craft-intro.md

(craft-intro)=

Introduction

There are many tasks involved in exploration, research, and analysis and not all of them involve coding. However, even though this book is called Coding for Economists, there are some code-related tasks (such as writing) that are so important to the success of exploration, research, and analysis that they'll be covered in this section.

If you want a weak rationale (and it is weak), then coding involves assembling a set of instructions in order to produce the effect you desire; when communicating factual information, there are tips and instructions that you can follow that will also help you achieve the outcome you'd like to. The aim here is to bring down the barriers to good, clear, and effective work by sharing tips.

So the rest of this section covers some of the craft of exploration, research, and analysis, especially when it interfaces closely with coding—but sometimes when it's just generally important for your work.