Deck 2: Collection and Management of Data

Question 1

Why is data collection so important? Explain.

Answer 1

Analyzing data is the entire purpose of an empirical research project.After identifying a question of interest and developing the appropriate theory,it is vital to examine actual data to gain insight as to the extent to which observed behavior is consistent with the developed theory.For this process to be informative,you must be able to collect appropriate data.

Question 2

Why do we recommend saving one master file while performing calculations in another file? Explain.

Answer 2

We recommend saving one master file so that if we make a mistake and overwrite or otherwise change our data,we can easily go back and reconstruct our correct data without having to start at square one with our internet search,data downloading,and so on.

Question 3

Why do we recommend including a worksheet identifying all data sources used to construct our master file? Explain.

Answer 3

We recommend including a worksheet identifying all data sources so that if we make a mistake and overwrite or otherwise change our data,we can more easily go back and reconstruct our exact data set without having to re-perform internet searches,which can at later dates provide different results and make our reconstructing the data nearly impossible.

Question 4

Suppose you have identified a good question of interest and you expect appropriate data to be available on the internet.What is the first thing that you should do to locate such data? Explain.

Question 5

Personal survey data can be obtained through

A)the internet or through formal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)requests from the appropriate agency.
B)data that is available through the Bureau of Labor Statistics or similar agency.
C)formal request and/or having the appropriate connections.
D)personally conducting a survey asking people for information and recording their responses.

Question 6

When working with cross-section data,how do you choose the appropriate unit of observation? Explain.

Question 7

Why must we be careful when merging data from different sources into one file? Explain.

Question 8

Why is it potentially valuable to perform calculations in a new worksheet? Explain.

Question 9

Private-use data includes

A)data that is available through the Bureau of Labor Statistics or similar agency.
B)through the internet or through formal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)requests from the appropriate agency.
C)data that is collected by the government for public consumption.
D)government surveys or internal firm-level data that can be obtained through formal request and/or having the appropriate connections.

Question 10

Time-series data is data collected

A)without replacement.
B)for a given individual,country,firm,etc.over many different time periods.
C)for a number of individuals,countries,firms,etc.over many different time periods.
D)for many different individuals,countries,firms,etc.in a given time-period.

Question 11

Why are data management techniques so important? What is the primary goal of such techniques? Explain.

Question 12

Panel data are data collected

A)by independent,random sampling.
B)for many different individuals,countries,firms,etc.in a given time-period.
C)for a given individual,country,firm,etc.over many different time periods.
D)for a number of individuals,countries,firms,etc.over many different time periods.

Question 13

Why do we suggest making file and variable names as intuitive as possible? Explain.

Question 14

Publicly-available data can be obtained through

A)formal request and/or having the appropriate connections.
B)personally conducting a survey asking people for information and recording their responses.
C)the internet or through formal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)requests from the appropriate agency.
D)obtaining data from your work that cannot be shared with other individuals.

Question 15

Suppose you have identified a good question of interest but you cannot locate appropriate data on the internet.What could you do to collect appropriate data? Explain.

Question 16

Cross-sectional data is data collected

A)for a number of individuals,countries,firms,etc.over many different time periods.
B)for a given individual,country,firm,etc.over many different time periods.
C)for many different individuals,countries,firms,etc.in a given time-period.
D)with replacement.