Course Materials

Clark University

An important part of a successful research project is documenting the process well enough that others can reproduce your results (it also makes it much easier for you to extend your own research at some future date). Students will follow the TIER (Teaching Integrity in Empirical Research) Protocol developed by Richard Ball and others at Haverford College (see http://projecttier.org for more background information). The documentation students prepare covers three stages of the research process: the original data source(s) accessed, the steps needed to develop the final analysis dataset(s), and the statistical analyses presented in the paper.

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Dickinson College

This course is a rigorous introduction to econometrics in which the tools of economic theory, mathematics, and statistical inference are applied to the analysis of economic data. We will study and apply multiple regression analysis to both cross-sectional and longitudinal (panel) data in order to familiarize students with the concepts of econometric modeling, estimation, prediction, and hypothesis testing. Students will conduct empirical research projects using Stata to enable students to understand and apply the conventions of empirical research in economics, including: technical writing, reviewing existing literature, data collection and organization, and file management for complete transparency and reproducibility. Throughout the semester students will:

• Learn the econometric methodology, including how to construct econometric models, estimate relevant economic parameters, predict economic outcomes, and test economic hypotheses using quantitative data.
• Do regression analysis. They will be able to choose a topic conducive to regression analysis, specify a regression equation, collect data, run descriptive statistics, run regressions, interpret and evaluate the results, and demonstrate the necessary components of a well-written empirical research paper and the economics discipline formatting and style conventions.
• Learn the basic assumptions of the classical linear regression model and identify and correct (if possible) any violations of these assumptions, such as serial correlation and heteroskedasticity.
• Evaluate regression results, determining whether the regression coefficients have the expected sign and magnitude, whether the regression coefficients are statistically significant, whether the equation includes irrelevant variables or omits theoretically relevant variables, and whether the goodness of fit of the equation appears adequate.
• Demonstrate an understanding of Stata syntax, data management skills, and best coding and documentation practices for reproducibility.
• Demonstrate the ability to place a research question in the context of existing scholarly discourse through an effective literature review.

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Smith College

There are many approaches to development economics. First, there are many attempts to explain international differences in economic development – the ‘macro’ development problem. Second, there are many differences between the ways in which individuals, firms and states can respond to the challenges of development – the ‘micro’ development problem. The microeconomics of development informs the macroeconomics of development. From micro work we may gain insight into the specific individual-, family-, village- and firm-level institutions and constraints that shape decisions. As we try to understand how micro-level results permeate through an economy, that is, we try to understand the general equilibrium effects of a policy, so may we gain insight into macrolevel differences. Micro and macro tie together closely.

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Federal University of Pernambuco

This course is an introduction to replication and transparency in Political Science empirical research. The course is organized in three sections. The first one provides an overview of basic mathematical notation and statistical reasoning. The second part will introduce the main features of reproducible research using Stata and other tools. The third section will cover linear regression applications and diagnostics using both simulation and replication.

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Colgate University

Course Objectives and Structure:This course is your capstone course in the economics curriculum. The focus is on producing a research paper of publication quality. To accomplish this, you should be able to:

• state and motivate a cogent research question
• produce a credible literature review
• exhibit knowledge of basic economic theory as it relates to environmental and natural resource issues
• exhibit competence of statistical and econometric techniques if the work is of the empirical/statistical type
• produce clear, well reasoned arguments with a high standard of writing skill.
• provide all documentation as required by the TIER protocol of Ball and Medeiros (2012)

A seminar course is very different in tone and structure from other instructional courses in the curriculum. A seminar is a collaborative learning effort by all those involved. It is not the professor teaching the students, but rather the professor and students all learning together from each other. This means that there is far more responsibility on the part of the students to contribute to each other’s learning.Research project:

• You are required to write an independent research paper examining an aspect of a topic in environmental, resource, or ecological economics. Specific details will be forthcoming, but you should begin examining topics immediately!
• The research project could be (1) applied, empirical and statistical; (2) theoretical. It must be of academic interest, and ideally should be of practical interest (at least to someone).
• I expect the paper to be professionally written and in an economics journal style. Details of this will be discussed.
• We will adhere to the criterion that the paper must be fully documented so that its results can be fully replicated by a reader. This means that all data, code, and metadata must be supplied following the TIER protocol described in Ball and Medeiros (2012) which we will discuss in class.
• In the last few weeks of class, each of you will present your findings to the class.

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Haverford College

This is an introductory course in applied statistics that serves as a pre-requisite for an econometrics course that all economics majors are required to take. The course consists of three hours or class per week, plus a weekly two-hour computer lab devoted to an original research project. Working in small groups, students choose a topic; review the relevant literature; find appropriate statistical data; clean and organize the data; and conduct analyses to see what they can learn about the questions they set out to investigate. At the end of the semester they present their study and findings in a complete research paper, accompanied by comprehensive replication documentation that meets the specifications of the TIER Protocol.

This research project is carried out in several installments: a pre-proposal, a full proposal, a data report, and the final paper. Instructions for each of these installments, including detailed instructions for the replication documentation, are provided in the course materials available for download below.

A course syllabus is also included in the materials available for download.

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Colgate University

This applied econometrics course is a requirement for all economics majors at Colgate University. Students in this section of the course were required to write an original empirical research paper, with complete replication documentation constructed according to the guidelines of the TIER Protocol.

Detailed instructions for the research paper can be found in the document available for download below.

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Williams College

For this project, students use the Project TIER Research Protocol. This protocol, developed at Haverford College, improves transparency, replicability, and self-discipline in the research process. The final paper is submitted with the raw data files (in the original file format and converted to Stata or other format) and all do files necessary to implement the analysis in the project. The students' do files are archived and made available to anyone who wishes to replicate the results.

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Williams College

The purpose of the group empirical project is to allow students to practice the tools they learn in class, and to expose them to the challenges and joys of empirical research. In groups of 1-3 people, they write a 15-page empirical paper on a topic of their choice. They give a 10-15 minute presentation to the class at the end of the semester explaining their project and highlighting their findings. They then submit their paper, raw data, and Stata programs, as described by a research protocol.

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