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EC331-30 Research in Applied Economics

Department
Economics
Level
Undergraduate Level 3
Module leader
Gianna Boero
Credit value
30
Module duration
20 weeks
Assessment
Multiple
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry
Introductory description

This is a final year research project which applies the basic ideas of economics.

Module web page

Module aims

The module provides an opportunity to deepen and consolidate previous knowledge by applying the basic ideas of economics to pursue research on a question of the student’s own choice. In answering their research question students will be expected to use a combination of economic analysis and statistical techniques. The project will often use econometric methods, but there is also an option to produce a project based on applied economic theory. Students are expected to attend lectures on research methodology, formulate an initial proposal and refine their choice into a manageable research question under the supervision of a member of academic staff who will support student research towards an independent project.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The module will typically cover the following topics: research methods; guidance on choosing a topic, developing a research question, searching the literature, guide to economic data sources, overview of useful techniques for applied economic analysis.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • Subject knowledge and understanding: (i) understand how economists approach questions, in particular, how they construct hypotheses and use data to discriminate between alternate explanations for events or patterns.
Indicative reading list

Please see Talis Aspire link for most up to date list.

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

(i) Apply critical analysis to a topic,
formulate concepts and hypotheses, and show how
they are tested in relevant literature.

Transferable skills

Communicate their knowledge and understanding to others
(ii) gain skills in the use of computer software including statistical and/or mathematical modelling software;
(iii) describe data and present it in a meaningful manner.
(iv) conduct individual research and investigate topics under their own initiative;
(v) present their research to an audience;
(vi) present their research conclusions in a written form.

Study time

Type Required
Lectures 7 sessions of 1 hour (2%)
Seminars 19 sessions of 1 hour (6%)
Project supervision 20 sessions of 1 hour (7%)
Practical classes 6 sessions of 1 hour (2%)
Private study 248 hours (83%)
Total 300 hours
Private study description

Due to the nature of this module private study is required in order to prepare the Proposal and Dissertation.

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Students can register for this module without taking any assessment.

Assessment group A3
Weighting Study time
Assignment 1 Project Proposal (Literature Review and Project Outline) 10%

The word limit for this assignment is 1,500 words overall (excluding references), with a minimum of 500 words to be allocated to each of the two components.

Assignment 2 Presentation (work in progress) 10%

Each student will have 12-15 minutes to present, with a maximum of 8 slides.

Assignment 3 Final Project 80%
Assessment group R2
Weighting Study time
Assignment 3 (Final Project) 100%
Feedback on assessment

The Department of Economics is committed to providing high quality and timely feedback to students on their assessed work, to enable them to review and continuously improve their work. We are dedicated to ensuring feedback is returned to students within 20 University working days of their assessment deadline. Feedback for assignments is returned either on a standardised assessment feedback cover sheet which gives information both by tick boxes and by free comments or via free text comments on tabula, together with the annotated assignment. For tests and problem sets, students receive solutions as an important form of feedback and their marked assignment, with a breakdown of marks and comments by question and sub-question. Students are informed how to access their feedback, either by collecting from the Undergraduate Office or via tabula. Module leaders often provide generic feedback for the cohort outlining what was done well, less well, and what was expected on the assignment and any other common themes. This feedback also includes a cumulative distribution function with summary statistics so students can review their performance in relation to the cohort. This feedback is in addition to the individual-specific feedback on assessment performance.

Pre-requisites

EC204 or EC201 + EC202, and EC203 or EC220 + EC221 or EC226

To take this module, you must have passed:

Courses

This module is Core for:

  • UECA-3 Undergraduate Economics 3 Year Variants
    • Year 3 of L100 Economics
    • Year 3 of L100 Economics
    • Year 3 of L100 Economics
  • UECA-4 Undergraduate Economics 4 Year Variants
    • Year 4 of L103 Economics with Study Abroad
    • Year 4 of L114 Industrial Economics with Study in Europe
  • Year 3 of UMAA-GL11 Undergraduate Mathematics and Economics
  • Year 4 of UECA-GL12 Undergraduate Mathematics and Economics (with Intercalated Year)
  • Year 3 of ULNA-R9LA Undergraduate Modern Languages and Economics (3-year)
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R9L1 Undergraduate Modern Languages and Economics (4-year)

This module is Core optional for:

  • UECA-3 Undergraduate Economics 3 Year Variants
    • Year 3 of L100 Economics
    • Year 3 of L100 Economics
    • Year 3 of L100 Economics
    • Year 3 of L116 Economics and Industrial Organization
    • Year 3 of L116 Economics and Industrial Organization
  • Year 4 of UECA-4 Undergraduate Economics 4 Year Variants

This module is Optional for:

