ECON7030 Economics Research Project
STREAM 3: Inequality and Policy Evaluation
Lecturer: Dr Juliana Silva-Goncalves
Semester 1 2025
Week 6
Topic: Research Project Instructions
Your task
▶ Imagine you are a policy-maker in charge of improving equality of
opportunity
▶ Your tasks include:
1. identify a well-define policy problem that relates to inequality
2. conduct a research literature review to find out which strategies have
been used to address this or similar problems, what worked and didn’t
work
3. propose a policy to address the problem you identified
4. describe which policy evaluation method(s) you will use, and justify
your choice
5. discuss the strengths and weakness of your policy and evaluation
approach
▶ Next, we will go through each of these items in detail
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 1 / 25
Your task
▶ Imagine you are a policy-maker in charge of improving equality of
opportunity
▶ Your tasks include:
1. identify a well-define policy problem that relates to inequality
2. conduct a research literature review to find out which strategies have
been used to address this or similar problems, what worked and didn’t
work
3. propose a policy to address the problem you identified
4. describe which policy evaluation method(s) you will use, and justify
your choice
5. discuss the strengths and weakness of your policy and evaluation
approach
▶ Next, we will go through each of these items in detail
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 1 / 25
Your task
▶ Imagine you are a policy-maker in charge of improving equality of
opportunity
▶ Your tasks include:
1. identify a well-define policy problem that relates to inequality
2. conduct a research literature review to find out which strategies have
been used to address this or similar problems, what worked and didn’t
work
3. propose a policy to address the problem you identified
4. describe which policy evaluation method(s) you will use, and justify
your choice
5. discuss the strengths and weakness of your policy and evaluation
approach
▶ Next, we will go through each of these items in detail
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 1 / 25
Your task
▶ Imagine you are a policy-maker in charge of improving equality of
opportunity
▶ Your tasks include:
1. identify a well-define policy problem that relates to inequality
2. conduct a research literature review to find out which strategies have
been used to address this or similar problems, what worked and didn’t
work
3. propose a policy to address the problem you identified
4. describe which policy evaluation method(s) you will use, and justify
your choice
5. discuss the strengths and weakness of your policy and evaluation
approach
▶ Next, we will go through each of these items in detail
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 1 / 25
Your task
▶ Imagine you are a policy-maker in charge of improving equality of
opportunity
▶ Your tasks include:
1. identify a well-define policy problem that relates to inequality
2. conduct a research literature review to find out which strategies have
been used to address this or similar problems, what worked and didn’t
work
3. propose a policy to address the problem you identified
4. describe which policy evaluation method(s) you will use, and justify
your choice
5. discuss the strengths and weakness of your policy and evaluation
approach
▶ Next, we will go through each of these items in detail
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 1 / 25
Your task
▶ Imagine you are a policy-maker in charge of improving equality of
opportunity
▶ Your tasks include:
1. identify a well-define policy problem that relates to inequality
2. conduct a research literature review to find out which strategies have
been used to address this or similar problems, what worked and didn’t
work
3. propose a policy to address the problem you identified
4. describe which policy evaluation method(s) you will use, and justify
your choice
5. discuss the strengths and weakness of your policy and evaluation
approach
▶ Next, we will go through each of these items in detail
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 1 / 25
Your task
▶ Imagine you are a policy-maker in charge of improving equality of
opportunity
▶ Your tasks include:
1. identify a well-define policy problem that relates to inequality
2. conduct a research literature review to find out which strategies have
been used to address this or similar problems, what worked and didn’t
work
3. propose a policy to address the problem you identified
4. describe which policy evaluation method(s) you will use, and justify
your choice
5. discuss the strengths and weakness of your policy and evaluation
approach
▶ Next, we will go through each of these items in detail
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 1 / 25
1. Identifying the problem
▶ Define an important problem that generates inequality
▶ Present statistics on the extent of the problem
▶ Discuss implications of the problem if left unaddressed, for directly
affected individuals and the society at large
▶ Explain why the problem is relevant from an economic point of view
▶ Sources: ABS data, government reports, journalistic articles,
commentaries from experts, . . .
