When reading social science/economics papers I always makes sure to understand the details of the method used and the exact definitions the authors are using. Also important to check is the magnitude of any affect found and the sample size (though this should be in the abstract). I have found that too many times the abstracts are extremely misleading. The author’s choice of metrics matters. And many common words have no obvious precise definition (examples: “inequality” “economic growth”). In many cases I still skip alot the paper but after seeing so many social science authors use extremely misleading defintions/methods I am afraid of spreading misniformation to myself or others.
I personally wish authors made it super easy to find exactly what they did and made the exact defintiions they are using instantly visible. So I would recomend people do this in their own writing. This ordering:
Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion )
Is great if the methods and results sections are clearly labeled and well written. But sadlt many papers do not follow this model very closely :(
When reading social science/economics papers I always makes sure to understand the details of the method used and the exact definitions the authors are using. Also important to check is the magnitude of any affect found and the sample size (though this should be in the abstract). I have found that too many times the abstracts are extremely misleading. The author’s choice of metrics matters. And many common words have no obvious precise definition (examples: “inequality” “economic growth”). In many cases I still skip alot the paper but after seeing so many social science authors use extremely misleading defintions/methods I am afraid of spreading misniformation to myself or others.
I personally wish authors made it super easy to find exactly what they did and made the exact defintiions they are using instantly visible. So I would recomend people do this in their own writing. This ordering:
Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion )
Is great if the methods and results sections are clearly labeled and well written. But sadlt many papers do not follow this model very closely :(