  • UECA-4 Undergraduate Economics 4 Year Variants
    • Year 4 of LV16 Economics & Economic History with Study Abroad
    • Year 4 of LM1H Economics, Politics & International Studies with Study Abroad
    • Year 4 of LM1H Economics, Politics & International Studies with Study Abroad
  • UECA-LM1D Undergraduate Economics, Politics and International Studies
    • Year 3 of LM1D Economics, Politics and International Studies
    • Year 3 of LM1D Economics, Politics and International Studies
  • UPHA-L1CA Undergraduate Economics, Psychology and Philosophy
    • Year 3 of L1CA Economics, Psychology and Philosophy
    • Year 3 of L1CC Economics, Psychology and Philosophy (Behavioural Economics Pathway)
    • Year 3 of L1CD Economics, Psychology and Philosophy (Economics with Philosophy Pathway)
    • Year 3 of L1CE Economics, Psychology and Philosophy (Philosophy and Psychology Pathway)
  • UPHA-L1CB Undergraduate Economics, Psychology and Philosophy (with Intercalated Year)
    • Year 4 of L1CG Economics, Psychology and Philosophy (Behavioural Economics Pathway) (with Intercalated Year)
    • Year 4 of L1CH Economics, Psychology and Philosophy (Economics with Philosophy Pathway) (with Intercalated Year)
    • Year 4 of L1CJ Economics, Psychology and Philosophy (Philosophy and Psychology Pathway) (with Intercalated Year)
    • Year 4 of L1CB Economics, Psychology and Philosophy (with Intercalated Year)
    • Year 4 of L1CB Economics, Psychology and Philosophy (with Intercalated Year)
  • USTA-G300 Undergraduate Master of Mathematics,Operational Research,Statistics and Economics
    • Year 3 of G300 Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics
    • Year 4 of G300 Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics
  • USTA-G1G3 Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics (BSc MMathStat)
    • Year 3 of G1G3 Mathematics and Statistics (BSc MMathStat)
    • Year 4 of G1G3 Mathematics and Statistics (BSc MMathStat)
  • USTA-G1G4 Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics (BSc MMathStat) (with Intercalated Year)
    • Year 4 of G1G4 Mathematics and Statistics (BSc MMathStat) (with Intercalated Year)
    • Year 5 of G1G4 Mathematics and Statistics (BSc MMathStat) (with Intercalated Year)
  • UPHA-V7ML Undergraduate Philosophy, Politics and Economics
    • Year 3 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)
    • Year 3 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)
    • Year 3 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)
  • Year 4 of UPHA-V7MM Undergraduate Philosophy, Politics and Economics (with Intercalated year)

This module is Unusual option for:

  • Year 3 of UPHA-L1CA Undergraduate Economics, Psychology and Philosophy
  • UPHA-V7ML Undergraduate Philosophy, Politics and Economics
    • Year 3 of V7MR Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite with Economics Major)
    • Year 3 of V7MR Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite with Economics Major)
    • Year 3 of V7MP Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite)
    • Year 3 of V7MP Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite)
  • UPHA-V7MM Undergraduate Philosophy, Politics and Economics (with Intercalated year)
    • Year 4 of V7MS Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite with Economics Major) (with Intercalated Year)
    • Year 4 of V7MS Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite with Economics Major) (with Intercalated Year)
    • Year 4 of V7MQ Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite) with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of V7MM Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite) (with Intercalated year)

This module is Core option list A for:

  • Year 3 of ULNA-R2L5 Undergraduate German and Economics (3 year)
  • Year 3 of ULNA-R4LA Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and Economics (3-year)

This module is Core option list B for:

  • Year 3 of ULNA-R4LA Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and Economics (3-year)

This module is Core option list C for:

  • Year 4 of ULNA-R1L4 Undergraduate French and Economics (4-year)
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R2L4 Undergraduate German and Economics (4-year)
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R4L1 Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and Economics (4-year)
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R3L4 Undergraduate Italian and Economics (4-year)
  • Year 3 of ULNA-R9LA Undergraduate Modern Languages and Economics (3-year)

This module is Core option list E for:

  • Year 4 of ULNA-R9L1 Undergraduate Modern Languages and Economics (4-year)

This module is Option list A for:

  • Year 3 of ULNA-R1L5 Undergraduate French and Economics (3 year)
  • USTA-Y602 Undergraduate Mathematics,Operational Research,Statistics and Economics
    • Year 3 of Y602 Mathematics,Operational Research,Stats,Economics
    • Year 3 of Y602 Mathematics,Operational Research,Stats,Economics
  • Year 4 of USTA-Y603 Undergraduate Mathematics,Operational Research,Statistics,Economics (with Intercalated Year)

This module is Option list B for:

  • USTA-GG14 Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics (BSc)
    • Year 3 of GG14 Mathematics and Statistics
    • Year 3 of GG14 Mathematics and Statistics
  • Year 4 of USTA-GG17 Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics (with Intercalated Year)

This module is Option list C for:

  • Year 3 of USTA-G300 Undergraduate Master of Mathematics,Operational Research,Statistics and Economics
  • USTA-G301 Undergraduate Master of Mathematics,Operational Research,Statistics and Economics (with Intercalated
    • Year 3 of G30F Master of Maths, Op.Res, Stats & Economics (Econometrics and Mathematical Economics Stream) Int
    • Year 4 of G30F Master of Maths, Op.Res, Stats & Economics (Econometrics and Mathematical Economics Stream) Int
  • UPHA-V7ML Undergraduate Philosophy, Politics and Economics
    • Year 3 of V7MP Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite)
    • Year 3 of V7MP Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite)
    • Year 3 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)
    • Year 3 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)
    • Year 3 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)
  • UPHA-V7MM Undergraduate Philosophy, Politics and Economics (with Intercalated year)
    • Year 4 of V7MS Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite with Economics Major) (with Intercalated Year)
    • Year 4 of V7MS Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite with Economics Major) (with Intercalated Year)
    • Year 4 of V7MQ Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite) with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of V7MM Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite) (with Intercalated year)

This module is Option list D for:

  • UPHA-V7ML Undergraduate Philosophy, Politics and Economics
    • Year 3 of V7MR Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite with Economics Major)
    • Year 3 of V7MR Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Bipartite with Economics Major)