The authors present details of a research-based course in development economics taught at a private liberal arts college. There were three key elements in this class: teaching of applied econometrics, group presentations reviewing published and working papers in development economics, and using concepts taught in class to write an original research paper. The project required using econometric analyses on an existing data set that was available online to answer a question in development economics. The authors illustrate how the three elements of the class complemented each other and provide a case study as an example.