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Department of Economics, McMaster University ECONOMICS 3F03: Methods of Inquiry in Economics Thomas Crossley Leslie Robb Fall 2002

RESEARCH PROPOSALS

A. OVERVIEW: WHAT YOUR RESEARCH PROPOSAL WILL INCLUDE: A well formulated research question Must be causal: what is the effect of X on Y? NOT descriptive Background and motivation Why is this important? Why is it interesting? How does it fit in with previous research? (Literature Review) Theoretical model(s) or hypotheses A convincing research design: What is the treatment? What are the control groups? What is the design? What are the threats to internal validity? How can you minimize them? Are there any threats to external validity? What data will you use? B. THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS IS: a. Individual meetings (10-15 minutes), October 21-28. Do you have a question? An idea for a research design.

b. In-class presentation (10-15 minutes), November 4-14, and written `proposal for a proposal (23 pages, double spaced), November 14th. Statement of research question, some background and motivation, brief outline of design, data. c. 2nd Individual meeting (15 Minutes), November 18-28. Checking on progress

d. Final Research proposal (12-15 pages, double spaced, plus references). January 6th. Complete proposal Well formulated research question Background and motivation including comprehensive literature review Detailed discussion of design, threats to validity, data

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C. HOW TO CHOOSE A TOPIC: Find a research question and then look for a convincing research design, or Find a natural experiment and then think of a research question D. FORMAT OF A RESEARCH PROPOSAL There is no single correct format for a research proposal. The following is intended as a guide, not a set of rules, and variations are possible. The format we are outlining here is very similar to the format of a typical empirical research paper in economics. The principal difference of course is that a research paper would have additional sections: results, and conclusions. The best way to get a feel for how to format and write research papers and research proposals is to read as many as you can. Abstract or Summary or Overview It is often a good idea to being with an Abstract or Summary or Overview. This is a one or, at most two, paragraph summary of the proposal. Its intended to hook the reader into reading the whole proposal and provide a guide to what follows. It should tell the reader what the research question is, as well as key elements of the research design. Introduction This section has similar goals to the abstract, but is one to two pages long. Here is where you should present, as clearly and directly as possible, your research question. In addition you should provide background to, and motivation for your research question. Why is it important? Why is it interesting? Literature Review Its important to place your proposed work in the context of what others have done. This is usually done with a literature review. In one to two pages, you should survey earlier work in the field. Try NOT to just list papers and results. Instead you should attempt to compare and contrast earlier work. Do all earlier papers share some common shortcoming? Are there unresolved issues in the literature? Do the different results of past researchers seem to depend on some crucial assumption or methodological decision? And crucially, how will your proposed research extend what is already known? Will you address some shortcoming of the current literature? Be careful in this part of the paper not to accidentally plagiarize. If you are quoting someone elses words, be sure to indicate so and give an appropriate citation. Because the previous literature is a key part of the motivation for your research question, you may find it more convenient to fold the literature review into the introduction. While you must have a literature review, you need not necessarily present it as a separate section. Theory (Optional) Much empirical research in economics is motivated by economic theory. You may wish to have a

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section that outlines the economic theory behind your research question. As with the literature review, it is possible but not necessary to present this as a separate section. This is part of the background and motivation for your question, so you may want to fold it into the introduction. Research Design After the research question, this is perhaps the most important section. Here you will discuss: What is the treatment? What are the control groups? What is the design? What are the threats to internal validity? How can you minimize them? Are there any threats to external validity? Convince the reader that your proposed research can answer the research question you have posed. Econometric Methods (Optional) If the econometric and statistical techniques employed in a paper are sufficiently complex, or novel, many investigators will have an econometrics section where they present their proposed methods. If the methods are standard (such as comparison of means, t-tests, linear regression), then they need only be mentioned in the context of outlining the research design. Data This section should describe your data. What is the source of your data? If it is a survey or surveys, give the particulars. What is the population? How was the sample drawn? If you are using survey data, critical sample information would include for example, the response rate. What variables were collected? How many observations are there? (Some of the detail here can be left to the appendices). Most importantly, What are the advantages of this data for the question at hand? What are the disadvantages? Most students will design a research project that takes advantage of existing data sources. Statistics Canada is an important source of such data and you can find a list of the survey data files they make available to university researchers at: http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/ftp.htm. More detail on each of the surveys is also available on the Statistics Canada web site. Some students may choose to design a research project that involves the collection of new data. If you do so, you must provide details of your research design: how will the sample be generated? How will the data be collected (phone? Face to face interview?) what will be the questionnaire design? Expected Results (Optional) This section is optional in the sense that it could be part of the introduction (motivation). But you should have a discussion somewhere of what you expect to find, and what different possible outcomes might lead you to conclude. How will you relate your results to the theory or hypothesis you expect to test? How might different results lead you to change your theory or hypothesis? References Many journals in economics follow the convention of citing sources in the text by author and year in brackets, for example, (Topel, 1991). Direct quotations must be indicated quotations. When you simply refer to someones work, the citations is sufficient. The paper should then conclude with a list of references. The format for the references varies but the following is typical:

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Topel, R. (1991). `Specific Capital , Mobility and Wages: Wages Rise with Job Seniority. Journal of Political Economy, 99(1):145-76. For more detail, and for suggestions on how to cite other kinds of documents (web documents, for example), check out http://www.nutsandboltsguide.com/. Be sure to cite and reference all your sources; plagiarism is a serious offence. Appendices (Optional) Optionally, you may have appendices where you present additional detail. The types of things that might go in an appendix include (but are not limited to): i) Additional information about the data: sources, summary statistics, details on how specific variables will be constructed. ii) Proofs and derivations (from your theory or econometrics sections, for example). Tables, Figures, Graphs (Optional) These can be interlaced with the text, or attached at the end. They should be labeled with sufficient information to be intelligible, but not with so much that they are cluttered. Variations: The structure presented here is only intended as a guide There are many acceptable variations. Weve already noted that it might make sense to combine the literature review with the introduction. You may chose to use different section headings, which you think are more descriptive (a better road map for the reader). Here is an example: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Overview Research Question Background and Motivation Research Design Methods and Data Expected Results (Optional) References

Use your judgment. Remember your goals are to convince the reader that you have an interesting question, and a research plan that has a good chance of answering it. The reader shouldnt have to search for any of the key elements (the research question; why the research question is important; the research design). Shoot for readability, clarity and transparency.

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