History of The Research Training Centre

The Research Training Centre: 50 years of methodological contributions in the Social Sciences

The Research Training Centre brings together expertise in a diverse range of Social Science methods and our key funded projects of Q-Step, AQMEN and NCRM. But these rest upon half a century of development, application and teaching of Social Science Methods.

The Research Centre for Social Science is a central part of this history which was revived by the late Frank Bechhofer who joined Edinburgh in 1965 turning the centre into a major unit for empirical research for social science. Frank and colleagues in the centre made a number of significant contributions to questions and issues within society with robust social science methods at their core.

The legacy of the work of the Research Centre for Social Sciences put Edinburgh in a strong position for the later initiatives over the past two decades such as Q-Step, AQMEN and NCRM.

SPS now offers a thriving, lively and outward looking collection of social science methodologists. Q-Step offers 5 popular undergraduate degrees and a postgraduate degree in quantitative social science with outreach through its work placements and in Schools through the Q-Step Academy. AQMEN delivers training in data science to organisations and individuals across Scotland. NCRM, of which Edinburgh is a part continues to deliver a comprehensive programme of cutting-edge research methods training across the UK.