Prof Harm Barkema NAB 4.24

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This course is not available as an outside option.

The dissertation (in the form of a Capstone) gives an opportunity to apply, integrate, and deepen the knowledge, insights, and skills that the students have learned in the master's programme, in relation to a real-world issue (consulting project or designing a new social enterprise) or a research topic, consistent with the core philosophy of the master's programme. More specifically, students will be able to choose between:

1) An individual consulting project. In the projects students apply and integrate what they learned in the previous courses in terms of theory, evidence, methodologies, and tools, as well as individually research new ones from the relevant academic literature. These insights are related to an external consulting project, and combined with data collection (tapping into the acquired methodological knowledge, and deepened further during the thesis project, leading to an evidence-based analysis and recommendations. A major criteria for evaluation will be the way theory/research from academic journals as taught in the program and independently sourced as part of the project, will be reflected in the analysis and thesis report.

2)  An individual design of a new social enterprise. In the design students apply and integrate what they have learned in previous courses in terms of theory, evidence, methodologies, and tools, as well as individually research new ones from the relevant academic and design literatures. These insights are related to a real world problem, in terms of understanding the social problem, and combined with data collection (tapping into the acquired methodological knowledge, and deepened further during the design project, leading to an evidence-based design of a social enterprise). A major criterion for evaluation will be the way the theory/research from academic journals and design methodologies as taught in the program and independently sourced as part of the project, will be reflected in the design and thesis report.

3) An empirical research project (on the approval of the Programme Director). The empirical research project is the third way thesis students can relate academic research to a real world issue in their thesis project. IN the research project students apply and integrate what they have learned in previous courses in terms of theory, evidence, methodologies, and tools and, more than in the previous options perhaps, individually research new ones from the relevant academic literature, in an attempt to develop a novel theoretical contribution to understanding empirical phenomena in the domain of social innovation and enterprise. The theoretical insights are related to a real world problem/issue (in the domain of social innovation and enterprise) and combined with data collection (tapping into the methodological knowledge acquired during the course, and deepened further during the research project), leading to a qualitative or quantitative research project. A major criterion for evaluation will be the way the theory/research from academic literature taught in the program, and  especially, sourced independently, are reflected in the research project and report.

2 hours of lectures in the MT. 2 hours of lectures in the LT.

Projects will be guided by a pool of 6-10 dedicated supervisors for these dissertations.

Students will be expected to produce 1 piece of coursework in the LT.

Each student will be required present an outline of the subject of his/her dissertation to their supervisor for ongoing review and development.

An excellent guide to the stages of doing a dissertation is given by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, ; Joseph M. Williams, The Craft of Research (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing & Publishing). 2nd Edition. 1995, 2003 Series: (CGWEP) Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing.

Partington, D. (2002) Essential Skills for Management Research. London. Sage Publications.

Other readings will be provided during lectures and by dissertation supervisors subject to the nature of the project chosen.

Dissertation (100%, 6000 words) in August.