Research Methodology in Economics

Course ID:

ECO_452

Semester:

7th

Year of Study:

4th Year

Category:

Economics Elective

For Erasmus Students:

No

Learning Outcomes

This course deals with issues pertinent to the scientific research in economics, providing the principles for organizing, planning, designing and conducting research. More specifically, the course provides knowledge on: the use of bibliographic reviews, use of data sources, ethics of economic research, overall design of a research project (objectives, philosophy, and methods), evaluation of existing research, and, finally, the compilation and dissemination of the findings. The students discuss and present papers, learn research methods and write a critical review of the literature on an economic topic of their choice.

By the end of this course, the students are expected to:

Knowledge:

Know how to search for research papers and scholarly journal articles.
Know how to evaluate information found in the web.
Know how to analyze critically the research of others
Understand the different approaches to empirical economic research (social experiments, field experiments, laboratory experiments, natural experiments)
Be aware that research in economics is a continuous learning process.

Skills:

Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge and understanding of all stages of the research process, including the important links between its various components
Critically appraise the philosophical and ethical issues relating to research in economics
Identify and analyze primary and secondary data sources
Synthesize the relevant literature, explaining how the theories have been tested
Be able to design a research project and communicate the findings

Specific skills:

Have gained experience at presenting the research work of others, individually and as part of a team
Have gained experience at writing a critical review of the literature.

By the end of this course, the students will have developed the following skills:

1) Ability to expand their knowledge and make this knowledge useful to the study of world economic problems

2) Ability of ‘learning- by-doing’ under the supervision of a researcher or other expert

3) Ability to pull together various aspects of economic theories, methods and analysis and present them in a coherent, logical, reliable and useful manner.

Course Contents

The status and evolution of economic knowledge
Ethics of economic research
Literature reviews, skills and resources
Accessing economic data sources
Essay writing skills in economics
Reading and reviewing an article
Econometrics skill- training
Software presentation and application
Starting research and writing a dissertation

Teaching Activities

Lectures (3 hours per week)

Teaching Organization

*Activity*	*Semester workload*
Lectures, 3 hours per week	13X3 = 39 hours
Private study and preparation of assignments	111 hours
Total number of hours for the Course (25 hours of work-load per ECTS credit)	150 hours (total student work-load)