IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/amerec/v57y2012i1p96-110.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Creating Quality Undergraduate Research Programs in Economics: How, When, Where (And Why)

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen B. Deloach
  • Elizabeth Perry-Sizemore
  • Mary O. Borg

Abstract

While undergraduate research (UR) has been growing across the academy for decades, economics has been relatively slow to adopt it as pedagogy. We argue for the development of comprehensive UR programs that not only require capstone research experiences, but integrate foundational research skills throughout the curriculum. Fundamentally, there is a hierarchy whereby students learn basic research skills in lower-level courses, develop ability integrating content knowledge and research skills in upper-levels, and produce independent or collaborative research projects in later semesters. To facilitate such improvements, we make six recommendations for departments to consider when building or strengthening their UR environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen B. Deloach & Elizabeth Perry-Sizemore & Mary O. Borg, 2012. "Creating Quality Undergraduate Research Programs in Economics: How, When, Where (And Why)," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 57(1), pages 96-110, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:amerec:v:57:y:2012:i:1:p:96-110
    DOI: 10.1177/056943451205700108
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/056943451205700108
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/056943451205700108?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. W. Lee Hansen, 2001. "Expected Proficiencies for Undergraduate Economics Majors," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(3), pages 231-242, January.
    2. John J. Siegfried & Michael K. Salemi, 1999. "The State of Economic Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 355-361, May.
    3. Steven A. Greenlaw & Stephen B. Deloach, 2003. "Teaching Critical Thinking with Electronic Discussion," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 36-52, January.
    4. Andrea L. Ziegert & KimMarie McGoldrick, 2008. "When Service is Good for Economics: Linking the Classroom and Community through Service-Learning," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 7(2), pages 39-56.
    5. Gregory A. Lilly & Thomas Tiemann, 2008. "On the Struggle To Attain Universal Competence in a Complex Skill: The Case of a Senior Capstone Experience," Working Papers 2008-06, Elon University, Department of Economics.
    6. Robert H. Frank, 2002. "The Economic Naturalist: Teaching Introductory Students How to Speak Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 459-462, May.
    7. John J. Siegfried, 2001. "Principles for a Successful Undergraduate Economics Honors Program," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 169-177, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Morreale, Joseph C. & Shostya, Anna, 2020. "Creating a transformative learning experience through a capstone course in economics," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    2. Carlos J. Asarta & Austin S. Jennings & Paul W. Grimes, 2017. "Economic Education Retrospective," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 62(1), pages 102-117, March.
    3. Depro, Brooks & Rouse, Kathryn, 2022. "Adapting the case method in an economics capstone research course," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    4. Li, Ishuan & Simonson, Robert D., 2016. "The value of a redesigned program and capstone course in economics," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 48-58.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bret Sikkink, 2019. "Socratic Seminars in the Economics Classroom," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 4(2), pages 76-92, December.
    2. Andre R. Neveu & Angela M. Smith, 2023. "Engaging Students, Faculty, and External Professionals with a Data-Centered Group Capstone Project," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(3), pages 408-432, June.
    3. Carlos J. Asarta & Roger B. Butters & Andrew Perumal, 2013. "Success in Economics Major: Is it Path Dependent?," Working Papers 13-11, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    4. Costas Siriopoulos & Gerasimos Pomonis, 2009. "Selecting Strategies to Foster Economists' Critical Thinking Skills: A Quantile Regression Approach," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 8(1), pages 106-131.
    5. Edward M. McNertney & Robert F. Garnett, Jr., 2006. "Using a Simple Simulation Model to Help Students 'Think Like Economists' in Intermediate Macroeconomics," Computers in Higher Education Economics Review, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 18(1), pages 34-39.
    6. Catherine Y. Co & Jonna Holland, 2019. "Teaching International Microenterprise Development: An Interdisciplinary Experiential Learning Approach," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 4(1), pages 27-39, May.
    7. Anna Maximova & Steve Muchiri & Mihai Paraschiv, 2023. "A Stroll Down the Dollar Street: Teaching Per-Capita GDP Using Internationally Comparable Photographs," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 8(2), pages 87-113, May.
    8. Allison Shwachman Kaminaga & Aziz N. Berdiev & Laura Beaudin, 2024. "Using the Fed Challenge to Enrich the Teaching of a Money and Banking Class," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 50(2), pages 213-234, April.
    9. Dennis S. Edwards, . "An Economics Capstone Course from Creation to Presentation," Journal for Economic Educators, Middle Tennessee State University, Business and Economic Research Center.
    10. W. Lee Hansen, 2011. "An Expected Proficiencies Approach to the Economics Major," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 17, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Chandini Sankaran & Thomas Mulroney, Jr. & Dana Corcoran, 2016. "An Exercise on Creating a Student Expenditure Basket," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 1(2), pages 91-110, December.
    12. Morreale, Joseph C. & Shostya, Anna, 2020. "Creating a transformative learning experience through a capstone course in economics," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    13. Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick, 2017. "Promoting Undergraduate Research in Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 655-659, May.
    14. Andrew Worthington & Helen Higgs, 2003. "Factors explaining the choice of a finance major: the role of students' characteristics, personality and perceptions of the profession," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 1-21.
    15. Stephen B. Deloach & Steven A. Greenlaw, 2005. "Do Electronic Discussions Create Critical Thinking Spillovers?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(1), pages 149-163, January.
    16. Sara Gundersen & Allison Shwachman Kaminaga, 2022. "Presentations To The President: A Role-Play Assignment For A Macroeconomics Principles Class," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 7(3), pages 185-199, October.
    17. Phillip Saunders, 2011. "A history of economic education," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Mark Maier & Joann Bangs & Niels-Hugo Blunch, 2010. "Context-rich Problems in Economics," Chapters, in: Michael K. Salemi & William B. Walstad (ed.), Teaching Innovations in Economics, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. David Zetland & Carlo Russo & Navin Yavapolkul, 2010. "Teaching Economic Principles: Algebra, Graph or Both?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 55(1), pages 123-131, May.
    20. Allgood, Sam, 2001. "Grade targets and teaching innovations," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 485-493, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    undergraduate research; senior thesis; honors thesis; service learning; capstone experience;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A2 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:amerec:v:57:y:2012:i:1:p:96-110. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/aex .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.