Behavioural Economics Project
| Module title | Behavioural Economics Project |
|---|---|
| Module code | BEEM158 |
| Academic year | 2023/4 |
| Credits | 60 |
| Module staff |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 15 |
|---|
Module description
This module will allow you to utilise the knowledge and skills you have acquired throughout your MSc to generate new knowledge and/or to develop practical solutions to real world problems through behavioural economic research. There are two pathways: industry and academic. In the industry pathway, you will be developing and proposing testable solutions to pre-specified real world problem(s), which will be set by industry professional(s) and/or academic researchers with industry experience. A nudgeathon (behavioural economics hackathon) will be organised to offer you a practical experience. Your proposals (including implementation and evaluation plans) may then be considered by real industry professionals and/or organisations for real world implementation. You will have the opportunity to receive guidance from academics and/or industry professionals as part of this experience. In the academic pathway, you will be developing a detailed research proposal that will contribute to our understanding of behavioural economics. The proposal will be based on topic(s) set by our world class behavioural economics researchers at Exeter. As with the industry pathway, a nudgeathon will also be organised to help you brainstorm ideas, your proposal may be considered for implementation and you will have the opportunity to receive feedback and guidance from our researchers.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The aim of the module is to allow students to reflect on their learning and experiences and utilise their knowledge and skills to design a detailed academic and/or practical research project. This project involves a variety of aspects of real world behavioural economic research, including the motivation, literature research, study design, hypothesis, subject recruitment plan, data management plan, ethical concerns and evaluation methodologies. With guidance from academics and/or industry professionals, this module aims to provide students with practical experience in order to produce high quality work that is implementable in practice. In addition to the technical proposal, students will learn to produce work and pitches in plain language for a general audience.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. propose a practical research design that is informed by behavioural economic theories and the literature;
- 2. produce a concise proposal as well as a technical document;
- 3. apply knowledge of behavioural research methodologies.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Identify an appropriate research design to enhance understanding of or to solve core economic problems;
- 5. assemble and synthesise a complex body of relevant, existing research;
- 6. apply appropriate analytical or statistical techniques to reach an answer to a defined research question.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. pursue, under supervision, a sustained program of individual work outside of a classroom setting;
- 8. critically evaluate existing ideas and to perceive areas of weakness or areas which may be usefully analysed;
- 9. apply enhanced problem-solving abilities and time management skills.
- 10. demonstrate considerations for research ethics and data security
- 11. summarise a technical proposal concisely in plain language for stakeholders on paper and presentation
Syllabus plan
Students will be given materials to familiarise themselves with how behavioural interventions are developed. A nudgeathon will be organised for students, where students will collaborate with each other intensively to produce potential solutions to a problem brief. Building on knowledge and skills acquired from previous modules, students will then research and write their own detailed proposal.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 580 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Contact hours | 5 | Individual supervision |
| Contact hours | 15 | Nudgeathon |
| Guided Independent Study | 580 | Researching and writing individual projects |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary proposed intervention | 200 words | 1,3-11 | Verbal and/or written |
| Draft chapters | Various as per student/project needs | 1-11 | Verbal and/or written |
| Peer discussions during Nudgeathon | 15 hours | 1,3-6,8-11 | Verbal |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain Language Proposal | 25 | 2 page (1000 words approx) | 1-11 | Written feedback |
| Recorded pitch | 15 | 3 minutes | 1-11 | Written feedback |
| Full proposal | 60 | 10,000 words | 1-10 | Written feedback |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain Language Proposal | Plain Language Proposal | 1-11 | Next resubmission period |
| Recorded Pitch | Recorded Pitch | 1-11 | Next resubmission period |
| Full Proposal | Full Proposal | 1-10 | Next resubmission period |
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Students will read recent research articles relevant to their specific project
Students may find the following general resources helpful:
Behavioural Economics:
Behavioural Insights Team (2014). EAST. Four Simple Ways to Apply Behavioural Insights.
DellaVigna, S. (2009). Psychology and economics: Evidence from the field. Journal of Economic literature, 47(2), 315-72.
Rabin, M. (1998). Psychology and economics. Journal of economic literature, 36(1), 11-46.
Thaler, R H.; Sunstein, C R. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-14-311526-7.
Microeconomics:
Haeringer, G. (2018). Market design: auctions and matching. MIT Press.
Varian, H. R. (2014). Intermediate microeconomics: a modern approach: ninth international student edition. WW Norton & Company.
Research Methods:
Banerjee, Abhijit & Duflo, Esther. (Eds). (2017). Handbook of Field Experiments, Volume 1. Amsterdam, Netherlands: North Holland
Iarossi, Giuseppe. (2006). The Power of Survey Design A User's Guide for Managing Surveys, Interpreting Results, and Influencing Respondents (First Edition). Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.
Glennerster, R., & Takavarasha, K. (2013). Running randomized evaluations: A practical guide. Princeton University Press.
List, J. A., Sadoff, S., & Wagner, M. (2011). So you want to run an experiment, now what? Some simple rules of thumb for optimal experimental design. Experimental Economics, 14(4), 439-457.
| Credit value | 60 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 30 |
| Module pre-requisites | BEEM160 AND one of BEEM125 or BEEM157 |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 17/02/2022 |
| Last revision date | 27/07/2022 |
