The purpose of this module is twofold. The first is to help students develop a research proposal that will form the basis of their master's dissertation. Secondly, students will also develop an understanding of research design methods within economics, specific to the aim of evaluating policy interventions. We will focus on how to identify the reference literature, how to present and report research results as well as discussing contemporary research design and methods within economics and the relevant empirical literature that utilises such designs to evaluate policy interventions across a range of sectors.

The specific range of topics to be undertaken is outlined below. 1. Introduction to the module, literature and library search strategies for developing a research idea 2. Research plan development and accessing economic data and individual student consultations on proposal development 3. Introduction to policy evaluation and preparing for an evaluation - Specifying evaluation/research questions - Developing a results chain/hypothesis - Link empirical observation/variables to theoretical concepts 4. Causality in experimental settings and individual student consultations on proposal development - Introduction to causality in RCTs: thinking about treatment, outcome, counterfactual, treatment group, randomization, internal/external validity, etc. - Student consultations 5. Causality in (non-/quasi-) experimental settings - Coarsened exact matching - Propensity score matching 6. Causality in (non-/quasi-) experimental settings and individual student consultations on proposal development - Synthetic Control Method - Student consultations 7. Causality in (non-/quasi-) experimental settings - Difference-in-differences 8. Dissemination: writing and data presentation skills in economics and individual student consultations on proposal development

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: 1: Use the University's electronic journal collection and various databases; 2: Find relevant literature in order to explore economics-related topics that lie within the competency of the supervisory team; 3: Design a detailed set of research objectives 4: Prepare a feasible research proposal outlining research motivation, research question, research methodology and structure of the dissertation. 5: Demonstrate an understanding of research design methods and policy evaluation methods commonly used in economics

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: 1: Acknowledge ethical standards and guidelines to conduct research responsibly

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: N/A

This module will be delivered using a combination of standard lectures and individual student consultations throughout the semester. While lectures will focus on methodological and theoretical aspects, the latter will focus on guiding students in the development of a research proposal. The University of Limerick Graduate Attributes will be developed by: Broadening students' knowledge and proactivity through encouraging independent and directed research; emphasising student's responsibility to organise their time in an efficient manner and to work to specific deadlines.; The module will draw from recent policy developments and published research in the relevant topics to help extend student's understanding.