An individual econometric project will count for 40% of the final mark for this module. Your econometric work is to be carried out using SPSS.
BACKGROUND
Conduct an empirical investigation of an area of your choice using data from the Understanding Society survey (wave 6). The only restriction is that you are not allowed to do a project that involves using wage or income as the dependent variable. That is you are not allowed to investigate the determinants of wages, pay or income. Anyone that
does will have their mark for the project capped at 40%.
UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY SURVEY
Understanding Society is a longitudinal survey (i.e. re-interviewing the same individuals / households over time). The survey builds on and extends an earlier survey that was known as the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). The project will involve using a single cross-section (wave 6) of the data.
Understanding Society survey provides information on household composition, employment and skills, income and wealth, education, health and lifestyle, social and political attitudes, well-being, environment and transport, children and families. Given its coverage Understanding Society and its predecessor, the BHPS, have been and continue to be used in a wide range of applications, see for example:
For the project you will be using a condensed version of the dataset. The dataset will be available to download from Blackboard but you must register with the Data Archive Service before accessing the dataset. Details on how to do this will be provided in the lecture.
SUGGESTED OUTLINE OF THE PROJECT
an initial model or models, performing appropriate diagnostic tests, reformulating and re-estimating, conducting tests of hypothesis and, finally, prediction and policy implications.
You should consider including a comparative table of results (in terms of different estimation methods, different samples and / or variables) – basically whatever you think is appropriate given the research question you are considering. Make sure the results are interpreted appropriately in terms of sign, significance and magnitude.