Bachelor's and Master's Programme

The first step before writing a Bachelor's or Master's thesis is to write a "Research Proposal" in which the research project behind the thesis is described on the basis of 4 points (headings in the proposal):

1. problem statement: explanation of the problem to be solved using scientific methods from the literature, with designation of the research question.

Examples:

  • Which investment strategy (buy and hold or constant proportion portfolio insurance) is preferred by risk-averse investors?
  • How and why are strategic risks defined, measured and managed by ATX companies?
  • How can business planning and control systems be effectively mapped into information systems and implemented in modern information technologies?

2. expected result: outline of the solution to the problem

Examples:

  • The economically better strategy is determined based on the expected benefit of the returns resulting from the strategies
  • The industry-specific features and best practice approaches are derived from the reasons behind the various approaches
  • The effectiveness of the design and implementation is achieved through an economically sound management framework, with the technical requirements of the management being mapped into a semantic information system and then implemented in a process-based web technology

3. Research method used: Explanation of the research method used to solve the problem

Examples:

  • Numerical simulation study to analyze the differential success of Buy and Hold and Constant Proportion Portfolio Insurance investment strategies
  • Cross case study research, whereby the various approaches and justifications are learned in the form of interviews
  • Enterprise Architecture Framework (e.g. Zachman Framework) for the simultaneous inclusion of the perspective of the user, the designer and the programmer

4. State-of-the-art references from specialist literature: Naming of specialist literature in which the same or similar problems are solved and the same or similar research methods are used

Examples:

  • Fischer Black, André F. Perold: Theory of constant proportion portfolio insurance. In: Journal of economic dynamics & control. 16, No. 3/4, 1992
  • Robert K. Yin: Case Study Research: Design and Methods, SAGE Publications, 2003
  • Alan R. Hevner, Salvatore T. March, Jinsoo Park and Sudha Ram: Design Science in Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 1 (Mar., 2004), pp. 75-105