Curriculum

30 Total Credits Required

As a student in the Human Development Research and Policy (HDRP) MA, you will take courses in three core areas: Foundations in Human Development; Research Methodology and Statistics; and Professional Development. You will also choose two electives to pursue your substantive and/or methodological interests and tailor the program to your professional goals.

Core Areas

Foundations in Human Development

You will first be introduced to the main theories, methods, and evidence from developmental psychology, to help you understand why and how differences across multiple domains (e.g., language, cognition, and social-emotional development) emerge, from infancy to adulthood. Then, you will build on your understanding of human development and learn how to design, implement, and/or study policies and programs through Intervention and Social Change.

Research Methodology and Statistics

You will be able to pursue one of two course sequences in Research Methodology and Statistics, based on your prior exposure to statistics. If you have no prior exposure, you will take Statistics for the Behavioral and Social Sciences I in the fall and Statistics for the Behavioral and Social Sciences II in the spring, and if you do, you will take Intermediate Quantitative Methods: The General Linear Model in the fall and Topics in Multivariate Analysis in the spring.

Professional Development

The Professional Development Seminar I (in the fall) and II (in the spring) will introduce you to professional-development opportunities at and beyond NYU in research and policy analysis on human development. The opportunities in the fall are geared towards introducing you to sites where you may pursue your internship in the spring, whereas those in the spring seek to introduce you to sites for employment upon graduation.