ECON7030 2021S1_Instructions on Final Project Report 1 Assignment 3: Final Project Report 1. Fast Facts Weighting: 80% Length: 6000 words Due: Week 13, Friday 4th June, 11:59 PM Total Marks: 100 Note on word count: 6000 words exclude texts in the title page, bibliography, tables, figures, abstract, appendix, peer feedback, self-reflection. Displayed math: The word equivalent for displayed math is 16 words per row for single-column equations. Two-column equations count as 32 words per row. 2. What to include in the final report A Title page. Title of the paper, Your Name, SID, Year, Semester, Group No (Group No. should be zero if you are working individually) and word count. Abstract Write an abstract in 150-200 words Introduction: Demonstrate a clear understanding of the economic intuition of the research problem, purpose of the study and its contribution. Focus on: Context, research question/problem/objective, contribution, significance of OP Summary of replication plan, why is your replication idea important (rationale), what value it adds to OP (innovation) Brief details of your methods, key findings of OP and replication, and an outline of the structure of the report at the end (read the introduction of any journal paper for guidance). Important: Note that you are not required to include a separate section on literature review. You will include the literature review in this section, as part of the context. Regarding the literature review: Make sure that you are you are able to ‘place’ your paper in the field: it is important to understand where your paper fits in the research on this topic. Make sure you update the bibliography of OP:that is, add more recent papers on the topic (also add papers which cite OP). ECON7030 2021S1_Instructions on Final Project Report 2 Data: Start with a clear description of data in OP. Following this, describe your own replication data. Note: The latter will be more relevant for those who are conducting extension (doing subsample analysis or using a different sample such as different country or extending the data to more recent period and so on). If you are doing re- analysis directly using OP data, please mention it clearly. Important: Include a description of the variables/parameters in this section. Report/and discuss the table of summary statistics in this section. If you are using a different sample /or sub samples then report the summary statistics based on your own data. If you are using OP data only, report summary statistics from OP (in this case reproduce the table from OP). Method: You must demonstrate a clear understanding of how the research has been conducted. Briefly discuss the theoretical framework of OP. Clearly and concisely outline the empirical approach adopted by OP. Clearly and concisely describe how you propose to replicate the model. Note: This will be more relevant for those who are doing re-analysis (changing model specifications such as adding new variables, modifying the existing variables,or changing the modelling technique – such as logit to probit- and so on). Results: Clearly and scientifically report what was found in this research. Note that you are just reporting the results of the research, not interpreting them in this section. This section has two components: Pure replication: Clearly mention if you were able to reproduce the results of the original paper. If not, explain why the results could not be reproduced, along with screenshot of errors in codes. Results of your replication: report in detail the results of your own replication. Clearly label tables, and figures with appropriate notes. Report tables/figures from OP if you want to highlight comparisons with your own results (I leave this to your judgment). Note: You must report all codes in appendix. Highlight your own codes. Discussion: This section will relate back to your context (literature review) and your introductory statements. Guidelines: Interpret/provide economic intuition of your results and discuss their relevance. Compare/contrast your results with those of OP. Discuss how the findings fit with other research in the field: if the results are different from those of similar research in the filed what could be the possible explanations. Conclusion: Summarize the most significant results/findings. Do not include any new material in this section. ECON7030 2021S1_Instructions on Final Project Report 3 Indicate the limitations of OP/ and your research (these limitations may be the same in some cases). Indicate future direction of research, which are the areas where further research will be beneficial. Indicate your policy recommendations based on the findings of this research (may or may not be the same for OP and your replication) – suggestions for what needs to be done. Here is a good general guide (from the University of Melbourne) to writing research reports. References Any reference cited in the main text must be included in bibliography. Alternatively, do not include any reference in bibliography which has not been cited in the main text. Use author-date format for in-text citation. Be consistent about choice of reference style: Harvard style is popular in economics. But if you decide to use Harvard referencing style, make sure you use the same format for in-text citation (author-date). Be attentive to quality of reference. Appendix: Any additional material can be included in the appendix. If you include appendices, they must be referred to in the body of the report. Each appendix must be named and numbered. How you incorporated peer feedback Write (maximum 50-60 words) on how you incorporated peer feedback in your report. Self-reflection (100 -150 words) First, reflect on your own learning. Below I list some possible reflection stems: I used to think research is … but now I think…… Two things I will remember about what I have learnt over the last 6 months are… A strategy that really helped me learn better is… If I could do something again differently, I would… One thing I will remember to do in the future is… One thing I really want to learn is… A next step for me is … My new learning goal is … Next, state how would you evaluate your final report on a scale of 100 Note: This is a reflection on your own learning process. There is no right or wrong answer. ECON7030 2021S1_Instructions on Final Project Report 4 3. Note on referencing. – You may include references to journal articles from fields other than economics, but you must discuss at least three relevant economics research papers. – In text, use only author and year. However, include a list (bibliography) at the end with the full references (authors, year, title, journal, volume/issue, page numbers) – Select relevant economic journals or working paper series which are of high quality: the higher the ranking of the journal (Economics department/School), the more likely it is that the quality of the article (working paper) is higher. Other high quality economics working paper series: NBER Working papers, IZA Working papers, or working papers from international organizations such as World Bank, OECD, World Health Organization etc. – Look for economic sources. Two ideas are: you may follow ABDC journal list (in Canvas resources) in selecting A/A* economics papers or look for references in the OP (original paper which you have selected for replication), or for papers who cite OP themselves. Referencing Style USYD Library has an excellent section on their webpage which gives very thorough information about the most commonly used referencing styles. These guides are very user- friendly and are updated when a new version of a style is published. (Marking rubric in next page) ECON7030 2021S1_Instructions on Final Project Report 5 4. Marking Rubric Criteria ((please refer to the instructions for clarification on requirements of each section) Mark Introduction Demonstrate a clear understanding of the economic intuition of the research problem. Clearly describe the research. questions/objectives, research gap, contribution, and significance of the paper. Clearly describe the context by synthesizing and critically interpreting the available literature. Provide a clear summary of your replication plan. Clearly justify your replication plan. What value does it add to OP 18 Data & descriptive statistics OP: Clearly describe the data sources, period of study, design (cross section, panel, time series), and the variables/parameters. Replication: Clearly describe the replication data (particularly relevant for extensions). Report /and discuss summary statistics of variables. 12 Methodology Demonstrate a clear understanding of the theoretical framework of OP. Demonstrate a clear understanding of the empirical approach of OP. Clearly describe the empirical model (s) of OP. Clearly describe the empirical model(s) of your replication exercise (particularly relevant for re- analysis). 12 Results Clearly report results of pure replication Concise, accurate and scientific reporting of replication results using appropriate tables/figures. Accurately report the codes in Appendix (highlight your own codes) 12 Discussion Interpret/provide economic intuition of the results of your replication exercise with reference to the broader literature. Contrast the results of your replication analysis with those of OP. The discussion must also make it clear how the results are placed in the context of the broader literature 12 Conclusion Summarize State policy implication of key results of OP /and your replication State limitations of the study Offer directions for future research 9 Presentation The report has all relevant sections including an abstract. Arguments are coherent. Well written and comprehensive. Is written in scholarly language. Writing is clear with correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling. 8 Referencing Referenced articles are high-quality scholarly works. Citation style and format is accurate. In-text citations are accurate and complete. Bibliography is complete. 7 How you incorporated peer feedback 5 Self-reflection 5 Total 100
