Ag
Econ 8010 Designing Agricultural Economics Research
Fall 2007
Tuesday and Thursday, 8:00-9:15am
320 Mumford Hall
Ref # 70334
3 credit hours
Instructor:
Harvey James, 146 Mumford Hall, 573-884-9682, HJames@missouri.edu
Course Description:
Students will explore the roles of theory and
methods in agricultural economics research, and they will critique published
research, identify researchable topics, estimate values of research, develop a
program of research. Students will also write a research (e.g., thesis or
dissertation) proposal. Prerequisite: graduate standing.
Required
Books/Readings:
(1) Don Ethridge,
Research Methodology in Applied Economics, Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
(Click here to order
from Amazon.com.)
(2) Articles and other assigned readings.
Recommended:
(1) William Thompson, A Guide for the Young
Economist, MIT Press, 2001. (Click here to order
from Amazon.com).
(2) Deirdre McCloskey, Economical Writing.
Waveland Press, 1999. (Click here
to order from Amazon.com).
Course Requirements:
A principal objective of this class is for you
to develop a research proposal, whether for a thesis, dissertation, or
grant. To this end, you are expected to read the assigned material before
class and to come to class prepared to ask and answer questions, particularly
those that are pertinent to your research interests. As you prepare for
class, think about how your participation can advance your research objectives.
Course requirements include the following:
|
Attendance/participation |
25% |
Academic Honesty:
Academic honesty is fundamental to the activities
and principles of a university. All members of the academic community must be
confident that each person's work has been responsibly and honorably acquired,
developed, and presented. Any effort to gain an advantage not given to all
students is dishonest whether or not the effort is successful. The academic
community regards academic dishonesty as an extremely serious matter, with
serious consequences that range from probation to expulsion. When in doubt
about plagiarism, paraphrasing, quoting, or collaboration, consult, the course
instructor.
With that said, if I find evidence that you have
plagiarized, you will fail (i.e., receive a grade of zero on) the assignment.
Additionally, I will report the incident to the Provost's office in Jesse Hall
and to the department chair.
Disabilities:
If you need accommodations because of a
disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if
you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please inform
me immediately. Please see me privately after class, or at my office.
To request academic accommodations (for example,
a notetaker), students must also register with the
Office of Disability Services, S5 Memorial Union, 882-4696. It is the campus office
responsible for reviewing documentation provided by students requesting
academic accommodations, and for accommodations planning in cooperation with
students and instructors, as needed and consistent with course requirements.
For other MU resources for students with disabilities, click on
"Disability Resources" on the MU homepage.
Disclaimer:
This syllabus and the discussion and reading
schedule are subject to change to facilitate instructional and/or student
needs.
Course Topics and Reading Schedule
The following schedule
indicates the topics and readings for our class meetings. Chapters from Ethridge are in the textbook required for the course. You
can purchase a copy from the bookstore or online at Amazon.com. Articles
indicated by an asterisk (*) are in the "Course Documents" section of
Blackboard.
Please read the assigned material before class.
The schedule is preliminary and subject to change, so check back frequently for
updates.
Week 1 - Aug 21, 23: On
being a scholar (life as a graduate student, examples and types of
research, process of research and scholarship)
Readings:
Ethridge, ch. 1, 2
*
McCloskey, "How To Be a Good Graduate Student," Eastern Economic
Journal, 26(4), 2000, pp. 487-490.
*
McCloskey, "Bush," Eastern Economic Journal, 27(3), 2001, pp.
367-371.
Week 2 – Aug 28, 30: Planning
research (viable research questions, finding and reading relevant literature,
sources of funding, elevator statements)
Readings:
Ethridge, ch. 5, Appendix E
Week 3 – Sep 4, 6: Philosophical
foundations of research (scientific method, Popper-Kuhn debate, deduction v.
induction, logical fallacies, rules of logic)
Readings:
Ethridge, ch. 3, 4
*
Sagan, "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,"
The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, New York, Ballantine Books, 1996, pp. 208-218.
*
Moreland, "A Brief Lesson in Logic," Love Your God with All Your
Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul, Colorado Springs, Navpress, 1997, pp. 114-124.
Weeks 4 & 5 – Sep 11, 13, 18, 20: Research
proposals (structure of proposals, general & researchable problem
statements, objectives, literature review)
Readings:
Ethridge, ch. 6, 7, Appendix
A, B, C
Optional readings:
*
James, "The Employment of Labor and the Nature of the Firm," draft
dissertation proposal.
