Yogyakarta, September 8th, 2022
The Master of Science and Doctoral Program (MD) FEB UGM collaborates with the Department of Economics FEB UGM to organize a joint learning event, namely BersemIE (Joint Learning at the Department of Economics), with the topic “Contemporary Research on Development Economics: Some Examples.” This event was held offline and took place in the BRI Auditorium Room 3rd Floor MD FEB UGM Program. This session presented Prof. Budy P Resosudarmo, Department of Economics, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, as a speaker and Prof. Catur Sugiyanto, M.A., Ph.D., Department of Economics FEB UGM, as moderator. This joint study session aims to develop knowledge and research capabilities, particularly in the field of development economics.
In the initial presentation, Prof. Budy explains the methodology in development economics research. Some research methods that can be applied are experiments, surveys, and interviews. Many things need to be considered in the preparation of research, namely population determination, sample design, instrument design, measurement issues (validity, reliability, bias), and data availability.
Regarding the experimental method, that must considered from the outset are internal validity and external validity. Thinking and determining the appropriate case is a must in experimentation. This will determine the appropriate sample design as well.
In addition to experimentation, development economics research is carried out through surveys. Household surveys are still widely conducted and considered relevant to determine household economic activities. The household survey components include survey activities, questionnaire design (measurement issues, direction of potential bias), also sample design (population and sample).
Data collection through interviews in development economics research is very useful for obtaining in-depth, complete, and complex data. The type of research that uses interviews is qualitative research. Researchers can obtain complete data from the sources. In conducting interviews, you can choose whether to use face-to-face interviews or telephone interviews. Face-to-face interviews can be conduct in various ways, using paper and pencil, computer-assisted field editing, CAPI, CASI, or in combination with a qualitative component, namely FGD or in-depth interviews, which can be conducted before, during, and after the quantitative survey.
Prof. Budy also explained secondary data sources that can be obtained for research. Big data is a new source of information from the global population through utilize of digital technology that can be accessed at any time. To complete the information, researchers can combine traditional data and big data.
Prof. Budy also emphasized that every research must have various challenges that must be face. Some of these challenges include sampling, instrument measurement, data scraping and software used, reliability issues, digital technology, data management, data availability, and analytical challenges (big data innovation and research).
Through this event, it is hoped that students’ knowledge and research abilities will support their active research contributions. The event went smoothly and ended with a question-and-answer session. Some participants asked interesting questions. After that, the event ended with a group photo. (Y)