+1 862 207 3288 Research Methods I Economics
Assignment Two
Assignment twois an individual assignment and counts for 80% of total module marks.
Learning outcomes assessed
• Understand the concept of an economic model and the way in which models are used to embody economic theories
• Understand the role of assumptions in economic modelling and appreciate the debate within economics concerning the realism of assumptions
• Appreciate the importance of the ceteris paribus assumption in economics and the relation of this assumption to empirical testing of economic theories
• Be aware of the main sources of economic data and of the strengths and limitations of these sources
• Prepare a structured and coherent review of relevant literature focusing on a particular topic in economics
• Appreciate the issues involved in selecting a particular methodology for the investigation of an economic topic
• Compare different approaches that have been used in past economic studies (for example conceptual analysis, formal statistical analysis, broader empirical analyses) and apply these appropriately to your own topic of interest
• Understand the nature of the interaction between economic agents and the environment within economic models and the tools used to model this interaction
• Understand the importance of the analysis of rational choice in researching economic decision-making
Synoptic Option
You are required to write a literature review for the topic chosen for assignment one, analysing the main contributions to the literature for that particular topic and showing how they relate to the research approaches that have been adopted by researchers in this area. You will be able to use the feedback on assignment one as a guide to reworking your statement and developing your literature review. The word limit for both options is 2,000 words.
My previous topic: How important is the development of the financial sector for the process of economic growth? Does a strong financial sector lead to higher growth or does higher growth lead to a strong financial sector?
Synoptic Option criteria
• The extent to which you identify important and relevant issues which should be taken into account when investigating the topic
• The extent to which you accurately identify and discuss the main research approaches which have been taken with regard to this topic in the past
• The extent to which you identify important contributions to the past literature on this topic.The assessment criteria for assignment two are as follows (all given equal weight)
Feedback Sheet for Assignment One – Synoptic Option
Grade
Extent to which you identify important and relevant issues 70%
Extent to which you identify and discuss the main research approached to the topic accurately 55%
Extent to which you identify important contribution to the past literature on the topic 55%
Comments: This starts off very well – you identify the key issues to investigate clearly and the issues stated on the first page of your report will be good ones to use as the basis for structuring your literature review. The second page, dealing with the approach that has been adopted to researching this topic in the past, get caught up in too much detail at the expense of really characterising the research approach as a whole. You don’t need at this stage to start analysing the estimation techniques used in very specialised papers, just to set out the general approach that has been taken by researchers in this area (building on your correct characterisation of them as mainly quantitative in orientation and as using a mixture of cross-country and time series approaches). Your final section on sources could be developed further. Solow is a classic writer on growth theory in general but says little or nothing about the financial sector. King and Levine and Levine and Zervos are both very important papers and would be a good basis for your literature reviewbut it would be good to look more widely here- take these papers as a basis and then look at the work of the co-workers for these authors and the writers with whom they are entering into debates
How important is the development of the financial sector for the process of economic growth? Does a strong financial sector lead to higher growth or does higher growth lead to a strong financial secto
