Are you starting your thesis soon and are you looking for a topic right now? Are you also currently planning to develop a framework similar to the Nobel Prize and to agilize the whole of Germany or to re-prove major theories? That’s great, but also a lot of effort.
You are a young researcher! Start with small steps!
You always have to keep in mind that this is your first (bachelor thesis) or second (master thesis) real research work. If I used a research method in my doctorate, I usually first attended a 3-day seminar and learned it properly. So you first have to learn a lot in the empirical and research theory basics. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What is a structured literature analysis according to Mayring?
- How does this differ from Webster and Watson?
- How do I perform a correlation analysis and what is the difference to regression analysis?
- How can I do qualitative interviews quantitatively evaluate?
- What are the criteria for the quality of empirical data?
If you can answer less than 4 of them, then you are still missing important basics. But this is no problem: So start in small steps.
Goal 1: Get the Graduation!
The primary goal that you should achieve is how to work through a topic in a meaningful and methodical manner. The topic is actually completely irrelevant. At the end it is graded how you proceeded. So you are looking for a simple topic such as agility in companies, an exception to digitization or the potential of big data or cloud computing. Specifically: At the end you should learn to carry out a literature analysis and interviews or surveys properly and to use them to approach a complex topic in a meaningful way.
Believe me: in the end, you will have enough work to do, even with a supposedly simple topic!
Reading tip: Find topic
Goal 2: Get the employment contract!
Another goal in addition to the conclusion can be that you want to get an employment contract through the participation of a practice partner. The practice partner usually gives you a rather complex topic, where you can hardly find any literature due to its practical relevance. Example: Agile project management, agility in HR, agility in production …
If the company pays and employs you for it, it can be worth it. The extra effort is worth it. If you don’t want to work for the company anyway, or the company is guaranteed to hire you, don’t do it. You have to work 100% more than normal work.
My experience: It is worthwhile to accept the additional effort, as there is often an employment contract with better conditions!
Reading tip: Find a topic with a practice partner
Conclusion: learn to proceed methodically!
The primary goal is that you should learn how to work through a topic in a meaningful and methodical manner. So if you are not necessarily working towards an employment contract, then I recommend starting with a small step. You can still change the world after the master.
[student] [fotolia]
