Over winter break and J-Term I thought of my capstone project seldom and worked on it even less. However, towards the end of J-Term I did make a trip to PLU’s library. I checked out three books on data analysis and panel data modeling, and began breaking the panel data model down to its simplest form. Ironically, its “simplest” form was too big to fit on a single piece of paper, and involved several matrices filled with summations.

One interesting thing that I learned was that the basic form of the panel data model actually has four variations, each based on its own set of assumptions. Needless to say I have a lot of work ahead of me.

I also met with Professor Munson last Wednesday to discuss the error term of the basic form(s) of the panel data model. We agreed we needed to do some more research and meet again at a later time.