Microeconomics · Market Studies
Study the cost of living for a student in your city
Build a student price index from a basket of 20 items and compare two areas or two years.
- DifficultyEasy
- Estimated time1–2 weeks
- Budget₹0
- ClassClass 10 to college
- TeamSolo or up to 3
- You needNo equipment
Prerequisites: None beyond your class work
Original · by TechnifyedData AnalysisSurveyBeginner friendlyFree to doNo equipmentResearch oriented
Overview
Build a student price index from a basket of 20 items and compare two areas or two years.
Skills you will use
Safety and ethics
- This project involves people. Explain what you are doing and get their consent (a parent's or teacher's for children), let anyone stop at any time, collect only what you need, and remove names before you share results.
Materials and tools
- A list of 20 items students buy
- Prices from shops in two areas
Tools and software
Step-by-step roadmap
Start
You will finish with: a student cost-of-living index for two areas.
- 1
Prerequisites
Nothing special to know first. Then collect the 2 items in the materials list.
- 2
Learn
Read up on market studies: budget, cost of living, index. Your textbook chapter and one short video are enough.
- 3
Plan
Write the research question, who or what you will study, how many, and the exact questions or measures.
- 4
Build
- Survey 20 students on what they spend on.
- Build a basket with weights.
- Price the basket in two areas.
- Calculate the index for each.
- Explain the biggest differences.
- 5
Test
Check a sample of your data by hand, and ask whether another explanation fits your findings equally well.
- 6
Document
Keep the raw responses or data safe, anonymise names, and build the tables and charts. Report structure
- 7
Present
State the question, the method in one line, the two or three main findings and their limits. Presentation structure
- 8
Publish
Share a short paper or poster; offer a summary to the people who took part.
Expected outcome
A student cost-of-living index for two areas.
Other versions of this project
Advanced version
Re-price after six months and calculate student inflation.
Research mode
Text marked "You write this" is a prompt for your own work; everything else is specific to this project.
- Research question
- You write thisOne question you can answer with data, narrow enough to finish in the time you have.
- Hypothesis
- You write thisWhat you expect to find, and why.
- Variables
- You write thisWhat you change or compare, what you measure, and what you hold constant.
- Methodology
- You write thisDescribe the method in enough detail that someone else could repeat it: sample, tools, procedure.
- Data collection
- You write thisSay what you will record, how many times, and how you will keep the records safe.
- Analysis
- You write thisChoose the table, chart or test that answers the question; report averages with their spread.
- Limitations
- You write thisList what could have affected the result: small sample, instrument limits, things you could not control.
Literature review
Find five to eight sources (your textbook, review articles, reports) and note what each says about your question. Group them by idea, not one after another, and end with what is still not known.
References
List every source you used in one style throughout (author, year, title, where it was published, link and the date you opened it).
Working as a team
Solo or up to 3. Suggested roles:
Report and presentation
Report structure
- Title
- Abstract
- Introduction and research question
- Review of what is already known
- Method: sample, tools, procedure
- Findings (tables and charts)
- Discussion
- Limitations
- Conclusion and suggestions
- References
- Annexure: questionnaire or data
Presentation structure
- Research question
- Why it matters
- Method and sample
- Finding 1
- Finding 2
- Finding 3
- What it means
- Limitations
- Conclusion
Viva questions
Prepare your own answers to these before you present.
- What is the aim of your project, in one sentence?
- What is the principle behind it?
- Why did you choose these materials or tools?
- What result did you get, and was it what you expected?
- What went wrong and how did you fix it?
- How could this be improved or used in real life?
Resources
Decision making with spreadsheetIIT Roorkee · Free course course
33 Spreadsheet Projects Course for Beginners – Excel and Google SheetsfreeCodeCamp · Free video course
Analyzing Spreadsheet Data with PythonIBM · Free course courseLibreOfficelibreoffice.orgMoSPI: India's official statisticsmospi.gov.inSource and attribution
Original
Written by Technifyed. Free to use for your own school or college project; write the report in your own words. Added 1 Oct 2026.
Similar projects
More Microeconomics projects
Microeconomics · Market Studies
Study the economics of a festival
Compare prices and sales of five goods before, during and after a festival.
Microeconomics + Marketing
Estimate the size of a local market
Estimate how much your town spends on tuition, tea or haircuts each year in two different ways.
Microeconomics · Market Structures
Compare market structures in your town
Find a local example of each market structure and justify it with evidence on sellers, prices and entry.
Microeconomics + Media and Journalism
Analyse the economics of streaming versus cinema
Survey how people choose between streaming and cinema and explain it with price, substitutes and bundling.
Same tools
Psychology + Public Health and Epidemiology
Study how sleep relates to mood and concentration
Survey classmates anonymously on sleep hours, mood and focus and look for a relationship.
Public Health and Epidemiology · Health Surveys
Survey the health habits of your class
Collect anonymous data on sleep, breakfast, exercise, water and screen time and report the patterns.
Teaching and Learning · Classroom Research
Study how homework time relates to marks
Survey anonymous homework hours and grade bands and see whether more time means better marks.
Environmental Science · Waste Management
Audit your school's waste for a week
Sort and weigh one week of school waste by type and propose how to cut the largest share.
Two-subject alternatives
Marketing + Microeconomics
Test how price affects demand at a school stall
Sell the same snack at three prices on three days and plot the demand curve.
Same difficulty and budget
Development and Applied Economics + Sociology
Study the digital divide in your community
Survey access to devices and the internet among students from different backgrounds.
Microeconomics · Demand and Supply
Track vegetable prices and explain why they change
Record the prices of five vegetables twice a week for a month and explain each rise and fall.
Microeconomics · Demand and Supply
Measure the opportunity cost of students' time
Survey how students choose between study, sport, screens and sleep, and what they give up.
Macroeconomics · International Economics
Model trade between two countries with a classroom game
Give teams different resources, let them produce and trade, and show the gains from specialisation.