Undergraduate Course: Research Methods in Economics (ECNM10121)

Course Outline
School	School of Economics	College	College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	The course will require students to write an econometric research project on a selected topic. It will teach students how to: - write a piece satisfying academic standards: citation, formatting of results, discussion of results etc - do literature search, how to read and cite, how to summarise findings - download a custom dataset (e.g. UK panel survey), run regressions. The focus will be on practical application with real-world datasets.
Course description	The course will require students to write an econometric project on a selected topic. A list of topics will be provided to students, which will be general with the expectation that students specialise within their selection. Students will be given a topic and paper to replicate as a starting point, with a suggestion of suitable datasets. Only empirical topics are accepted, with no theory or literature review-only projects possible. The course will have lectures and weekly labs. Lectures will provide guidance on how to identify a research question within an assigned topic, read academic papers, understand the marking criteria, and write the project. Labs will be in small groups in an office-hour style, with some instruction in Stata and R where required.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 6, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 182 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	30% research proposal, max 2000 words 70% final project, max 4000 words
Feedback	The feedback will be provided through interaction with tutor in tutorial labs, as well as written/verbal feedback on the submitted research proposal.
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the tools, strategies and methodologies relevant for econometric analysis of a selected topic, as well the literature related to the topic, including recent research at, or close to, the frontiers of knowledge Research and investigative such as problem framing and solving and the ability to assemble and evaluate complex evidence and arguments. Demonstrate communication skills in order to critique, create and communicate understanding and to collaborate with and relate to others. Demonstrate personal effectiveness and intellectual autonomy, which include but are not limited to: time- and task-management, working independently, proactively engaging with their tutor, dealing with uncertainty and adapting to new situations. Demonstrate practical/technical skills such as, modelling skills (abstraction, logic, succinctness), qualitative and quantitative analysis and interpretation of data, programming of statistical packages and general IT literacy.