Conducting Research in Financial Planning

Abstract

Financial planning is an emerging profession supported by academic research that explores new planning techniques and understands household financial behaviors. This chapter provides an introduction for scholars who are new to the broad field of financial planning research. We begin by describing the differences between normative and positive research, provide a brief overview of main topic areas and examples of financial planning research, and conclude with an example of a positive research analysis that incorporates behavioral and neoclassical economic theories.