Choice Experiment Essay (40% course mark)
Title: “A Choice Experiment Application to [Subject Covered in Class]”
Hard Word Limit: 3,000 words
Due date: 10 November 2023 at 12:00 (noon)
• The essay will include a combination of critical literature review and data analysis
• The essay must be submitted through TurnItIn on Learn (‘Assessment’ section) using any of the following formats: .doc, .dox,.odt, .wpd, .ps, .rtf, .txt, PDF. Every submission is processed using plagiarism detection software. No paper hand-in is required.
o Any suspected plagiarism cases will be reported to the School of GeoSciences academic misconduct officer
o *** Guidance on avoiding plagiarism can be found here
o *** The procedure that will be followed if plagiarism is detected can be found here
• The essay should be organised according to the following outline (adapted from Ecological Economics), and will be marked according to the following rubric
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Essay Structure
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Points Possible
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1.
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Introduction
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10
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2. 3.
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Methodological Literature Review Methodology & Data Collection
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40
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4. 5.
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Results
Discussion & Conclusion
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40
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Formatting & Referencing
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10
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Total
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100
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• **Performance with respect to referencing and formatting will count for 10% of the final mark for the essay (see last page of this syllabus for the full checklist )
A range of simple elements of formatting will be checked
o When an element is implemented 100% perfectly throughout an essay, it earns a
o When an element is implemented imperfectly throughout an essay, it earns a
o When an element of formatting is not relevant to an essay, it is marked N/A
Scoring for referencing and formatting
o ‘Percent ’ will be calculated, where Percent = total /(total + total )
o The resulting percentage will be multiplied by 10 and rounded to the nearest whole number to obtain the formatting & referencing score.
o For example:
If Percent = 0.5, then you would earn 5/10 for formatting
If Percent = 0.32, then you would earn 3/10 for formatting
• Assignment Content: Students are required to write the essays using the structure set out below.
This structure has been adapted from the journal Ecological Economics to better suit the length of these essays and the learning outcomes of this course. Below are descriptions of the function served by each of the identified sections. Students should structure their content accordingly
Introduction: State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background for the
application completed in class. If the case study relates to a particular theme (e.g. low carbon behaviours, or sustainable transport), that context should be set here as well
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Methodological
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This section should contain a critical synthesis of literature relevant to the
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Literature
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methodology implemented. It should demonstrate knowledge of the methodology,
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Review:
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current applications of the method, and an understanding of how the application from class will extend existing research or address a gap in current research.
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Methodology &
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Clearly and concisely describe the data collection process and the analytical steps
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Data Collection:
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taken. Readers should have a full understanding of the approach taken to data collection and analysis.
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Results:
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Clearly and concisely present the outcomes of the application and data analysis. Basic interpretation of the study outputs is appropriate in this section (i.e.
discussions of parameter signs, significant values, model fit, etc.), but detailed discussion of the results is not appropriate for this section and should appear instead in the discussion section.
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Discussion &
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This section should present the analysis of the data and answer the question: “What
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Conclusion:
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do the results mean?” Additionally, this analysis should refer to key thematic and methodological issues, providing an indication of the strengths and limitations of the study. It should also compare the results to those obtained by other
comparable/related studies conducted under similar research themes. This section should also discuss the policy implications of the results obtained during the study,
and should provide recommendations for future research that builds on the research, highlighting key gaps that remain and research questions that need answering.
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• Additional Requirements
o Each student’s analysis must contain 3 different elements:
One of these elements must be the ‘basic’ model for the whole sample covered in class
Two of these elements must feature either interactions or analyse differences in preferences between groups of respondents by splitting the sample
• Note that at least in the case of a split sample analysis, one element comprises results from two models
• At least one of the elements must entail analysis that was not featured in class (and is, therefore, of the student’sown design)
• For the interaction/split sample models, students should provide a clear
description of the expected effect(s) of the interaction(s) or split sample(s). Where possible, this should be based on existing literature.
o Each element and model needs to be described in the text and the results presented with the standard, relevant content (See choice experiment studies published in Ecological Economics for further information on what constitutes standard, relevant content)
o The relevant WTP estimates associated with the estimated models must also be described in the text and presented in the form. of one or more tables.
o R code used and outputs (i.e. results) files for each of the 3 models included in the essay must be appended to the essays as appendices (1 for each element) for markers to see
Formatting and referencing checklist
Essay Category UUN: N/A
Title & Anonymity
• Title page has title and exam number and not name or student number (sXXXXXXX),
Section Numbers
• All sections specified in the syllabus are present
• Sections are named
• Sections are numbered as follows: 1, 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, …), 1.2, etc.
Figures
• All figures are referred to within the text
• Every figure is numbered sequentially
• A brief title for each figure is given in the caption of the figure (below the figure)
• All axes are labelled with names and units
• Unless impossible, all figures are hand-made (using software, rather than copied)
• The source(s) for all figures are included as in-text citations on the caption line
• Legend-like explanations for figure contents is beneath the figure
Equations
• All equations are referred to within the text
• Every equation is numbered sequentially
• Each equation is on its own line, with one line of whitespace both above and below it
• The number for each equation is present, in parentheses, on the right edge of the eq. line
Tables
• All tables are referred to within the text
• Every table is numbered sequentially, above the table
• Every table has a brief, self-explanatory title that is placed in the caption above the table
• All tables are “hand-made” (using Word/Excel, rather than copied)
• All vertical lines have been removed from all tables
• The header line in the tables has a top and bottom border
• The bottom line in the table has a bottom border
• There are no other intermediate horizontal lines within the table
• Any textual abbreviations or symbols are explained in a footnote under the table
• Any units are abbreviated within parentheses within the header of each relevant column
• The source(s) for all tables are included, in italics, as in-text citations on the caption line
An example table
Table 1 Table title here. Source: Smith (2008)
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Column Heading 1
(unit)
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Column Heading 2
(unit)
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Content Here
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Content Here
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Content Here
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Content Here
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Content Here
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Content Here*
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* Table footnote here (if footnote is necessary)