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| Module Availability |
Spring |
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| Assessment Pattern |
| Unit(s) of Assessment |
Weighting Towards Module
Mark (%)
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| 6,000 Words Supervised Research |
100
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Qualifying Condition(s(
A weighted aggregated mark of 40% is required to pass the module |
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| Module Overview |
This unit introduces the students to the process of independent academic investigation and helps them develop research skills through the completion of a substantial research project. Students are expected to use the empirical and analytical skills that they acquired in other modules
Students must sign up for this module in autumn and have agreed a title and a supervisor by the start of the spring semester |
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| Prerequisites/Co-requisites |
| None |
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| Module Aims |
- To use the analytical and empirical skills acquired throughout the program to investigate in depth a topic in Economics selected by the student
- To gain some intial experience in undertaking independent investigation
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| Learning Outcomes |
- By the end of the module students will:-
- gained experience in identifying a suitable topic for investigation and in formulating a coherent outline
- seen how theory and empiricism may be combined in order to investigate a well-defined topic
- gained experience in searching existing academic literature and in collecting data as required
- gained experience in selecting appropriate theoretical and empirical tools (and rejecting others)
- had the opportunity to interact one-one-one with a member of staff and to make best use of guidance received
- been exposed to the discipline of having an in-depth piece of work over an extended period of time but constrained by a specific deadline
- gained experience in presenting work to an acceptable academic format, and condensing a relatively large amount of material into a relatively short (article lenght) space
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| Module Content |
An initial lecture in the research searching skills and online data sources (given by the Economics Librarian, Jean Portman) are timetabled for students doing this module in Semester 1.
The further lectures are given dealing with the research proposal, the final report and other possible issues raised by the students
Students who have not agreed a topic with a supervisor are assigned a member of staff to supervise their poject. They should meet their supervisor regularly to appraise their progress
In conjunction with the supervisor, the student will need to establish whether the project requires a formal ethical apprroval. To help you, there is a website prepared by the Faculty of Arts of Human Sciences Ethics Committee;
(http://www2.surrey.ac.uk/fahs/staffandstudents/ethicalprocedures/).
This website sets out the criteria that determines whether a formal ethical opinion is required, or whether your supervisor can take responsibility for vetting your project. In most cases, economics projects do not require formal ethical approval |
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| Methods of Teaching/Learning |
Readings using lecturers guidance; meetings with module coordination(4)
Writing up 6,000 work project |
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| Selected Texts/Journals |
T.L. Wyrick, The Economist's Handbook: A research and writing guide, West Publishing Corp, 1994
H.R. Varian, How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time, mimeo, 2009 |
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| Last Updated |
| 10 March 2011 |
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