▶ You can use Figures or Tables (remember to always reference the
source)
▶ Your policy problem could be relevant to Australia or to an
international context (both are fine as long as well justified)
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 2 / 25
2. Literature review
▶ Present research findings on:
▶ origins or consequences of the policy problem you selected and / or
▶ impact of programs or policies (from Australia or other countries)
designed to address the problem
▶ In your lit. review, for each article refer to the population being
studied, the key research questions, methods and findings
▶ sources: research articles (preferably from economics). Do your
search on google scholar using keywords
▶ How many articles? Quality is better than quantity. There is no
min or max number, but 3 relevant articles is fine
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 3 / 25
3. Define policy proposal
▶ Clearly outline your policy proposal to address the problem you
identified
▶ Your policy proposal must be a new policy or program —you
cannot simply refer to policies that already exist (e.g., it cannot be a
policy you found in your literature search)
▶ Special attention will be given to how your policy proposal relates to
your policy problem —your policy should be directly informed by the
problem you described
▶ Be concise, specific, and creative!
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 4 / 25
4. Describe policy evaluation method
Be specific:
▶ What evaluation method will you choose and why?
▶ How will you implement it? Who is your sample population? What is
your key outcome(s) of interest? What data will you need to collect?
▶ Think about how we (and the authors) describe the evaluation
approach in the research articles we analysed in the lectures and
identify the key aspects you need to mention about the evaluation
approach
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 5 / 25
5. Discuss strengths and weaknesses
Critically reflect on one or more of these aspects:
▶ possible unintended negative effects of the policy
▶ possible positive effects beyond those being evaluated
▶ weaknesses of your evaluation approach —what features of the
approach limit the generalisability of the results?
▶ possible issues with implementation of the evaluation approach (data
availability, ethical constraints, etc)
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 6 / 25
References
▶ Reference all your sources of information
▶ Follow the guidelines for adequate referencing style, as shown here:
library referencing guidelines
▶ Wikipedia or AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) cannot be references as no
author can be identified or cited
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 7 / 25
Word count guide
1. Identifying the problem: ≈ 400 words
2. Literature review: ≈ 400 words
3. Policy proposal: ≈ 200 words
4. Evaluation method: ≈ 500 words
5. Discussion: ≈ 500 words
6. References: not included in word count
∗ Total: 2,000 words maximum
∗ Maximum word count is strict: we will only read the first 2,000
words
∗ It’s fine if total word count is within 1,800-2,000 words
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 8 / 25
General instructions
▶ Individual assessment
▶ Weight of final grade: 40%
▶ Due in Week 12 (Sunday 11.59pm)
▶ Late submission penalties will apply (5% discount for each day late)
▶ Online submission via the Canvas site
▶ Must be submitted as a word document (no PDFs) and include the
word count
▶ You will not be able to write this the night before submission. Good
writing is a skill and takes time. Allow time to edit your assignment.
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 9 / 25
Use of AI
▶ Your research project must be your own work
▶ A light use of IA to improve language and grammar only is
permitted and encouraged
▶ You are encouraged to use the AI tool Cogniti, accessible through the
unit Canvas site, from Week 7
▶ Cogniti (accessible through the unit Canvas site) is designed to help
you improve writing style of your research report, within the allowable
use of AI
▶ By using Cogniti, you can be confident you retain ownership of your
work and you are not breaching the rules
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 10 / 25
Acknowledging use of AI tools
▶ Use of AI must be acknowledged
▶ You can do this by inserting a note at the end of your report where
you need to describe the AI tool(s) that you used and what you used
it to do. This does not add to your word count.
▶ An example of such an acknowledgement looks like this:
I acknowledge the use of Cogniti to refine the academic language of my
own work. On date xxx I submitted my entire research report with the
prompt to “Improve the academic tone and accuracy of language, including
grammatical structures, punctuation and vocabulary”. The output was
then modified further to better represent my own tone and style of writing.
