Theory and Practice of Research: Outline and Philosophy
Dennis Yao, Lee Fleming, William Simpson, Nava Ashraf, and Robin Ely
HBS 4004
The Theory and Practice of Research combines discussions of modeling, research design, data analysis, and field work with immediate application in the student's chosen area of research. Students are expected to bring a research area and dataset to the course (ideally based on their first summer's research project). The first term will discuss formal and informal modeling and field research. The second term with begin with field experiments and then progress through data analysis. Other topics include simulation, survey methods, and publication strategies. The format of the course will be a theory session and lab each week. The lab will be tailored to the student's interest and abilities. A final presentation and paper which incorporates the course material will be required at the end of the second semester. Dennis Yao and Lee Fleming will be course heads, with guest appearances by Bill Simpson and a variety of appropriate faculty. The course is very strongly recommended for 2nd year students, and will satisfy the field methods and one statistical methods requirement. Prerequisites include exposure to modeling (an intro economics course, for example) and statistics. Students in their third year or 2nd years in other programs will be allowed to enroll if space permits.