For each of the four units, you will complete a Data Analysis and Replication Exercise (DARE) that will require you to integrate statistical programming, methodological understanding and scholarly writing skills. In the preceding class, you will be provided with guidance and a detailed assignment that will entail familiarizing yourself with a replication dataset for one of the papers we have read. You will need to familiarize yourself with this small data set, produce a set of tables and figures that replicate some of the results from the paper, and write up your results in a memo following scholarly reporting standards. Each DARE will have a detailed assignment sheet and you will receive exemplar models after your work is graded.
All work (with the exception of the final) is due at 11:59pm on Sundays.
We encourage (though don’t require) you to form pairs (3 people maximum) for the DAREs. Both members of the pair should contribute equally to the submitted product, both members should list their names on their submitted work, both members of the pair should submit the assignment on Canvas, and each member of the pair will receive the same score on the assignment. Please email us if you have attempted to form a group or pair without success.
Please submit the following two documents for each DARE:
An aside: you may have noticed the use of the first person plural (“we”) throughout the course materials and may especially notice it in the DARE answer keys. It is not because I believe in the royal we, and it is NOT because I think it is good practice to write “we” when you are a sole author. Rather, some years a doctoral student will co-teach the class with me, and this syntax allows the course materials to be scalable and inclusive. Please write in the active voice your DARE memos. If you are submitting joint work, use first person plural (“we”), if you are submitting individual work, use first person singular (“I”).
Difference-in-differences
Replication paper: Liebowitz, Porter & Bragg (2022)
Deadline: 11:59pm, January 21
Assignment details: pdf
Dataset: csv
Regression discontinuity
Replication paper: Holden (2016)
Deadline: 11:59pm, February 4
Assignment details: pdf
Dataset: dta
Deadline: 9:00am, March 11
Here are some helpful resources on academic presentations. There are some disciplinary conventions that vary and you have several degrees of freedom to decide what your own personal style is, so don’t feel like there is a single formula. Some of the below resources are about the structure and substance of the presentation, others are about presentation style, and still others are about both.
Jesse Shapiro’s Tips on an Applied Micro Talk
John Willett’s Good Presentations Presentation
Alex Tabarrok’s How to Give a Great Seminar
Berthold Herrendorf’s How to Make Academic Presentations
Deadline: 5:00pm, March 20