The proposal should be 2-4 pages. The research question should remain constant, but it’s ok if your approach to the problem (i.e., methodology, data) changes a bit in the final report. I just want a reasonable template of what you intend to study, and how you currently plan to approach the problem. This could change a bit as we learn more throughout the semester.
You should have the following four sections included in your proposal:
Intro: summary of research question (e.g., the causal effect of x on y), motivation (why this is important to study; e.g., policy, economic welfare, firm profitability, etc.), methodology, and any other information I should know.
Methodology: This is the most important section. I expect you to (at minimum) answer the following questions: What are the empirical challenges in answering the research question? Are there endogeneity issues, omitted variable bias (there almost always is)? What would the ideal experiment be to mitigate potential bias in your estimates? How do you plan on addressing these issues? Everyone should present at least one equation that you plan to estimate.
Data: what are the data sources that you require to pursue your project? You don’t need to have the data yet, but you should make sure it is easily obtainable. I don’t want you to have to change the project because you cannot locate the data. If you need to change the project, you will need to submit a new proposal. You can use Google to locate the data that you need. Here are some sources that might help:
https://www.aeaweb.org/resources/data/us-other-data
https://library.bu.edu/economics/datasets
https://guides.nyu.edu/economics/data-sources
Conclusion and potential findings: summarize briefly, explain what you expect to find in your analysis, and discuss next steps.
I am attaching some proposals from some former undergraduate students in the Course Materials section. Some of these proposals are way more extensive than yours needs to be. You do not need to have any preliminary analysis in yours, and I don’t expect yours to be longer than 4 pages. Stick to the format outlined above. These are just to give you a rough idea of how proposals are normally written.
I am ok with you replicating another study or coming up with a new, original idea. Just do not do the projects in the student proposal examples that I am posting. Also, do not present multiple project ideas. I want you to narrow in on one idea.
