At the beginning of their thesis, many students look for a scientific classification of the research. That sounds complicated at first, but after a lot of work it is actually not at all. I would like to present a model for this and also three scientific views. Method portfolio of business informatics Each of you will use different quantitative and qualitative methods to answer the research question. Quantitative research is the standardized and structured collection of data. So it represents real-world problems in a numerical representation. Qualitative research collects soft data that needs to be interpreted and therefore can be used dynamically for multiple contexts. Master theses often use both types. This is what is known as a mixed method approach. In a bachelor thesis, one of the two approaches is sufficient for me. Reading tip: More about both types of research There are also constructive and behavioral approaches. Constructive…

In spite of a dedicated literature analysis, it is often not easy to find suitable literature. For this reason I would like to give some pointers. This serves as an initial orientation and also shows at least the literature that I used more and more in my doctorate. The sources in bold are papers, which I particularly recommend. Reading tip: Find literature Digital transformation Auth, G., Meyer, P., & Porst, G. (2017). Recognition and use of technological innovations for the digital workplace of Deutsche Telekom. HMD Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik , 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1365/s40702-017-0365-7 Bley, K., & Leyh, C. (2016). Status Quo of the Digitization of German Industrial Companies – A Study of Selected Companies. In MKWI 2016 (pp. 1652-1664). Köffer, S., & Urbach, N. (2016). The digitization of knowledge work – recommendations for action from business informatics research. HMD Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik , 53 (1), 5-15. Urbach, N., & Ahlemann, F.…

Have you been searching for a few days and just can’t find any papers on the topic? In this text I would like to give tips for students who are currently unable to find any literature on their thesis. Incidentally, if you get the topic from a practice partner, then I recommend reading my other article. Reading tip: Thesis with practice partner “Help! I can’t find any literature! ” I often receive emails asking me the following: I am writing about topic X and cannot find any literature. Do you have any tips? In 99% of the cases I also send literature back. However, this is not to your advantage. The reason for this is that you have to state in your thesis: Why did you use this literature. An answer like: If Mr. Lindner sent me or came by chance at Google, your supervisor will probably not be very…

Many of you are writing your thesis in collaboration with a company. I also have my master’s thesis agile in the Waterfallworld written with a company. Here the topic should often be very practical and a problem for the company, but at the same time also very academic. The solution of a company-specific problem such as the introduction of a SAP in a medium-sized SME, however, is not a sufficient bachelor thesis in a strictly academic sense. By the way, if you don’t have a topic at all, please read on with my topic-finding article. Reading tip: Find topic “The subject is too practical or too theoretical!” So you are faced with the dilemma that the chair leans on the topic as too vague and the practice partner leans on the topic as too theoretical? For something like this, count on a coordination effort of 3 months. But it is…

You are about to graduate and it should now be a matter of writing a bachelor’s or master’s thesis. But you can’t think of a topic? You have been searching for days and there is simply no research gap or your research question is just too generic? In the following I can give you a rough guide. However, if you already have the topic and just want to narrow the question down, then I recommend another article. Reading tip: Narrow down the research question The tips are from my doctorate. For this reason these are quoted from it. Based on the wishes of my practice partners, I had to limit some topics and uncover other topics. That’s why I’m giving some literature tips. If you like a topic, the first step should be to develop a suitable research design. Reading tip: Find research design My other subject areas, which opened…