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Mastertheses in Econometrics
Prerequisites and Requirements
The completion of a master thesis in econometrics requires a profound knowledge of statistics on the master level. This can be acquired in numerous courses from the research group, most notably courses within 31-MM15 such as "Methoden der Ökonometrie" or the course "Statistical and Econometric Models".
Beside handing in the thesis it is also mandatary for all students (independent of the study program) to take part in the Kolloquium. The colloquium is offered every term jointly with Roland Langrock and Christiane Fuchs.
During the Kolloquium students choose their topic and give two presentations where the first deals with an entry point to the topic. In the second presentation students show that they understand their topic and have detailed and suitable work plans taking care of the most relevant risks in their endeavour.
Goal of the master thesis
It is the goal of the master thesis
- to understand a method/a model/ an application on the basis of existing literature (researched by the students) and
- either to apply the method/the modell/ the application using a real worls data set (where the method might need to adapted slightly),
- or to enhance or extend the method/the modell/the application slightly,
- and to document the results in scientific manner correctly and structured.
It is not the goal of the thesis,
- to reach a quota of pages
- to copy thoughts of other people without adding your own thoughts,
- to compile facts from the literature without enhancing them by your own research.
Process
Work on the thesis starts in the Kolloquium. A main part here is picking a suitable topic, which is reasonably complex to allow researching it for six months, but not too complex such that results can be expected in this time frame.
At the end of the Kolloquium every students needs to have his or her thesis officially registered. Upon registration the Prüfungamt sets a deadline of six month within which the thesis needs to be submitted.
To compile the thesis there exist templates both for Microsoft Word and LateX.
Choosing a topic
The choice of the topic shall mirror the interests of the students. Thus we are always open to suggestions from the students.
During the Kolloquium the topics will be sharpened and focussed. It is important that beside strong interests of the students the topic also allows the prediction of achieving interesting results within the six month time frame. Additionally the topic also should fit the knowledge of the students.
Suggested Topics
The research group keeps a list of potential topics. These are presented at two occasions: Within the ZeSt Kolloquium the last session in the summer term is used to present all current suggested topics.
Additionally in the first session of the Kolloquium the current list of suggestions in the area "empirical methods" is presented.