(Quantitave Methods Module)

You will decide what source pay gaps you will examine (this is your ‘research question’), and then conduct an appropriate data analysis and writeup.
STRUCTURE
. Introduction
2. Prior knowledge
3. Data and Methods
4. Results
5. Conclusion
6. References
7. Tables and Figures

Introduction
The introduction section introduces the problem or question to be studied. It usually briefly tells us the state of knowledge on the issue, and why and for whom the topic is an important one.

Results
The purpose of the results section is to present your key results in a logical sequence. There should be little interpretation here – just a statement of what the results are, as opposed to what they mean.
Place all relevant tables and figures to which you refer here in the final section of the report.
Tables and figures (and any notes and titles for those tables and figures) do not count towards the word limit.
Components:
1. Describe the characteristics of your study sample.
• Refer to a table of descriptive statistics that includes a summary of your
dependent, independent, and control variables.
2. Using some form of descriptive statistics, describe the relationship between
the dependent and independent variables in your analysis.
3. Describe the results of a bivariate and multivariate regression analysis,
including the F-statistics, regression coefficients, and R-squared.
• Refer to a table that shows both bivariate and multivariate regression results. Again – place the table itself in the final section of the report.
Tips for a good Results section
• Be selective. The point of this section is to provide statistical results that address your research question – not to present as many figures and tables as you can.
o As a rule, do not include any figures or tables that you do not describe in words in the body of your report.
o This is especially important since the word limit is tight. You need to be judicious about what matters and what does not.
• Make sure the numbers in your tables/figures and your text are the same.
• Make sure that the results you present directly relate to your research question.
• It is very useful to carefully read (and to loosely mimic) the way the studies you
read phrase their results sections. I DO NOT MEAN PLAGIARIZE.
• Also remember that there are examples in the lab outlines and in my slides on
how to talk about your findings.

5) Conclusion
The conclusion is also your chance to acknowledge the limitations of your study.
Components
1. Briefly summarise the main findings of the study.
2. Discuss the relationship between your results and those found in prior research,
including potential explanations of any discrepancies and unexpected findings.
3. Analyse the strengths and limitations of your study/analysis.
4. Briefly discuss wider implications of the results.
Tips for the Conclusion:
• Do not introduce new results in this section.
• When discussing study limitations, go beyond simply listing it to think about what
it means in terms of the knowledge you have generated.
7) Tables and Figures (not counted as part of word limit)
Put all your tables and figures (each numbered consecutively) in this section.
Tips for the tables and figures:
• Tables should not be pasted directly from Stata.
• Tables and figures should be well-formatted
• Tables and figures should include clear titles, as well relevant notes.
• Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively (ie Table 1, 2, 3…; Figure
1, 2, 3…)
• Does not present estimates with a million decimal places if they are not useful.
Usually not more than three decimal places, unless more is important. This is a substantive issue, so think of it in those terms.