Econ 6896: Research Methods
Spring 2001
Prof. Tony Lima Prof.
Nan L. Maxwell
email:
tlima@csuhayward.edu email: nmaxwell@csuhayward.edu
phone:
885-3889 phone: 885-3265
office hours: Tuesday 10-11:30am office hours: 5-6 Thursday and
Thursday
2-4pm by
appointment
TEXTS: De Vaus, David. 2001. Research
Design in Social Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Gujarati,
Damodar. 1995. Basic Econometrics. New York: McGraw Hill (or any other
econometrics book).
READINGS: The
text books provide technical material and serve as a reference for your
research project. Neither text, however, provides complete coverage of a
research methods course for economists. We have therefore augmented these
resources with selected journal article readings. Copies of articles can be
purchased from Copymat at 22470 Foothill Blvd (phone 510.886.4603). Readers
cost about $8.00.
PREREQUISITES: Econ
6101 (Seminar: Micro-Economic Theory I)
Econ
6102 (Seminar: Micro-Economic Theory II)
Econ
6105 (Seminar: Macro-Economic Theory)
Econ
6400 (Seminar: Econometrics)
at
least one seminar in Economics
Students who do not have the
prerequisites will be dropped.
COURSE
DESCRIPTION: This
course is an introduction to research methodologies, data analysis, and report
writing. The course is designed to provide students with the analytic and
research tools to increase their capacity to pose, answer and critically
evaluate research questions. These skills will be developed, in part, by
undertaking a research project that synthesizes research methods, statistical
analysis, and reporting of empirical results.
COURSE
OBJECTIVES: Research
Methods is designed to introduce the basic concepts of research methodology. By
the end of the course, students should be able to:
·
initiate
and execute a formal research project;
·
read
and evaluate research completed by others;
·
think
critically;
·
communicate
research through a wide variety of mediums; and
·
receive
constructive feedback and evaluate their own research efforts.
GRADING: Assessment Percentage
of Grade
Essay
Midterm (individual) 30
Research
Proposal (group) 20
Research
Paper (group) 25
Presentation
(group) 10
Class
Participation (individual) 15
(includes participation in listserv)
COURSE STRUCTURE
Research is not an individual activity.
Most research occurs with collaborators or within groups and ALL research
requires critical input from others. We have tried to simulate this research environment
by requiring group research projects and group assessment of work. For this
reason, class attendance is mandatory. You will be working closely with your
classmates to produce a research project, to evaluate research of others, and
to discuss general problems in research, some of which you will encounter in
your own work.
A research project is always best when
it has benefited from critical analysis of others at every stage of
development. If potential research problems are confronted early in the
process, often they can be circumvented by reassessing the process and/or
altering the original research design. Thus, your research project will be
stronger if you:
1.
Learn to listen to and use feedback on
your work constructively. During the course of a research project you will often hear what you
perceive to be harsh criticism of your work. Sometimes reviewers of your work
are not nice (although we will not allow undue harshness in critiques in this
class). The best researchers learn to ferret out the germ of wisdom in the
harshest of critiques. The worst researchers let negative comments fester and
prevent moving forward in the research process.
2.
Use class time as a research workshop. Ask questions about the topic
discussed so that you can gain from a variety of perspectives with
"answers" from several individuals. Pose your research problems to
others in class or on the list serv. You will learn much from formulating your
question and listening to potential solutions from your classmates. Help others
solve their research problems. You will be surprised how often a solution you
develop for someone else can be used later in your own work.
3.
Do your own work. Research consists of individual
effort in a team environment. We simulate that in class by requiring individual
work to be done individually. For most of you, this goes without saying.
However, the occasional student is tempted to cut corners by presenting work
from someone else as theirs. For those of you who are tempted to cheat or
plagiarize, please be forewarned that we will prosecute those that violate
University policy on academic dishonesty to the fullest extent possible. If you
are unsure what constitutes academic dishonesty, please consult the University
catalog or one of the instructors.
