{"id":2417,"date":"2019-05-03T14:06:56","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T18:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/economics\/?page_id=2417"},"modified":"2026-02-03T19:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:01:08","slug":"student-research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/economics\/our-work\/student-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Research is central to the Economics major at Bates. While the Senior Thesis is the capstone of this experience, the journey of inquiry begins long before the final year. Our curriculum is designed to scaffold research skills, providing students with multiple opportunities to engage in empirical work through data analysis and collaborative discovery throughout their time in the department. From core coursework to faculty collaborations, our students are constantly developing the tools to ask meaningful questions and find rigorous answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pre-thesis Research<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Project-Based Coursework<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students engage in research from the earliest stages of the major. Many of our courses are project-based, allowing students to work on small-scale research projects that build essential skills. This begins in our core courses\u2014Intermediate Theories, Economic Statistics, and Econometrics\u2014where students learn to handle real-world data and apply economic models. These foundations are deepened in our upper-level electives, where students in various fields often conduct replications of recent research work or original empirical analysis as part of their classwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research Assistantships<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the classroom, students often work closely with faculty members as Research Assistants (RAs) or through summer research apprenticeships<\/a>. These roles provide a unique opportunity to contribute to professional academic research, gaining hands-on experience in data collection, literature reviews, and advanced statistical methods alongside a faculty mentor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n