867: Issues in the Design and Analysis of Research in Marketing (3 hours)
    • EDUC 785: Program Evaluation in Education (3 hours)
    • EDUC 817: Introduction to Educational Research (3 hours)
    • EDUC 824: Fundamentals of Educational Research (3 hours)
    • EDUC 830: Qualitative Research Methods I: Philosophical Foundations of Qualitative Research (3 hours)
    • EPID 726: Epidemiologic Research Methods (3 hours)
    • HBEH 753: Qualitative Methods in Health Behavior (3 hours)
    • HBEH 763: Scale Development Methods (3 hours)
    • INLS 509: Information Retrieval (3 hours)
    • INLS 719: Usability Testing and Evaluation (3 hours)
    • MHCH 713: Research Methods in Maternal and Child Health (3 hours)
    • MHCH 862: Program Impact Evaluation (3 hours)
    • PLAN 800: Research Design (3 hours)
    • PLCY 801: Design of Policy-Oriented Research (3 hours)
    • POLI 880: Design and Analysis of Experiments and Surveys (3 hours)
    • SOCI 707: Measurement and Data Collection (3 hours)
• Minimum Hours: 12

Non-Course Requirements

• Work Experience Requirement:
  • To receive the Certificate, students must demonstrate a minimum of 40 hours of supervised work experience related to some aspect(s) of survey operations.
  • This work experience must be:
    • Under the mentorship or supervision of a faculty member or trained survey professional.
    • Related to survey design/preparation, data collection, sampling, data processing, or other survey activities that have been approved by the CSS program director.
    • Documented in a letter from the mentoring faculty member, supervisor, or employer. The letter should describe the nature of the work experience and verify that the student devoted at least 40 hours to activities related to survey operations.
• Short courses in survey science of choice (28 hours).