Research Project

How the marks are divided, and the annual SEC brief

The Leaving Certificate Economics examination combines two assessment components to test both theoretical understanding and investigative skills.

Together, the written examination (400 marks) and the research study (100 marks) make up the total course allocation of 500 marks.

The SEC issues an annual common brief during sixth year specifying the prescribed research topics, formatting rules, and submission deadlines. While the brief is identical for Ordinary and Higher Level candidates, examiners mark your work using a differentiated marking scheme. At Higher Level, you are expected to demonstrate theoretical depth, carry out independent critical analysis, apply models to unfamiliar contexts, and justify your viewpoints using economic evidence.

Sixth-year project timeline

• Early sixth year: the SEC brief is released; select your topic and define a focused economic aim.
• Term 1: gather secondary data, design and conduct any survey for primary data, and keep full citations in a research log.
• Term 2: carry out your own data manipulation, link the findings to syllabus models, and draft your conclusions and reflection.
• Final weeks: check calculations, format the bibliography, complete official authentication forms, and submit before the SEC deadline.

Organising your report and core key skills

The SEC brief for your examination year sets the binding rules on word count, layout, and any official template you must use. Always check the brief first and follow its parameters strictly. Within those rules, a purposeful, clear report generally follows this sequence:

1. Title and aim: one sentence stating the precise economic question you are answering.
2. Introduction: why the issue matters economically and the syllabus strand it connects to.
3. Methodology: where your data came from, how it was gathered, and the limits of your approach.
4. Findings: the processed evidence presented in clear, fully labelled tables and charts.
5. Analysis: your own data calculations alongside relevant economic theories and assumptions.
6. Conclusion: a direct, evidence-based answer to your aim that weighs trade-offs and limits.
7. Reflection: how the research influenced your personal attitudes, opinions, or behaviour.
8. Bibliography: complete references for every source consulted.

Completing this investigation develops the five senior cycle key skills:

• Information processing: evaluating data sources for relevance, accuracy, and reliability.
• Critical and creative thinking: questioning assumptions, analysing trade-offs, and developing independent insights.
• Communicating: setting out your economic reasoning clearly, in structured writing, with accurate terms, and describing diagrams in words.
• Being personally effective: managing your time independently across sixth year to produce an original report.
• Working with others: collaborating on preliminary discussions or field surveys where permitted. Note that while you may discuss ideas or collect survey data with classmates, the report you submit — including its calculations, analysis, conclusions, and reflection — must be written by you alone.

Authentication protocols

The report must be your own work, and the SEC operates authentication procedures — including specific rules about internet-sourced material — to confirm this. Breaching them is treated as a breach of examination regulations. The exact requirements and consequences are set out in the brief and in the SEC rules for your examination year. Text you have not credited, or material you cannot show you produced yourself, breaches the authentication rules.

Gathering and evaluating primary and secondary evidence

A strong report blends numerical evidence with qualitative insights from reputable sources:

• Quantitative information: measurable numerical data, such as inflation statistics, interest rates, wage figures, employment numbers, or tax yields.
• Qualitative information: descriptive evidence, such as policy statements, submissions from trade bodies, consumer sentiment commentary, or interview responses.

Primary data

Primary data is original data you collect yourself for your specific study, such as a questionnaire, a structured interview with a local business owner, or direct price observations. When you use primary data, be honest about its limits. A survey of 40 students in one school provides interesting local insight, but it carries sample bias and cannot represent Irish consumers as a whole. Similarly, leading questions skew responses. Acknowledging these constraints in your methodology demonstrates genuine critical thinking.

Secondary data

Secondary data is data already published by external organisations. High-achieving reports rely on authoritative bodies such as the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the Central Bank of Ireland, Eurostat, and the OECD.

Sources to avoid include undated web pages, blogs, and secondary summaries of statistics when the original CSO or Eurostat release is readily available. Never rely on figures that cannot be traced to a named author, institution, and publication date.

Doing your own calculations with the data

Examiners specifically look for student-led data manipulation. Do not paste in a finished chart and leave it at that — take the raw figures and calculate something yourself. Showing this difference through your own calculations is exactly the correct data manipulation the top band describes.

Standard percentage change

Percentage change versus percentage-point change

Confusing these two concepts is a frequent error. A percentage-point change is the arithmetic difference between two percentage figures. A percentage change measures the relative shift compared to the starting value. If an interest rate or market share moves from 20% to 25%, it has increased by 5 percentage points ($25\% - 20\% = 5\text{ pp}$). However, its relative percentage change is:

Building an index number

An index turns a time series into percentages of a chosen base year, which is always set to 100:

For example, if average monthly rent is €1,200 in 2023 (base year) and €1,320 in 2025:

This shows rents in 2025 are 10% above the 2023 baseline.

