Research Methods in EconomicsECO 4132

Linda HauckSpring, 2010

Objectives

• Literature Review– Select resource discovery tools– Thoroughly search them– Obtain text of books & articles

• Find Data & Statistics– Statistical & data indices– Data consideration: source, format, series

• Create a Bibliography– Refworks

Literature Review: Document Types

• Books Catalog, Worldcat, GoogleBooks, EZBorrow

• Scholarly Journal Articles specific editorial model, peer reviewed, referred

• Working Papers Informal publication, grey literature, scholarly drafts

The Literature Review

Finding books

Literature Review

Finding article databases: Subject Guides, Databases A-Z, Course & Topic Guides

EconLit with Full Text

Literature Review: Search Techniques

• Synonyms, related terms

• Controlled vocabulary, JEL Classification

• Truncation or phrase searching

• Field searching

• Boolean AND OR

Literature Review: EconLit

How does employer based health insurance impact unemployment?

Does health insurance improve health?

What are the key variables that influence changes in wealth or income or economic status between generations?

Do remittances relieve poverty or contribute to underdevelopment?

Literature Review: Search Techniques

Literature Review: Chasing Citations & Getting Full Text

Author, A. (year). Title article. Title Periodical. Vol#, pp-pp. Retrieved from electronic source.

• Findit button• E-Journals A-Z/Catalog• Interlibrary Loan • Dissertations & Theses• NBER Working Papers

.

Citation Management with RefWorks

1. Why use citation management software?

2. Create account3. Add a reference4. Export reference from

database

5. Create folder

6. Create bibliography

7. Share references

8. Write N Cite

Statistics & Data

Considerations

• Form (print, pdf, xls, SAS, zip, SPSS)

• Harmonized, comparability

• Scope, frequency, units• Method, metadata

Finding Techniques

• Leverage data from literature review

• Use indices or directories or search engine

• Keyword/Drill down searching

• Check method/Metadata

Finding Statistics & Data

Practice

Employment rates/unemployment rates

Life Expectancy

Health insurance coverage/availability

Country Remittances

Consumer Confidence

Final Tips

• Allow time for exploration & interlibrary loan or EZBorrow

• Search systematically, but hope serendipity is on your side.