Writing a discussion for a thesis or master’s thesis is much easier than it initially looks. Basically, the discussion is based on the comparison of a theoretical and an empirical part.
The theoretical part is mostly based on a literature or source analysis, the empirical or practical part on a qualitative (e.g., 5 to 10 expert interviews) or a quantitative statistical analysis (e.g., online questionnaire to a representative sample of the population).
How do I write the discussion for my Master’s thesis?
In order to write a good discussion, one should already pay attention to a clear structure in the construction of the diploma thesis or master’s thesis; the structure of theory and empiricism is best equal. This begins with the theoretical part, which is ideally logically subdivided into subchapters. For each subchapter it is best to write a short interim conclusion. These chapters and subchapters then each form 1 question for the empiric, e.g. does that mean
- Subchapter “Market Positioning for Online Startups”
- and the question e.g. in the guide interview (most common form)
- “How can the market position for online startups be made?”
- This in turn results in the evaluation category for the interviews “Possibilities of Market Positioning for Online Startups”
Write discussion – table
The following table summarizes the scheme for discussion.
The same applies to the other chapters or subchapters. Now we compare for each category the result of the theoretical chapters with the corresponding empirical results, the following questions are answered:
- How far do the theoretical and empirical findings coincide?
- Where are there differences between theoretical and empirical findings?
- What could be the cause of these deviations?
- Example sentence of a discussion
- A typical sentence in a discussion of a result category is, for example:
“The findings of the theory show that for the successful market positioning of online startups especially the factors X, Y and Z are significant. The interviews with the experts showed that they underscore the importance of X and Y, but two of the eight respondents state that Z has special market conditions. These conditions are … “
Thus, systematically for e.g. Category 1 to 15. Ultimately, every statement in the discussion must be comprehensible, which is well ensured with this structure. For the structure of the entire structure also helps a sample work, here you will find my sample thesis for download.
Tips and tricks for writing a discussion
A practical tip for discussing writing is also to first use your own document:
- This then best on the left next to the master thesis or thesis order on the screen
- Copy the chapter structure from the bibliography to the new document
- For each chapter or subchapter from the theory formulate the relevant findings for the research question (scroll to the right place in the right document)
- For each chapter or subchapter, summarize the associated result of the empirical analysis
- Compare theory and empiricism per category to agreement and deviations
- Copy the text from the new document into the master thesis.
- Those who have trouble writing an automated directory beyond the discussion will find, for example, Help with Word support.