Converting nominal values to real values

A nominal value reflects market prices at the time of measurement. A real value removes the distortion of inflation to show true purchasing power:

Average weekly earnings are €936 in 2025 and the CPI (base 2023 = 100) is 107. Real earnings = (€936 ÷ 107) × 100 = €874.77 per week in 2023 prices — so although nominal pay rose, purchasing power fell. The CPI here is an index number, not an inflation rate — if prices rose 7% since the base year, the index is 107, not 7. The base year must be set to 100, and your answer is expressed in that year's prices.

Applying economic theory and describing diagrams in words

Your project must explain real-world findings through formal economic concepts. Whether your investigation examines housing, minimum wage, indirect taxes, or green policies, ground your analysis in syllabus theory.

Microeconomic concepts

• Price elasticity of demand and supply ($PED$ and $PES$).
• Market failure: negative externality, positive externalities, and public goods.
• Government intervention: price ceilings (rent controls), price floors (minimum wage), taxes, and subsidies.
• Market structures: perfect competition, imperfect competition, oligopoly, and monopoly.

Macroeconomic concepts

• Aggregate demand and aggregate supply ($AD/AS$).
• Inflation: demand-pull and cost-push mechanisms.
• The circular flow of income, national debt, and fiscal policy.

Assumptions and describing diagrams in words

Every economic model relies on simplifying assumptions, such as ceteris paribus (all other things remaining equal) or rational consumer behaviour. In your report, state these assumptions clearly and identify where real-world market conditions differ from them.

Because submission templates may restrict hand-drawn graphics, practise describing diagrams in words. In your text:

1. Name the variables on the vertical and horizontal axes.
2. State the initial slope and elasticity of the curves.
3. Explain the cause and direction of any curve shift or movement along a curve.
4. Identify the resulting changes in equilibrium price and quantity.

Assessment criteria, personal reflection, and accommodations

The three levels of achievement described in the specification (paraphrased):

Note: The criteria above reflect the qualitative descriptors set out in the curriculum specification.

Drawing conclusions and reflecting

An informed conclusion directly answers your original research aim using the evidence presented. Your conclusion should only use evidence you have already analysed — do not introduce new facts or figures there. Weigh up trade-offs and explicitly state the limitations of your data.

Personal reflection is assessed across all bands. Examiners look for genuine intellectual learning rather than superficial remarks. Focus on three elements: a named prior belief that changed, a specific consumer habit or opinion that shifted, and an explicit link to a syllabus concept.

Referencing and accommodations

Follow whatever citation format the SEC brief specifies. If none is given, use a standard author-date format:

Central Statistics Office (2025) Consumer Price Index, August 2025. Dublin: CSO. Available at: www.cso.ie [accessed 14 October 2025].

In the text, cite sources directly at the point of use (e.g. CSO, 2025). Every table and chart must have a clear title, units (€, %, thousands), and a source line.

Because the research study involves independent investigative work, it may present particular difficulties for some students. The SEC Scheme of Reasonable Accommodations is designed to assist students with physical, medical, sensory, or specific learning difficulties. Accommodations are applied for through the school, so raise this with your teacher early in sixth year.

Key terms

Research study

The independent economics coursework report completed in sixth year, accounting for 20% of the total Leaving Certificate grade (100 marks out of 500).

Differentiated marking scheme

A marking system where Higher and Ordinary Level students complete the same brief but are assessed against distinct academic expectations and criteria.

Authentication procedures

Official SEC protocols requiring students and teachers to verify that the submitted report is the candidate's own original academic work.

Primary data

Original data collected directly by the student for their specific investigation, such as local surveys, price tallies, or retailer interviews.

Secondary data

Pre-existing data gathered and published by external organisations, such as the CSO, Central Bank of Ireland, ESRI, or Eurostat.

Qualitative information

Non-numerical evidence capturing opinions, policy statements, expert analysis, or behavioural motivations.

Quantitative information

Numerical economic data, such as inflation rates, output statistics, tax yields, prices, or employment figures.

Percentage-point change

The arithmetic difference between two percentages, distinct from the relative percentage change between them.

Base year

The benchmark year against which subsequent economic figures are compared in an index series, always assigned an index value of 100.

Real value

An economic figure adjusted for inflation using a price index to reflect constant purchasing power in base-year prices.

Price elasticity of demand

A measure of the responsiveness of the quantity demanded of a good to a change in its own price (%ΔQd / %ΔP).

Negative externality

A cost imposed on a third party outside the market transaction as a result of the production or consumption of a good or service.

Ceteris paribus

An economic assumption meaning 'all other things being equal', used to isolate the relationship between two specific variables.

Informed conclusion

A reasoned judgement that follows logically from the gathered data and theoretical analysis, acknowledging trade-offs and limits.