General provisions

The course may be a part of Master's Programme in Business and Management, Master's Programme in Accounting and Financial Management, Master's Programme in Management, Communication and IT and in externally funded Master Programmes (EEA). The course syllabus was approved by the board of the Department of Business Studies on delegation from the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university. Also required is 90 credits in Business Studies. Proficiency in English.

For students within Master Programme in Business and Management, Master Programme in Accounting and Financial Management, Master Programme in Management, Communication and IT and externally funded Master's programmes (EEA) the following also applies: To be eligible students are required to have participated in all previous courses within the programme and have obtained at least 7.5 credits within the programme.

Learning outcomes

After completion of the course, the student is expected to have

• developed the capacity to understand and discuss different methodological and scientific starting points
• developed the insight in various approaches to research design, data collection and data analysis
• increased skills in analysis and discussion of different empirical and theoretical phenomena
• developed experience in identifying research problems and in analysing these problems based on various theoretical and methodological perspectives
• developed the capacity to carry out scientific research/investigations
• developed the skills in communicating the results of research/investigations in speech and writing
• developed the insight in the consequences of the choices one makes when formulating research question, and collecting and analysing data

Content

Within the framework of the thesis, you will explore different ways of finding information, defining the scope of a project and doing research, as well as different ways of communicating the results. The thesis includes defining a problem, discussing method and theoretical approach, collecting information and data, presenting your thesis in speech and writing, as well as rewriting your thesis.

Instruction

The course consists mainly of independent work with the thesis (done in pairs). Instruction also consists of compulsory seminars and tutoring, and occasional lectures. The course is taught in English.

Assessment

The student will get one single grade, equivalent to 15 credits.

The course is examined primarily by assessing the final version of the thesis and seminar activities in the form of presentation and defence of the thesis, critically scrutinizing and commenting on the work of other participants, and active participation in discussions. Grading criteria are presented in the study guide that applies to the course section. The following grades will be used: VG (pass with distinction), G (pass) and U (fail). The right to supervision ends at the final seminar.

For students who have not received a passing grade for the course, there is the opportunity to be examined by handing in a revised version of the thesis, and conduct seminar activities, without re-registration during subsequent course sections.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the university's disability coordinator.

Uppsala University does not accept cheating and plagiarism. Suspected incidents of cheating or plagiarism are reported to the Vice-Chancellor, which may issue a formal warning to the student or suspend the student from studies for a certain period.

NOTE: Only completed courses can count toward a degree.

Other directives

The course overlaps Master's Thesis (Contract Education) 8FE620 and Master's Thesis 2FE972.