Doing Economics: A Guide to Understanding and Carrying Out Economic Research
Note: All chapters contain a Summary, Suggestions for Further Reading, and Exercises. 1. What Is Research? Research Is the Creation of Knowledge How Are Arguments Evaluated? Appendix 1A: The Range of Economic Methodologies 2. Overview of the Research Process Research in Science and Nonscience Disciplines Steps of the Research Process for Economics Appendix 2A: Writing the Research Proposal Appendix 2B: Questions for Evaluating a Research Proposal 3. Surveying the Existing Knowledge about a Topic Why Is a Literature Survey Necessary? Where to Search: Popular Versus Scholarly Literature How to Search: Developing an Effective Search Strategy Obtaining the Resources Appendix 3A: Scholarly References and Citation Styles 4. Using Writing as a Tool for Economic Research Writing to Learn Composition as a Creative Process The Structure of an Argument Examining an Argument Three Types of Reasoning: Deductive, Inductive, and Warrant-Based What Makes for a Persuasive Argument? Appendix 4A: Logical Fallacies 5. Economic Writing/Writing as a Product What is Economic Writing Writing the First Draft Revising the Paper Writing Style Writing Mechanics 6. Critical Reading or How to Understand Published Research Making Sense of Published Research Taking Research Notes and Writing Abstracts and Critical Reviews Appendix 6a: How to critically read a purely theoretical study 7. Conceptualizing the Model What Does It Mean to Apply Theory to a Research Topic? What Is Theorizing? Narrative Reasoning Mathematical Reasoning A Commonly Used Shortcut What Makes a Good Research Hypothesis? 8. Locating and Collecting Economic Data Data Creation The Structure of Economic Data Organizations That Collect and Publish Data Major Primary Data Collections Major Secondary Data Collections Appendix 8A: Overview of Data Sources 9. Putting Together Your Data Set Developing a Search Strategy for Finding Your Data Data Manipulation Constructing a Data Appendix to Your Research Appendix 9a: What Are Chained-Dollars? Appendix 9b: Example of a Data Appendix 10. A First Look at Empirical Testing: Creating a Valid Research Design Key Issues of Research Design How Does One Analyze Data? Random Variation in Human Behavior Statistical Methods Simple Statistical Hypothesis Training Confounding Variable Causal Validity Appendix 10A: Table of Critical t-Statistics 11. Introduction to Econometrics Steps in Regression Analysis Appendix 11A: Data Transformations for Regression Analyses Estimation Using Qualitative Variables 12. Communicating the Results of Economic Research Writing the Research Report Presenting Research Orally Appendix 12A: Rubric for Grading Research Papers Glossary Reference List Index