Research Methods in EconomicsECO 3132

Linda HauckJanuary 14, 2010

Objectives

• Literature Review– Select resource discovery tools– Effective search tips– Obtain text of books & articles

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

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

Literature Review: Search Techniques

• Synonyms and related terms

• Controlled vocabulary (JEL Classification)

• Truncat* and “phrase searching”

• TI: Field searching

• Boolean searching with AND OR

Literature Review: EconLit

Do inadequate wages or migration policies contribute to the persistent nursing shortage in the U.S.?

Literature Review: Search Techniqueshttp://www.aeaweb.org/jel/guide/jel.php

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

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Literature Review Practice

1. Does investing in preschool education have lasting effects?

2. Christopher Kilby writes extensively on foreign aid, you may want to look at his work.

Finding Statistics & Data

• Leverage data from literature review• Use indices• Keyword/Drill down searching• Always check metadata/method

Final Tips

• Topic Orientation: New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, texts, books

• Allow time for exploration & interlibrary loan

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