The MRS Diploma in Market and Social Research Practice is perfect if you have more than three years of experience in social or market research. If you want to advance your career and move up to the most senior positions, our postgrad-level MRS Diploma course will give you the knowledge and confidence you need.
With so many new approaches to generating insight, you’ll learn how to judge when an approach is suitable (or not), and you’ll gain the skill to justify your choices coherently and confidently. Indeed, the MRS Diploma is so worthwhile that leading agencies like Ipsos MORI and GfK help their staff gain it.
Essential facts
Course features
Course benefits
What you’ll learn
How to critically dissect complex business cases
How to evaluate client briefs & agency proposals
Research design, sampling, data collection & analysis
How to deliver actionable insights & recommendations
How to manage large international projects
How to influence stakeholders and negotiate solutions
Course format
Our MRS Diploma course is delivered online using Google Classroom. You can participate from any location, at any time. All you need is a computer, laptop, or tablet with an internet connection. You’ll find lots of resources on Classroom! Once you’re logged in, you can watch our popular bite-sized video lessons, check deadlines, upload work, and chat with other students.
All you need to buy is the textbooks. This is usually 2-3 books per unit. We supply other materials, including things we’ve developed especially for our students.
You’ll take a total of four units over two years. Each unit runs for 16 weeks, with six to eight live online tutorials per unit. Our tutorials take place on Wednesdays. In the autumn semester, they run from 1100-1215 and in spring semester they run from 1300-1415. We follow a conventional academic calendar. This includes a summer break as well as breaks for the half terms, Easter, and Christmas.
Assessment
We want you to do well, so we’ll give you lots of support. You’ll have a named personal tutor who will support you throughout each unit. Our tutors are experienced, and they’re nice too!
Units 2 and 4 are assessed by means of a written coursework assignment. Your personal tutor will give you detailed written feedback, followed by a one-to-one call. For Unit 2, you’ll also get feedback on mock coursework assignments to help you prepare. It’s easy to upload your coursework drafts and your final paper, and there’s no need to print anything out.
Units 1 and 5 are assessed via pen-and-paper exams To help you prepare for these exams, we give you detailed written feedback on a full exam paper. All of them come with answer guides and many come with sample answers. We’ll also discuss exam timing and tactics in our pre-exam tutorials. Exam venues are in London and Manchester, or by your own arrangement overseas.
Sequence
The MRS Diploma consists of five units, of which you need to complete four. In Year 1, you’ll complete Units 1 and 2. In Year 2, you’ll complete Units 4 and 5. Unit 4 covers advanced qualitative research. We don’t offer Unit 3, which covers advanced quantitative research and statistics. We’re happy to chat with you about this.
Start dates
We offer the MRS Diploma once a year, starting in August. It’s best if you complete the units in sequential order. However, you can also start with Unit 2 in January. To discuss your options, have a chat with Mia, the MRS Diploma course leader.
Units
Eligibility criteria and language requirements
To take the MRS Diploma, you need to meet only one of these criteria:
- Successful completion of the MRS Advanced Certificate and a minimum of one year’s experience in a research-related role
- A degree or appropriate professional qualification that contained a significant research component, and at least two years of work experience in a research-related role
- At least three years of work experience in a research-related role, and evidence of training within that role
To take any of our courses, you’ll need to meet only one of the following language criteria:
- You’re a native English speaker
- You can prove that you’ve worked or studied in an English-language environment for 3+ years (e.g. your CV)
- Cambridge English: Advanced or Proficiency with an overall score of 175 and no less than 162 in each component (or equivalent)
- IELTS 6.0 or above
- TOEIC 880 or above
To take any of our courses, you’ll need all of these:
- PC or laptop*
- Headset with mic and speakers
- Webcam
- Chrome browser (recommended)
- Good internet connection e.g. download speeds of 5 Mbps, upload speeds of 1 Mbps
*You can access the course using a mobile phone or tablet, but we think you’ll want the big screen size.
Costs, payment options & discounts
The costs for our MRS Diploma course shown here include tuition and support, as well as the MRS registration and exam venue fees. They do not include the cost of the recommended course textbooks or fees related to taking the exam outside of the UK. For more information about overseas exams, please click here.
You can pay for course in four instalments, i.e. one payment per unit. You can also opt to pay for the entire course up front. Some employers prefer this. Costs exclude VAT.
Payment can be made by BACS/electronic transfer. We accept cheques only in exceptional circumstances, and we do not accept card payments.
SPECIAL DISCOUNT: Research Academy graduates get 10% off! Just mention it when you apply.
| Unit | Cost ex VAT |
|---|---|
| Unit 1 Includes MRS course registration and exam venue fees. | £2,100.00 |
| Unit 2 | £1,520.00 |
| Unit 4 | £1,520.00 |
| Unit 5 Includes MRS exam venue fee. | £1,550.00 |
| Total for UK-based students | £6,690.00 |
| MRS overseas surcharge | £242.00 |
| Total for students outside of the UK | £6,932.00 |
What people say about our MRS Diploma course
I’ve gained the confidence to move into a senior position
I really value the time I’ve had with Research Academy studying for my MRS Diploma. I have a perhaps unique perspective in that I did my first unit with a different distance learning provider, but was unhappy about the way the course was run so switched to Research Academy at the start of Unit 2. They couldn’t have been more helpful in the transition, and the way the course is run is a world apart from my experience throughout Unit 1.
