In the Name of Allah

Research MethodsSeyed Ali MadanizadehSharif University of Technology

Outline

• General advices• A good Research• Topic and Question• Literature Review• How to do research?• Seminars and Presentations• Writing the paper

Sources

• Hamed Ghodoosi: Research Methods• John Cochrane: Writing tips for PhD students• Ariel Rubinstein: 10 Q&A: Experienced Advice for “Lost” Graduate

Students in Economics• Steve Pischke: How to get started on research in economics?• Hall Varian: How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time• Paul Krugman: HOW I WORK• The Introduction Formula

Success in Research

• Scientific Knowledge

• Presentation skills

• Writing skills (Write to Learn)

Success in Research

• Question, Question and Question!

• Idea, Idea and Idea

A good Research

• Finding stylized facts from Data• Question(s)• Proposing a model to explain the facts• Testing the predictions of the theory• Exploring the predictions• (Calibrating and estimating the model by matching it to the real world)• (Quantifying the model)• Policy implications• (counterfactual analysis)

Samples of a good research

• Steven Levitt, QJE 2001 : The Impact Of Legalized Abortion On Crime

• Eaton Kortum Kramarz, Econometrica 2012: An Anatomy of International Trade: Evidence From French Firms

Topic

• You should always have Concerns/ Questions in your mind.

• All of sudden you find a specific idea or a specific question or a database that helps you to find resolutions to your concerns

Topic

• Search the literature to find a hole

• Alternative: Play with data or a model to find your ways to a good idea.

Topic

• Write: What/Why/How

Literature

• Journal of Economic Literature• Journal of Economic Perspective• Lecture notes• Mostly cited papers in the topic. Who have cited them? Who are

recent big people in the field? Recent published or working papers.• NBER (programs and working papers)• IDEAS/Repec• Econlit

Literature

• What are the big blocks of the literature?• Where you want to build your work on?

• What are the recent works?• Who are your competitors

• Learn the mathematical methods.

Literature

• Find the followings in papers:• Main Questions• Their importance• Mechanisms• Results and findings• Conclusion• Success?

• Write down paper summaries

Seminars

• Attend seminars a lot: It’s truly hard in the beginning

• Present your work a lot: It’s even harder

• Write your paper based on presentation’s structure.

Seminars

• How to start• Motivation• Question• What you have done: your idea Briefly• Your Finding• Close Literature• Model (methodology)• Results• Policy implications and analysis• Conclusion

Writing the paper

• Abstract• Introduction• Literature• Model• Solution• Results• Appendix• References• Style