DD309 Tma 05
DD309 Tma 05
DD309 Tma 05
The assignment
Cut-off date: 16 April 2024 (12:00 noon UK time)
You should also read the Assessment Guidance specific to this module and be
familiar with the advice in Social Sciences Assessment Information. These sources
contain support and guidance that you may need in writing your TMA including,
for example, advice on plagiarism, referencing and the marking system. Note that
failure to comply with relevant guidance could result in the loss of marks or other
penalties.
Answer ONE question from Part A, follow and complete ALL the instructions in
Part B, and answer ALL questions from Part C. The questions asked in Part A do
not apply directly to your own research project. They give you the opportunity to
apply the research skills learned in Block 5. Part B gives you an opportunity to
discuss initial project ideas with other students. Part C builds on Parts A and B and
asks you to prepare your own initial project plan. Together, the three parts of TMA
05 mark the first steps towards your research project.
Answer the Question (1, 2 or 3) for the research method that you have chosen for
Block 5.
Question 1: Econometrics
Imagine that your research question requires you to analyse the extent to which
concentrated market structures cause supernormal profits and inhibit competition.
Explore the dataset TMA05_data.xlsx, which contains data for 80 different
industries, including variables concerning price cost margins (two measures, pcm1
and pcm2), advertising intensity (adint) and a five-firm concentration ratio (conc).
Using the dataset TMA05_data.xlsx, construct relevant evidence to do the
following:
• i.Produce some descriptive statistics and draw histograms for the variables
relevant to the analysis of the research question. Then analyse the main
features of the distribution of each variable and the relationships between
them. Are the relationships between price cost margin, market concentration
and advertising intensity as economic theory would suggest? (20 marks)
• ii.Write down an econometric model that analyses the impact of market
structure on performance, based on the results from Part (i) and also on your
knowledge of economic theory. Drawing on economic theory taught in this
module, briefly explain what sign (positive or negative) you expect to
observe for the coefficients of the independent variables in your
equation. (15 marks)
• iii.Using a suitable econometric method, estimate the model you were asked
to write down in Part (ii). Report the estimation output and explain your
results. Your explanation should include a discussion of the robustness of
your model, its limitations, and any additional steps you have taken to check
for common econometric issues. (30 marks)
Imagine that you have chosen to do a research project based on secondary data and
materials using the briefing paper, ‘Measuring progress and human development’.
You would like to make use of this report as a key source for your project.
(65 marks)
• a.Write a short summary of your current ideas about the research question,
methods and analysis to be used, and some possible conclusions that might
follow. Mention also the main significant risk or challenge to the project at
this stage and say how you might address it. (Up to 600 words.)
• b.Post your short summary to your Tutor Group Forum.
• c.Read and post comments on at least two other summaries on the Tutor
Group Forum. (These comments should be between 100 and 200 words
each.)
• d.Now as part of your TMA, copy and paste your summary along
with ALL your forum posts AND the original summaries to which you were
responding.
Word limit: 1000 words. (This does not include summaries written by other
students.)
(15 marks)
Part C: Initial Research Plan (20% of the marks)
(20 marks)
All articles and data sets for use with TMAs can be accessed in the Assessment
tab, see the ‘Files for use’ sections for each TMA.
Learning outcomes
This assignment gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the following learning
outcomes:
Cognitive skills
You should demonstrate the ability to:
Key skills
Student notes
Part A
Question 1
The link between market structure and performance (profits) is analysed in Chapter
7. In this question you are advised to use price–cost margin (PCM) as a measure of
‘performance’.
Question 1 (i) asks you to produce descriptive statistics for variables that might be
used to understand the extent to which concentrated market structures cause
supernormal profits and inhibit competition. For each variable of interest, you
should produce and discuss descriptive statistics and histograms. You will also
need to investigate the relationship (e.g. scatterplot and correlations) between the
variables of interest and relate these results to economic theory. You will find
relevant theory in Chapter 7.
Question 1 (ii) asks you to specify a model that can be used to analyse the data.
You need to justify your choice of the dependent variable and the model
specification proposed. The descriptive statistics from Question 1 (i) will help in
deciding on your econometric model.
