ECON7950 Research Methods in Economics Assessment 3
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ECON7950 Research Methods in Economics
Assessment 3 – Research Proposal
Instructions and Marking Criteria
Overview
Finally we are here! We have been spending time looking at the literature. We have pitched someone else’s research. This time, you will pitch your own research idea.
Your Task
Make a written research pitch, pitching your own research plan, using the template in the same folder as this instruction.
Your reverse pitch should include:
The Four – Framing the big picture
A. Working Title
Give a succinct/informative title of your research project.
B. Basic research question
In one (1) sentence, define the scope and terms of reference of your research project.
C. Key papers
Identify the three (3) keys paper which most critically underpins your project. Give their full reference details (again, APA, Chicago or Harvard style, your choice but please be consistent).
D. Motivation/Puzzle
In one (1) short paragraph (about 100 words), capture the core academic motivation – which may include identifying a “puzzle” that you hope to resolve.
The Three basic building blocks – Project specifics
E. Idea
What specifically will you do? How do we go about getting an answer? Do you have a prediction or a hypothesis?
In three (3) to six (6) bullet points (about 100 — 150 words) :
For theory research:
- Note significant innovation in assumptions, if any.
- Articulate the main conjecture and the main intuition/strategy of proof of it.
For experimental research:
- Articulate the central hypothesis(es).
- Identify the key dependent (“explained”) variable(s) and describe the
control and treatment(s).
For research using secondary data:
- Identify the key dependent (“explained”) variable and the key test/independent (“explanatory”) variable(s).
- What is the identification strategy? (E.g., natural experiment, regression discontinuity, instrumental variables, structural estimation, etc.)
If your research has a mix of the above, you should identify the core idea from each part.
F. Data
What are you going to put your ideas to?
Describe, if appropriate, in three (3) to six (6) bullet points (about 100 — 150 words): For research with secondary data :
- What data are you intending to use? Describe its nature : E.g., Country/setting; unit of analysis (e.g., individual/firms/sectors/countries, etc).; sampling period and sampling interval (e.g., daily, monthly, quarterly, etc.).
- Sample size and sampling nature (e.g., cross-section, time-series, balanced/unbalanced panel, etc.)
- Data sources – is the intended data publicly available? If not, what’s the plan of accessing it? Are you going to collect the data yourself?
- Do you foresee potential problems with the data (e.g., missing data, database merging issues)?
For research with experimental data:
- When and where do you intend to run the experiments? Are they laboratory experiments, field experiments or others?
- What is the intended subject pool?
- How are the experiments run? Computer-based? Experimenter observations? Interviews? Are real effort tasks involved?
- Are the experiments individual or do they involve group interactions? If the later, how are subjects matched? (E.g., do they stay in the same match throughout the same experiment, or are they rematched every period? How many matching groups are there?)
- Is/are the treatment(s) within-subjects or between-subjects? If a subject experiences multiple treatments, how is the order of treatments determined?
- Estimated cost of the experiment.
For theory research (i.e., research with no “real” data):
- Motivating examples for the theory model
- Hypothetical examples to which existing theories provide unsatisfactory answer but could potentially be answered by the proposed research
- Anecdotal or “stylised” observations that matches your hypothesis
If the research is a mixed of the above, describe the part that contains actual data. (That is, if it is theoretical research with some actual data, describe the actual data.)
G. Tools
Describe, if appropriate, in three (3) to six (6) bullet points (about 100 — 150 words): For research with secondary data:
- The basic econometric model you intend to use (e.g., linear regression, two-stage least squares, maximum likelihood, etc.)
- Any econometric techniques you might need in over-coming data obstacles For research with experimental data:
- Tools for eliciting certain information (e.g., Holt- Laury for risk preference)
- Any experimental design that is specific to the type of experiments run
- Statistical tools used for analysing the data
For theory research (i.e., research with no “real” data):
- The type of the proof (e.g., induction, construction, by contradiction)
- Notable mathematical/statistical theorems used in the proof
If the research study has a mix of the above, you should identify the core idea from each part.
The Two Important Questions
H. What’s New
In two (2) to four (4) sentences (about 50 — 100 words), indicate the novelty of the research. Is the novelty in the idea/data/tools? Which is the main “driver” of the novelty? Is it being limited by some other elements?
I. So what?
In two (2) to four (4) sentences (about 50 — 100 words), state the “policy implications” of your research. Why is it important to know the answer? How will major decisions/behaviour/activity etc be influenced by the outcome of this research?
The One Bottomline
J. Contribution
In two (2) to four (4) sentences (about 50 — 100 words), describe the main contribution of the research. What “new doors” may it open? You may wish to note what may happen in a “best case scenario” versus a “worst case scenario” .
Plus One: Other considerations
K. Other considerations
In three sentences (or bullet points), note any concerns or considerations relating to your research plan. For examples, is there sufficient time to complete the research? Would you need ethics clearance? Are you aware of any funding sources (if funds are required)? Would you need specific programming skills to carry out the research?
Resources
The handouts for Lecture 4 (Research Pitching) would be of tremendous help.
You can find more resources on research pitching, as well as examples of pitches on https://pitchingresearch.com/resources/ (module 2).
See also the FAQ’s on Blackboard (in the same folder as this instructions).
Format
You should use the Pitching Research Template (downloadable from the course Blackboard site, in the same folder as this instruction) for this assessment. The Pitching Research template is similar to the Reverse Pitching template you had used for assessment 2, but with some differences – so please use the correct template! There is a cued template (which includes prompts for you) and an empty template (which you can directly type your pitch in). If you are using a cued template, please delete the cues before submission.
I have also changed the “FoR category” blank in the template to “JEL code(s)” since this course is economics-specific.
You have a word limit of 1000 words (plus or minus 20%). Marks will not be deducted for pitches below 800 words per se (conciseness is a virtue), however, if the lack of words means little information is conveyed, you will likely be hurt on some marking criteria. On the other hand, marks can be deducted for extraneous pitches.
The following guide provides a rough “words budget” for each item. This is just a guide – the words count for each part may vary depending on the research study you are reverse pitching (e.g., theory proposal should get less on “data”).
Item Suggested words budget
A. Working Title 10 — 20 words
B. Basic Research Question 20 —30 words (1 — 2 sentences)
C. Key papers 60 —70 words (3 full references)
D. Motivation/Puzzle 150 — 200 words (4 — 6 sentences or bullet points)
E. Idea 100 — 150 words (3 — 6 bullet points)
F. Data 100 — 150 words (3 — 6 bullet points)
G. Tool 100 — 150 words (3 — 6 bullet points)
H. What’s new 50 — 100 words (2 —4 sentences)
I. So what? 50 — 100 words (2 —4 sentences)
J. Contribution 50 — 100 words (2 —4 sentences)
K. Other considerations 50 — 100 words (3 sentences or bullet points)
2023-06-29