Week 6 – Sep 25, 27: Thinking
critically, or how to evaluate research
Readings:
Ethridge, Appendix D
*
Smith, "The Task of the Referee," IEEE 1990.
*
David Pannell, "Reviewing Journal Articles," 2006
*
Anonymous, "A Cross-cultural Comparison of the Machiavellianism of Today's
College Student and the 1960s Student: Indonesian Students and U.S.
Students."
Weeks 7 & 8 – Oct 2, 4, 9, 11: Research
methods and procedures: Theory and model building (distinctiveness of
economic methodology, modeling, conceptual framework, hypothesis formation,
prediction v. explanation)
Readings:
Ethridge, ch.
8
*
Friedman, "The Methodology of Positive Economics," in Essays in
Positive Economics, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1953.
*
Coase, "How Should Economists Choose?"
Essays on Economics and Economists, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1994,
pp. 15-33.
*
Frey, "Why Economists Disregard Economic Methodology," Institute for
Empirical Research in Economics working paper no. 58, September 2000. Published
in the Journal of Economic Methodology, 8(1), 2001, pp. 41-47.
Optional readings:
*
McCloskey, "The Rhetoric of Economics," Journal of Economic
Literature, 21(June), 1983, 481-517.Readings:
Weeks 9 & 10 - Oct 16, 18, 23, 25: Research
methods and procedures: Empirical issues (perfect data, primary
and secondary data, data collection, classical sampling theory, Bayesian
inference, fit v. significance, Type I and Type II errors, variable
transformations)
Readings:
Ethridge, ch. 9
*
McCloskey, "Why Don't Economists Believe Empirical Findings?" Eastern
Economic Journal, 20(3), 1994, pp. 357-360.
*
McCloskey, "Mottoes for science: Intendete
Alte in Gubernando; and Qui
scis?" Eastern Economic Journal, 27(2), 2001,
pp. 239-243.
Weeks 11 & 12 – Oct 30, Nov 1, 6, 8: Research
ethics (professional ethics & scientific misconduct, plagiarism, conflicts
of interest, IRB training)
In
class IRB Training on Thursday,
November 1, in class. "The Campus IRB
is required to assure all investigators receive education and training in human
subject research prior to project approval." In other words, you must be IRB certified before you can conduct any research involving
human subjects (including survey work, interviews, use of secondary data
collected from humans, etc). If you participate in the in-class training,
you will get IRB certified.
Readings:
*
Laband and Piette,
"Perceived Conduct and Professional Ethics Among College Economics
Faculty," American Economist, 44(1), 2000, pp. 24-33.
*
Enders and Hoover, "Whose Line is It? Plagiarism in Economics,"
Journal of Economic Literature, 42(2), 2004, pp. 487-493.
*
"Notice to Our Readers," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 99(2), 1984,
pp. 383-384.
*
"A Case of Plagiarism," KYKLOS, 52(3),
1999, p. 311.
*
"The Charlie West Case," in Bebeau,
Pimple, Muskavitch, Borden and Smith, Moral Reasoning
in Scientific Research: Cases for Teaching and Assessment, Indiana University,
1995. (Also available at http://poynter.indiana.edu.) Charlie West, a
post-doctoral fellow, is tempted to use in his grant proposal the background
section of someone else's grant proposal.
*
"The Marty Brown Case," in Bebeau, Pimple, Muskavitch, Borden and Smith, Moral Reasoning in Scientific
Research: Cases for Teaching and Assessment, Indiana University, 1995. (Also
available at http://poynter.indiana.edu.)
Professor Marty Brown wants to exclude what he sees as anomalous data from a
study he is conducting.
Week 13 - Nov 13, 15: Writing
and submitting research papers (grammar, tables, revising, submitting papers to
journals, revising)
Readings:
Ethridge, ch. 10
*
Hamermesh, "The Young Economist's Guide to
Professional Etiquette," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 6(1), 1992, pp.
169-179.
*
McCloskey, "Economical Writing: An Executive Summary," Eastern
Economic Journal, 25(2), 1999, pp. 239-242.
*
Rasmusen, "Aphorisms on Writing, Speaking, and
Listening," in E. Rasmusen (ed.), Readings in
Games and Information, Blackwell, 2001.
Thanksgiving Break --
November 19-23
Week 14 - Nov 27, 29: No
class. Work on research proposal and presentation
Week 15 - Dec 4, 6: Student
presentations of proposal topics