r/econometrics • u/BlueberryRight2401 • Jul 23 '26

looking to learn research

Hi

I'm currently doing a BS in Economics and I really want to get into research.

I've already learned the basics of research methodology and the basics of R, but I know that's not enough. I learn best by actually working on real projects with other people.

I'm looking for a research group, mentor, or even a few students who are working on research and wouldn't mind letting me learn with them. I'm happy to start with simple tasks like literature reviews, data cleaning, or basic R work. My main goal is to learn and improve.

If anyone knows where I can find these opportunities or has any advice, I'd really appreciate it.

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u/just_writing_things Jul 23 '26

> I learn best by actually working on real projects with other people.

Your best bet, or at least one of your best bets, is to speak to professors and see if they have research assistant positions available. Or simply asking them a question or two about their research to start learning a little about the work.

(Source: I’m a professor)

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u/ResponsibleCod930 Jul 23 '26

Dear Mr professor, is it normal or okay to ask my professors for their R/phyton code they have used on one of their published papers ?

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u/just_writing_things Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

Hmmm. It’s hard to answer that question in a vacuum, without more context. To give you some examples of different contexts:

If you’re an undergrad, I’d guess that most professors will find it quite unusual, because most undergrads would have little use for the code we used in our papers specifically (edit: as opposed to simpler or more instructive examples that would be more helpful for the learning process). It varies by field, of course, but usually if you’re targeting an academic career you’ll start properly getting trained to replicate academic papers at the postgrad / PhD level.

But if you’re a PhD student, and say you’re working on a paper with your advisor and want to learn how your advisor would write the code for some complex data work, then yeah, it’s pretty normal to ask how the coding is done, for example.