Summary Academic Competences Organization and
Strategy
Week 1
Knowledge clip 1: What is a master thesis / what is an academic
paper
Master Thesis Course
Student driven content.
Academic papers are huge thesis.
Academic papers are top core paper publishing (because they are published).
Peer review: Other researchers in the field are discussing your paper and you have to improve your
paper with their feedback.
During the master thesis the expectations are lower than academic papers. So read academic papers
and not master thesis.
Two different kind of published papers
Theory papers:
Empirical papers: Look at the empirical academic papers, because these test.
The five elements of an empirical academic paper (also the master thesis):
1. Introduction
- Why is the topic interesting
Discussing existing literature (and the potential gaps in the existing literature)
- Exact problem statement
- What kind of data and method is used
2. Theory
- In-depth overview of existing literature
- Goal to create the best possible research
- Not doing something that’s already done
- Builds up to what will be tested
3. Method
- Why this kind of data?
- Why this data origin?
- Why this method?
4. Results
- Actual empirical outcomes (result of the research)
- Tables and graphs
- Helicopter view (not just dropping all results, but craft a good story and use the things that
are important in the research)
5. Discussion and conclusions
- Answer to problem statement
- Reflection on unexpected results
- Implications and future research
1
,Look at academic papers and their structure, what makes them good. Use that in your master thesis.
Aim high.
2
,Differences between master thesis and academic paper
Academic paper Master thesis
Gives answer to the research question in the Do not explain the findings in the introduction
introduction (explain there findings)
Higher quality Lower quality than an academic paper
Knowledge clip 2: Course introduction
Academic competences: “The capacity to use specific combinations
of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in an academic context”
Preparing a master’s thesis requires academic competences:
- Critical thinking
- Collaboration and communication,
- Problem-solving
- Scientific reasoning
Knowledge clip 3: The outline of a research
proposal
The structure of a research proposal:
1. Chapter one: Introduction
- Background
- Problem indication
- Theoretical contributions
- Managerial implications
- Problem statement
- Conceptual model
- Research questions
2. Methodology
- Research nature
- Data collection
- Data analysis
References
Chapter 1: Introduction
3
, Research background
- Provides a broader context of your research,
either encompassing or leading to the research
topic.
Problem indication – arguably the most
important
- Outlines the problem to be researched
- Provides a syntheisis of existing literature by
indicating previous advancements/progress in the
field and gaps that warrant future investigation (For
example, what the literature has and has not done)
- Introduces the constructs/variables to be examined
in this research
- Explains the connection between the constructs
(Intended) Theoretical contributions
- Explain the significance of this research within the academic realm and its contributions to
the existing body of knowledge.
- Specific guidelines: Madakok et al. (2018)
(Intended) implications
- Highlight the relevance of your research to diverse practitioners, including policymakers,
managers, companies, society and so on.
Problem statement
- Represents the overarching question in the thesis
- Open question
Conceptual model
- Offers a visual representation of the problem statement (see BRT).
- What are the dependent, independent variables? What are the moderators, mediators (if
applicable)?
Research questions
- The problem statement should be broken down into smaller research questions that merit
individual investigation
- Master thesis has three to five research questions
- Theoretical questions: questions answered by literature
- Empirical questions: answered by the actual field data (collected from a specific empirical
context such as certain companies or industry)
Example:
Problem statement: To what intend do firms; characteristics of the board of directors influence
corporate social responsibility performance in Fortune 500 companies?
Conceptual model:
4
Strategy
Week 1
Knowledge clip 1: What is a master thesis / what is an academic
paper
Master Thesis Course
Student driven content.
Academic papers are huge thesis.
Academic papers are top core paper publishing (because they are published).
Peer review: Other researchers in the field are discussing your paper and you have to improve your
paper with their feedback.
During the master thesis the expectations are lower than academic papers. So read academic papers
and not master thesis.
Two different kind of published papers
Theory papers:
Empirical papers: Look at the empirical academic papers, because these test.
The five elements of an empirical academic paper (also the master thesis):
1. Introduction
- Why is the topic interesting
Discussing existing literature (and the potential gaps in the existing literature)
- Exact problem statement
- What kind of data and method is used
2. Theory
- In-depth overview of existing literature
- Goal to create the best possible research
- Not doing something that’s already done
- Builds up to what will be tested
3. Method
- Why this kind of data?
- Why this data origin?
- Why this method?
4. Results
- Actual empirical outcomes (result of the research)
- Tables and graphs
- Helicopter view (not just dropping all results, but craft a good story and use the things that
are important in the research)
5. Discussion and conclusions
- Answer to problem statement
- Reflection on unexpected results
- Implications and future research
1
,Look at academic papers and their structure, what makes them good. Use that in your master thesis.
Aim high.
2
,Differences between master thesis and academic paper
Academic paper Master thesis
Gives answer to the research question in the Do not explain the findings in the introduction
introduction (explain there findings)
Higher quality Lower quality than an academic paper
Knowledge clip 2: Course introduction
Academic competences: “The capacity to use specific combinations
of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in an academic context”
Preparing a master’s thesis requires academic competences:
- Critical thinking
- Collaboration and communication,
- Problem-solving
- Scientific reasoning
Knowledge clip 3: The outline of a research
proposal
The structure of a research proposal:
1. Chapter one: Introduction
- Background
- Problem indication
- Theoretical contributions
- Managerial implications
- Problem statement
- Conceptual model
- Research questions
2. Methodology
- Research nature
- Data collection
- Data analysis
References
Chapter 1: Introduction
3
, Research background
- Provides a broader context of your research,
either encompassing or leading to the research
topic.
Problem indication – arguably the most
important
- Outlines the problem to be researched
- Provides a syntheisis of existing literature by
indicating previous advancements/progress in the
field and gaps that warrant future investigation (For
example, what the literature has and has not done)
- Introduces the constructs/variables to be examined
in this research
- Explains the connection between the constructs
(Intended) Theoretical contributions
- Explain the significance of this research within the academic realm and its contributions to
the existing body of knowledge.
- Specific guidelines: Madakok et al. (2018)
(Intended) implications
- Highlight the relevance of your research to diverse practitioners, including policymakers,
managers, companies, society and so on.
Problem statement
- Represents the overarching question in the thesis
- Open question
Conceptual model
- Offers a visual representation of the problem statement (see BRT).
- What are the dependent, independent variables? What are the moderators, mediators (if
applicable)?
Research questions
- The problem statement should be broken down into smaller research questions that merit
individual investigation
- Master thesis has three to five research questions
- Theoretical questions: questions answered by literature
- Empirical questions: answered by the actual field data (collected from a specific empirical
context such as certain companies or industry)
Example:
Problem statement: To what intend do firms; characteristics of the board of directors influence
corporate social responsibility performance in Fortune 500 companies?
Conceptual model:
4