4.
Don't burn bridges. If you don't provide feedback and
help to others they will not provide feedback and help to you on your research.
If you do not attend class and others work hard to obtain information and to
participate in discussion, do not expect them to tutor you through the course.
Developing good research methods relies on critical thinking, which cannot be
developed without practice.
To help you gain the most from the
course we have structured the course with:
·
lecture
for the first part of class with group work or whole class discussion of
research activities consuming the last part of the class. By combining lecture
with active discussion of group work students should see direct research
applications of the material covered in the lecture and be provided with a
forum for discussing and solving stumbling blocks in their research.
·
exposure
to two different professors. Each of us brings different expertise to the
research field and, as a result, the students can gain different perspectives
and insights into research problems.
·
list
serv for discussing research problems, blocks, issues between classes.
MIDTERM
EXAMS: Exam
questions will consist of essay questions. Exams are an individual effort. Any
contact with other students during the exam will be considered cheating. The
penalty for any cheating is removal from the course and an academy dishonest
report filed with the University.
RESEARCH: Students
will write an original group research
paper that will develop an hypothesis (or problem statement) from current
literature, design a research process that can test the hypothesis/address the
problem statement, locate the data for analysis, use appropriate statistical
methods to analyze the data, evaluate the analysis, verify or reject the
hypothesis (assess the problem), and discuss limitations and recommendations
for future work in the field.
Students will be formed into research
groups on the first day of class. You should select a group members with
similar interests to you. If you are uninterested in the research topic
ultimately selected, you will be bored throughout the quarter and won't learn
much.
Research groups and topics must be
selected and approved by the instructor by the end of the first class period. The purpose of this course is to give you
practice at developing research that is new to you. You may not use topics or
data collected for another class or by another person (public secondary
data are excepted). Violation of this
"rule" will mean immediate removal from the course and an academic
dishonesty report placed in each group members University file.
PROPOSAL: The
research proposal will present:
·
a
well developed hypothesis/problem;
·
a
research design to test the hypothesis (assess solutions to the problem);
·
a
discussion of level of measurement (aggregate or individual) and potential
validity, reliability, ethical, and sampling concerns;
·
a
potential source of data to test the hypothesis (assess solutions); and
·
potential
statistical methods to analyze the data.
THE PROPOSAL IS DUE ON APRIL 10. ALL
PROPOSALS WILL BE CIRCULATED AMONG THE CLASS FOR CRITIQUE IN CLASS ON APRIL 12.
PAPER and
PRESENTATION: Research
groups will present a presentation of their research findings during the
scheduled final exam (June 6). The presentation must be a professional
presentation that would be acceptable for the relevant professional audience
(e.g., academics, policy makers, CEOs).
Research papers are due at the time of
the presentation. Late papers will not be accepted. Like the presentation, papers
must be of professional quality and written for the appropriate audience. Both
use of English (at a graduate-student level) and use consistent and logical
arguments are important. The paper must be documented within the format of any
major authority (e.g. APA, Chicago) and sources must be properly cited in the
text with full citations contained at the paper's end. If you have any questions concerning proper
style, consult The Chicago Style Manual or any other appropriate style
book. Because students in this course
are expected to write, the paper will be graded on both content and form. Your paper grade will be based as
follows: 75% research content, 15%
writing clarity, 10% presentation of material.