Research Academy staff are very supportive and encouraging, always making time for their students. The instructors have a wealth of expertise. I’ve found the course itself incredibly helpful – it’s quite a lot of work but very rewarding – and I’ve gained the confidence to move into a senior position at work. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Research Academy and the MRS Diploma to other market research professionals.
Ginny Cartmel
I’m now a more rounded and better research professional
Undertaking the MRS Diploma has been quite a journey! The support and encouragement I received from the Research Academy was excellent. At one point I thought I was going to have to give up due to work commitments but Mia convinced me I could do this… and she was right!
I have found the Diploma course really interesting. More importantly, it has been extremely beneficial in making me a more rounded and better research professional. I am so glad I did it and cannot recommend the Research Academy highly enough.
Wendy Crofts
I’m more confident in voicing my opinions
Thank you so much, Mia and Sia, for all your teaching and support over the last two years. The MRS Diploma course has given me a real confidence boost and showed me that I know more than I thought I did. My practical experience is now backed up technically with the theory, which has made me more confident in voicing my opinions about how to approach a project. I’m so glad I did this.
Jenny Merry
I feel that I really learned a lot
I did the Diploma with Research Academy and found them so helpful and supportive. The tutors were always willing to go the extra mile to give very detailed and helpful feedback, and to answer all of my questions. I feel that I really learned a lot. Thanks to Research Academy I am now a Certified MRS member!
Eve O'Callaghan
I now can make more secure, well-founded decisions
I am an Account Manager in South Africa, working for an international market research company. I decided to enrol for the MRS Diploma course with the Research Academy as I have worked in market research for eight years but didn’t ever feel as though I knew everything I needed to since I ‘happened upon’ my career in market research.
In South Africa there aren’t many courses that offer the kind of training the Research Academy offers. The online approach suited me and has worked exceptionally well. The Research Academy provides excellent training and guidance and really prepare you well for all the tasks and exams. I could never have done as well as I did without them.
After doing this course the biggest benefit to me as a market research professional and my career has been my confidence – I now can make more secure, well founded decisions on an every day basis. Being a quantitative researcher I wouldn’t have gone near a qualitative project before doing this course, but now I would gladly take one on, as I feel fully equipped to do so – I think that’s amazing.
I also received a distinction for the qualitative unit – definitely due to the Research Academy’s preparation and support. Mia and her team are incredibly knowledgeable. This is truly an excellent course for professionals who are after that extra bit of confidence to push them further in their careers.
Camila Dixon
I’ve applied my knowledge already
I did the MRS Advanced Certificate with a different learning company five years ago. Since then my role has expanded, making me responsible for customer research and insight across my organisation. I really needed to broaden my knowledge to ensure that our research methods were fit for purpose and based on sound theory and principles. The MRS Diploma with Research Academy (RA) fit the bill perfectly.
Having done well in the Advanced Certificate, I was a little complacent with Unit 1 of the Diploma. I soon discovered that the Diploma standards were higher and that RA’s standards were higher still! If you’re looking to do the bare minimum to scrape a pass, then RA isn’t for you. RA commit to helping you aim high. They enrich your learning with examples from their own experiences, hands-on webinars, extra reading, one-to-one tutorials and homework. It can be a lot when you have a busy work and home life, but it’s well worth it.
Coming from a primarily social research background, I struggled with some of the commercial market research elements. The Unit 2 assessment focussed on this and despite my initial fears, support from my RA tutor plus great discussions with classmates in tutorials helped me through successfully. I’ve had many opportunities to apply my new knowledge already and am delighted to report that the investment my employers are making in my training is paying off.
Julia Frost
The course helped me improve my professional practice
Studying with the Research Academy has been great. It’s immensely encouraging to work with such a knowledgeable, enthusiastic team, who are clearly committed to high-quality research. Fitting the course in around work was challenging – the Research Academy expect a lot from their students in terms of self-directed study, preparation and participation. Ultimately though, their programme definitely helped me get the most from the Diploma, and to improve my professional practice.
Rebecca Green
Above all they care about students
I recently became market research manager for a leading educational publisher. Although I had passed the MRS Foundation and Certificate in my previous position in product development, I’m largely self-taught. The MRS Diploma was therefore a chance for me to consolidate my knowledge, widen my understanding, submit my current ways of working to more rigorous analysis and increase my professional credibility. In particular I realised that – as a humanities graduate – my knowledge of quantitative approaches was lacking.
I found the course tougher than I expected, and particularly struggled with working out how to apply my ‘academic’ knowledge of research methods to the ’practical’ case study approach that the MRS assessments take.
Without the support of Research Academy I think I would have had great difficulty in maintaining engagement and passing the exams. I was delighted to gain a Distinction for the Qualitative Research unit, which would not have happened without Research Academy. I’ve found them to be exceptionally good – academically astute, supportive, experienced, encouraging, good-humoured and challenging. Above all they seem to care about students. I’m delighted I chose them.