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 11 / 25
Submission when using AI tools
▶ If you use AI tools, you must submit the full draft version of your
research project prior to using AI and the final version (after
having used IA)
▶ We will mark the final version only (with language improved by AI),
but we will use the draft (no AI) version if we suspect a breach of the
AI use rules
▶ In cases where we suspect a breach of the rules, students will be
subject to an oral exam with questions about their research report. If
it leads to evidence or strong suspicion of use of AI beyond the
allowed usage (improve writing style), a report will be submitted to
the University Academic Integrity Office
▶ Advice: To be safe, use Cogniti accessible through the Canvas site
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 12 / 25
Marking criteria
Criteria Weight
Clear, coherent and relevant exposition of background. Compelling
argument for why the problem is relevant from an economic and
policy point of view
20
Literature review is relevant, accurate and well-articulated 20
Policy proposal is relevant and directly targets the identified prob-
lem
10
Policy evaluation method is adequate given the setting described
and well justified
25
Relevant discussion of key strength and weaknesses 20
Good writing style, free of spelling and grammatical errors. Appro-
priate formatting. Correct referencing style
5
Total: 100
HD=85+, D=75-84, CR= 65-74, P=50-64, F=0-49
Detailed marking criteria will be posted on Canvas.
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 13 / 25
Pitch
▶ In week 9, you will get 5 minutes to give a pitch of your research
project
▶ Present your ideas for your research project very concisely
▶ Benefit: get feedback on whether you are on the right track
▶ Not compulsory (does not directly count for your grade), but highly
recommended!
▶ Use up to 4 slides
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 14 / 25
Pitch Slide 1
▶ What is the policy problem you identified?
▶ 1 statistic to support it
▶ 1 reason why it’s relevant
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 15 / 25
Pitch Slide 1 - Example
▶ Problem: School students from low socioeconomic background are a
lot less likely to study STEM fields than advantaged students
▶ Statistics: In Australia, about a quarter of disadvantaged students
choose to study intermediate or advanced math, compared to about
half of advantaged students (reference: LSAC)
▶ Implication: Contributes to low social mobility because earnings in
STEM occupations largely exceed those in non-STEM occupation, a
gap expected to increase in the future
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 16 / 25
Pitch Slide 2
▶ What is the policy you are proposing?
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 17 / 25
Pitch Slide 2 - Example
▶ Mentoring program to encourage low SES students to study STEM
▶ Sydney University studens from low SES background studying STEM
will visit schools in low SES areas of Greater Sydney
▶ University students will share their personal stories acting as role
models, and give school students exposure to STEM by running
science or math workshops at the schools once every month
▶ This program will be implemented in 2025 in all 40 schools in Sydney
that have more than 30% of students classified as low SES
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 18 / 25
Pitch Slide 3
▶ Describe the evaluation method
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 19 / 25
Pitch Slide 3 - Example
▶ Differences-in-Differences
▶ Compare the share of low SES students choosing the study STEM
after versus before the program in the targeted schools
▶ Relative to the share of low SES students choosing the study STEM
after versus before 2025 in similar schools (with similar share of low
SES students ) in Melbourne
▶ Require data prior to 2025, to check for parallel time trends
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 20 / 25
Pitch Slide 4
▶ Discussion - strengths and weaknesses of the policy and / or
evaluation method
▶ Mention 2 aspects
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 21 / 25
Pitch Slide 4 - Example
▶ We are measuring the effect of package (role modelling, workshops)
and we don’t know which aspect of the program is the most effective
(or if it’s the combination of both)
▶ Important consideration when we advise policy makers on the
effectiveness of the program
▶ Fairness concern - many low SES students in other schools will not
benefit from the program (because they have fewer low SES students
and do not meet the criteria)
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 22 / 25
Advice
▶ You may have noticed there is no slide for the literature review
▶ While the lit. review is important, you should leave it out of the
pitch, and focus on the other aspects of the research project
▶ You will be able to sign up for a pitch with your tutor in week 9
(check Canvas announcements in week 8)
▶ Please do not send your slides to your tutor - Slides are only to help
you structure your pitch
▶ Your tutor will not read your slides - you will use your slides to give
your pitch
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 23 / 25
Advice
▶ You will not get a grade for your pitch
▶ Purpose is to give you feedback on whether you are on the right track
with your research project
▶ Take advantage and prepare as best as you can
▶ Take into account the feedback from the tutor
▶ If you do a poor pitch, there is absolutely no shame. It only means
you may benefit greatly from the feedback
▶ If you do a good pitch, it will give you reassurance you are on the
right track
▶ In tutorials in weeks 10 & 12 your tutor will be available to answer
questions about the research project - come prepared with questions!
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 24 / 25
Questions
Economics Research Project Sem 1 2025 Week 1 25 / 25

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