Hello, am Fomenky, an MSc student in Agricultural Economics at the University of Buea, Cameroon. Am working on the "economics of pig meat production: An application of translog profit function to assess supply and farmers' management strategy". I will like to know if profit efficiency should be included in my work, and what are my dependent and independent variables. I will really appreciate the help, thanks.

Only you can answer that. Generally, you include work if it adds to your thesis without it becoming a distraction. So that you have as much evidence as possible to defend your idea and draw conclusions from.

Ask your supervisor what you independent and dependent variables are!

I agree with rewt. But also, think about your project. What PROBLEM do you think it is trying to address? What is your research question? Normally when talking about independent variables vs dependent variables, we are talking about one thing (the independent variable) having an effect on another (the dependent variable). But these are not just picked at random or because they sound relevant. It all depends on the research question.

I am guessing that this is not a project that you came up with yourself and so you are struggling to get a grasp of what it is about? It might help to try and turn your understanding of the project into a question - literally - just as a question scribbled down on a piece of paper. Then underline key words (they might be things like "translog profit function" and "supply and management strategy in farming"). Then do some reading in these areas and get a better understanding. If I were you I would do something like this so that I had a grasp of what the project was about. Then I would go see the supervisor and discuss the project more.

Thanks rewt and tudor, i was actually given the topic by my supervisor, and i needed some level of understanding before going to meet him. But i think i have some degree of understanding of the topic now. After going through some literature, i think i'll be looking at the effect of famers' management strategy on their supply, with the help of a translog profit function. At least that's the basic idea i have for now.

Sounds good! All the best for your meeting.