Describing academic qualifications in French
Bonjour a tous,

How would I say, "I am doing a Masters degree in Social Research" in French?

I asked one of my French friends to translate this for me, and she responded with, "je suis actuellement en master de recherche sociale".

Unless I am wrong, this translates into, "I am currently in a Social Research masters".

To be IN a masters sounds a little weird in English, can I not use the verbs to study/to take/to do? (e.g. je prends un master en recherche sociale)

Question

Describing academic qualifications in French
Bonjour a tous,

How would I say, "I am doing a Masters degree in Social Research" in French?

I asked one of my French friends to translate this for me, and she responded with, "je suis actuellement en master de recherche sociale".

Unless I am wrong, this translates into, "I am currently in a Social Research masters".

To be IN a masters sounds a little weird in English, can I not use the verbs to study/to take/to do? (e.g. je prends un master en recherche sociale)

Answer

effectivement ,si non vous pouvez répondre "je suis en Master" ou bien 'je prépare un master x"

Answer

Parfait, merci! Recherche sociale is a recognised French name of the degree that I'm taking, so I'll go with that. However, I might use sciences sociales just to be safe!

Answer

You're not wrong and your friend is right :)
What bothers me is that "recherche sociale" is probably not the official name given in french to your Master, usually in french we talk about "sciences sociales" or "droit social", etc but not "recherche sociale". You should look for the proper equivalent. 
Otherwise, "je suis en Master X" or "je suis en 1ère/2ème année de Master X" is the usual way to say what you want to say.