Stephen DeLoach, professor of economics in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, had a paper titled “Creating Quality Undergraduate Research Programs in Economics: How, When, Where (And Why)” published in The American Economist.
The paper was coauthored with Elizabeth Perry-Sizemore, associate professor of economics at Randolph College, and Mary O. Borg, professor of political economy at the University of North Florida. It began as part of their work on the undergraduate research module of the web portal Starting Point: Teaching and Learning Economics (Science Education Resource Center 2010). The material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. (DUE0817382).
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.
The American Economist is a refereed journal published by the International Honor Society in Economics – Omicron Delta Epsilon for the enhancement of research in economics.