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 courses9
Questionnaire Design 1
Questionnaire Design
Questionnaire Design
Data Collection Methods 2
Data Collection Methods
Data Collection Methods
Survey Sampling 3
Electives
One elective semester course of choice that focuses on survey science, research methodology, or data science. Choose from electives list below.3
Minimum Hours12
1

Every Spring.

2

Every Fall. Note: This course will be offered Spring 2025.

3

Spring (even-numbered years).

Electives
ANTH 725Quantitative Methods in Anthropology3
BIOS 662Intermediate Statistical Methods4
BIOS 665Analysis of Categorical Data3
BIOS 667Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis3
BIOS 668Design of Public Health Studies3
BIOS 670Demographic Techniques I3
BIOS 764Advanced Survey Sampling Methods3
BUSI 808Applied Research Methods I3
BUSI 867Issues in the Design and Analysis of Research in Marketing3
EDUC 785Program Evaluation in Education3
EDUC 817Introduction to Educational Research3
EDUC 824Fundamentals of Educational Research3
EDUC 830Qualitative Research Methods I: Philosophical Foundations of Qualitative Research3
EPID 726Epidemiologic Research Methods3
HBEH 753Qualitative Methods in Health Behavior3
HBEH 763Scale Development Methods3
INLS 509Information Retrieval3
INLS 719Usability Testing and Evaluation3
MHCH 713Research Methods in Maternal and Child Health3
MHCH 862Program Impact Evaluation3
PLAN 800Research Design3
PLCY 801Design of Policy-Oriented Research3
POLI 880Design and Analysis of Experiments and Surveys3
SOCI 707Measurement and Data Collection3

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 student devoted at least 40 hours to activities related to survey operations.

Students with the requisite work experience need only provide the required documentation to fulfill this requirement. Students without 40 hours of survey operations experience may make their own arrangements to obtain it, but should seek pre-approval from the CSS program director to ensure the experiences will satisfy the Certificate requirement. When needed, the Certificate program staff will arrange an unpaid assignment for the student totaling 40 hours of work in survey operations at UNC or a partnering organization. For details on submitting documentation of work experience, see the Work Experience Information Sheet.

  • Short courses in survey science of choice (28 hours).