In Question 1 (iii) you need to decide which estimation method is appropriate for
your model. You may wish to refer to the document ‘DYEP: Using econometrics’,
available in the Assessment section of the module website, and information in the
Online tutorial: Econometrics. You should then estimate the econometric model
proposed in (ii) and interpret its results. You should apply an appropriate
estimation method and use this to analyse the statistical significance of each
variable and the statistical quality of the model. You should consider what suitable
diagnostic tests to run, discussed in Block 5, to see whether there is evidence to
suggest that heteroskedasticity could undermine the estimation carried out. Finally,
you will need to discuss how effective your econometric strategy is in addressing
the question of the extent to which concentrated market structures cause
supernormal profits and inhibit competition. You will need to consider whether the
data and the results provide convincing evidence to answer this question. This will
also be a good moment to think about any possible additional variable you would
have liked to include in your econometric model to identify the effect of market
structure on performance.
Question 2
One of the most important skills needed for undertaking primary data collection is
the ability to carry out interviews. The work in Block 5 on primary data analysis
encouraged you to practise this skill, and also provided examples of interviewing
technique. This part of the TMA gives you the opportunity to demonstrate and
extend your interviewing skills. When thinking about your themes and/or
questions, you may find it helpful to think of ways in which you could start and
then develop the interview so that it elicits responses that go beyond the obvious, if
possible.
We have chosen a topic that you have studied in Block 1 of the module, and a topic
for which it should be possible to recruit a volunteer interviewee. For example, if
you focus on human capital, a volunteer with any post-school education or training
that involves costs would be suitable. The main source for topics and questions on
household decision-making is in Chapter 4. The topic of human capital is discussed
throughout the module, particularly in Chapter 3 and Chapter 9. Topics related to
quality of life, such as welfare, are discussed in Chapter 9.
For this assessment you should submit: your list of themes and questions, your
coded notes, your summary of findings and your notes on the interview experience.
Question 3
Your research question should relate to economic theories covered in the module.
Make sure you understand the theory you are exploring in your research question.
You may find it helpful to draw on Chapter 9, which discusses alternative
measures of economic welfare. Remember to ensure that your research topic and
research question are not over-ambitious. You will be much more successful if you
focus on a small number of analytically related issues associated with economic
welfare – whether this means looking in more detail at an issue raised by the
document you read, or comparing material in the summary with material from
elsewhere. Either way, remember that it is the economic theory that will help you
to delineate a research question. It is possible to gain full marks from using the
briefing paper, ‘Measuring progress and human development’, plus two additional
references, to answer the questions.
In writing your statement you will find it helpful to refer to the guidance on project
structure in Week 1 of this block, and also to the sample secondary-data project we
have used as the basis for a good deal of the work on secondary-data research.
Part B
Part B gives you an opportunity to share your preliminary thoughts about the
research project. It is also an opportunity for you to comment on the ideas of other
students and to receive comments on what you are thinking of doing. Your
comments should be constructive and draw on course materials wherever possible.
The design of a research project is covered in Block 5.
Part C
Doing TMA 05 will give you the opportunity to develop an initial plan for your
research project, and receive feedback from your tutor.
Your initial research plan should use no more than 750 words. Your research
project will evolve as you develop it, but the plan is an essential step as it will help
you bring your theoretical and empirical interests together with your preferred set
of methods for tackling your research question. The plan will help you take stock
of where you are at this point and help you understand the key steps you need to
follow to accumulate and analyse your data. It should help you start to identify a
structure for your final project even if the structure changes in light of what you
find or difficulties that you come across.
So the plan is not expected to be a final version that incorporates all the various
sections of your project. That said, do use this opportunity to think about how you
will relate economic theory from the module to your empirical work, and whether
your approach is likely to provide the answer to your research question.
Remember, research is an iterative process and it is likely that you will still be
revising your project until close to the final EMA deadline. However, it is
imperative that you submit your EMA on time because you will not be granted any
extension. So do make sure your research timetable is realistic.
Once you have completed the assessed component of the assignment you should
reflect on the process of completing the assignment. These reflections are not
assessed but you will receive better feedback. By this stage of the module, you
should have a clear initial research plan. You should be working towards a well-
defined research question and have some concrete ideas of how you will obtain and
analyse your data. Here are some prompts that will help your dialogue with your
tutor about this TMA and your project:
• Is your research question well specified, not too broad, and feasible?
• How confident are you about using your chosen research method effectively
for your project?
• Have you changed your ideas as a result of receiving or giving comments on
the Tutor Group forum?
• What are the main challenges you expect when working on your project and
how might you overcome them?
Checklist
Have I: Yes No, where can I look for guidance?
Look at Getting started in Social Sciences Assessment
Information. See also Understand the question in ‘Skills for
Made sure I understand
OU Study’.
the question?
TMA 05
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