Week Day Topic Reading
DV (de Vaus)
Guj (Gujariti)
B (Black--in reader)
1. March
29 Introduction to
Course and Research Methods (Lima and Maxwell) Ch 1 DV
·
Basic,
Empirical, and Applied Economic Research Ch
1 Guj
·
Research
Process Levi
·
Background
Work
·
Topics
for Research Projects
2. April
5 Proposal
Development: (Maxwell) Ch
2-3 DV
Hypothesis/Problem
Statement Development Ch
1&2 B
3. April
12 LAB: Critique of
proposals (Maxwell)
(email proposals to class by April 10)
RESEARCH DESIGN
4. April
19 Samples and
Populations (Lima) Ch
5 B
·
Random
Samples Ch
7 Guj
·
Selection
Issues
·
Statistical
Controls
5. April
26 Designing
Empirical Research (Maxwell) Ch 4-5 DV
·
Design
·
Validity
Concerns
6. May 3 Midterm
DATA
7. May
10 LAB: Computer
Use (Lima) Ch
6 DV
(have data collected by May 8) Cox
·
Entering
Data Lewis-Beck
·
Using
SAS
·
Using
analysis procedures
8. May
17 Data (Lima and Maxwell) Ch 6 or 9 or 12 DV
Primary
Data (Surveying) (Depends on Needs)
·
Secondary
Data Ch
8 Guj
·
Constructing
Variables Morgan
9. May
24 Statistical
Analysis (Lima) Ch
8 Guj
Guj
as needed
TIEING IT ALL TOGETHER
10. May
31 Evaluating
Research (Lima
and Maxwell)
·
Do
the design, data, sample, analysis answer the question/hypothesis?
·
Are
the results written for the appropriate audience?
11. June
6 Presentations
(Projects due) (Lima
and Maxwell)
REQUIRED READINGS
Black, Thomas R. 1999. Doing Quantitative Research in
the Social Sciences: An Integrated Approach to Research design, Measurement and
Statistics. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Chapters 1-2, and 5.
Cox, D.R. 1990. "Transformation of Statistical
Variables." In The New Palgrave: Econometrics, edited by John
Eatwell, Murray Milgate, and Peter Newman. Hong Kong: Macmillan Press.
Levi, Maurice. 1985. Thinking Economically: How
Economic Principles Can Contribute to Clear Thinking. NY: Basic Books.
Chapters 1 and 2.
Lewis-Beck. 1995. Data Analysis: An Introduction.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Sections 1-4.
Morgan, James N. 1990. "Survey Research." In The
New Palgrave: Econometrics, edited by John Eatwell, Murray Milgate, and
Peter Newman. Hong Kong: Macmillan Press.
HELPFUL HINTS
The process of the scientific method
may be new to many students. For that reason, we are providing some questions
that should help you determine if you have mastered some basic research
concepts. By the end of the quarter, you should be able to answer the following
questions in detail.
1.
What distinguishes an
hypothesis from a problem statement?
2.
What determines
whether an hypotheses or problem statement is testable? What questions can be answered by the
scientific method, and what kinds cannot?
3.
What is a
definition? How is a definition
operationalized?
4.
What is a
concept? What is a variable? How are they related?
5.
What is
association? What is causality? How are they related?
6.
What is a population?
How does a population differ from a sample?
7.
What elements make up
a research design? What is the purpose
of the design? What characteristics of
the hypothesis/problem statement and population/sample determine what design is
appropriate?
8.
What is random
assignment? How does it differ from
random sampling? What is a control
group? A pretest? A posttest?
What is the purpose of "matching" and how is it done?
9.
What are the primary
validity and sampling concerns that are encountered? How can these concerns be
alleviated?
10. What is the difference between primary and secondary
data? What are some of the advantages
and disadvantages of each?
11. What alternative levels of measurement are available for
data collection, and how is the appropriate level selected?
12. What is a data collection instrument? How is data prepared for analysis?
13. What is the difference between descriptive statistics and
inferential statistics? What are some
examples of each? What is the
difference between parametric and non‑parametric statistics?
14. What is the purpose of statistical analysis in answering the
questions posed by problem statements? What are the primary statistical tools
used by economists?
15. How are research results usually reported? How do research reports, recommendations and
decisions differ?
16. How can these concepts be used to effectively transmit
research assignments to different types of audiences?
17. What are the primary considerations for critically
evaluating research proposed or performed by others?
18. What ethical issues arise in conducting economic research,
and what are some strategies for resolving them?