This course covers the basic concepts, approaches and methods in social sciences for studying social issues - such as social inequalities using linear modeling methods, or steps in mental health service programme evaluation. The course is comprised of seminar and lab sessions. Each class will start with a seminar with the instructor to discuss related concepts and students will be required to participate in discussion. Then, the class will move into the lab session when students are either required to present their own research ideas or practice statistical skills using the software SPSS. Students will have to complete weekly lab assignments. Final paper involves the generation of a publishable manuscript based on students' research area of interests. In the first part of the course, student will learn how to construct their own conceptual model and specify hypotheses based on existing theories and literatures. In the second part of the course, students will identify a secondary data set related to their conceptual models and learn about data management skills. In the third part, students will learn about the concepts and lab skills of bivariate analysis. The fourth part of the course covers introductory concepts and lab skills of multiple regression. Last, students will have the opportunity to learn about manuscript writing as knowledge sharing and consult the instructors regarding their paper.