Assessment of Master Thesis – Opponent
Study programme:Quantitative Methods in Economics Field of study:Official Statistics
Academic year:2020/2021
Master Thesis Topic:Modeling Household Energy Use in the Czech Republic Author’s name:Danica Cortez, BA
Ac. Consultant’s Name:doc. Ing. Jaroslav Sixta, Ph.D.
Opponent:Ing. Petr Musil, Ph.D.
Criterion Mark
(1–4)
1. Clarity and comprehensibility of the thesis topic and aims 1
2. The extent and relevance of the description of the current state of knowledge 1
3. The complexity of the thesis topic 1
4. Method adequeteness for solving the given issue, correctness of the choice and use 2
5. The extent, quality and precision of the result description 1
6. Relevance and correctness of the result discussion 2
7. Factual contribution of the thesis result 2
8. Information source relevance and citation correctness 2
9. Logical structure and cohesion among individual parts 1
10. Grammar, linguistic style, terminology and overall arrangement 1
Comments and Questions:
The thesis is aimed at energy statistics that has become important as decarbonizing of the economy has been just started. It is obvious that demanding for detailed data will be increasing.
The thesis is quite extensive with a comprehensive description of methodology and data sources used.
Nevertheless, I would recommend to study and add to the reference list more scientific papers.
I appreciate that the results are illustrated graphically, however some charts (e.g. 5-22) are not correct since the explanatory variable (NUTS 3 region) is a nominal variable. A bar graph should be used instead of a line chart.
As concerns the analysis I appreciate that the author made explanatory analysis of the data sets used and checked if all assumptions are held. On the other hand, I am not about the opinion that forecasts can be used in practice as point forecasts are the same for the whole period (2020-2029). It means that planned and ongoing decarbonizing activities are not reflected in the model.
Q: What are your recommendation from a user perspective for the next ENERGO survey in the Czech Republic?
Conclusion: The Master Thesis is recommended for the defence.
Suggested Grade: 1
Date: 13/01/2021 Ing. Petr Musil, Ph.D.
Opponent
