Set Up Your Research Project

The first part of The BESTEPS Guide is designed to support early-career researchers in taking the very first steps of their PhD journey. It focuses on the foundational phase of any research career: setting up a research project. This includes understanding the workflow, finding a promising idea, and developing the mindset and habits with data management and coding practices.

The three lectures in this volume provide complementary perspectives from three experienced economists: Antonio Cabrales, Libertad González, and Joan Llull. In the Opening Lecture, Antonio provides a broad overview of the research process, guiding early-career researchers through each stage and offering essential principles for dealing with uncertainty and maintaining focus. In Lecture 1, Libertad zooms in on the very beginning of the journey, giving practical, step-by-step guidance on how to generate questions and formulate research ideas. Finally, in Lecture 2, Joan focuses on a core competency of today’s researchers: doing organized and replicable work, and emphasizing the mindset and practices of reproducibility, transparency, and research integrity.

Volume 1 of The BESTEPS Guide focuses on helping you start and structure a research project. Volume 2 will turn to the research product, exploring how to produce meaningful outputs and communicate research effectively.