Research Guide

Research project workflow.

Research project workflow Eight-step research workflow grouped into three phases—frame the question, plan the study, and do the work and share—with example sources for steps that involve specific resources. PHASE 1 — FRAME THE QUESTION 01 Spark the idea Notice a puzzle, contradiction, or "why does this work?" e.g., WSJ · Financial Times · Bloomberg · Odd Lots podcast 02 Quick literature scan Has this been answered? What is already known? e.g., Google Scholar · SSRN · NBER · Consensus.app 03 Refine the question Narrow it; make it specific and answerable PHASE 2 — PLAN THE STUDY 04 Form a hypothesis Predict what you'll find—and why you expect it 05 Choose data and method Free, accessible sources and beginner-friendly tools e.g., FRED · SEC EDGAR · yfinance · Python · Excel PHASE 3 — DO THE WORK AND SHARE 06 Run your analysis Apply the method; collect and document results e.g., GitHub · Jupyter Notebook · Google Colab 07 Interpret findings What do the numbers actually mean? Are they robust? 08 Write up and get feedback Share, revise, repeat—drafts get better through review e.g., EMU Writing Center ↻ Findings often send you back to step 03. That's the work, not failure.