The School of Business and Economics aims to ensure a good match between students and supervisors of Master theses. A good match requires students to be familiar with relevant theoretical frameworks and empirical methods. Students are therefore encouraged to plan ahead and complete appropriate courses.

Application process and time structure

To match students and supervisors, the School of Business and Economics runs a common mechanism for the Master thesis registration. Students who plan to write their Master thesis in the upcoming semester must fill out a survey and state their priorities concerning the chair they would like to be supervised by. The survey is conducted by the student dean’s office and usually runs in December for the following summer term and in June for the winter term.

If you want to write your Master thesis with us, please state Prof. Pull as your first preference and use the free-text field to briefly describe your research interests and to indicate whether you plan a quantitative or qualitative empirical approach (see below). 

Once the survey has been completed, students will be informed within a reasonable time which chair will supervise their Master thesis. If you have been chosen to write your Master thesis with us, the process of discussing the topic and the empirical approach will start no earlier than mid-April (if you write your thesis in the summer term) or mid-October (winter term) (see below). The exact dates will be communicated in due time. The official starting dates for your Master thesis are May 15th (summer term) or November 15th (winter term).

Types of Master theses we supervise

Starting from the winter term 26/27, we will exclusively supervise empirical Master theses (quantitative or qualitative). Master theses that are solely based on literature and that do not involve own data analysis, will no longer be supervised. Please also note that, starting with the winter term 26/27, all Master theses that are supervised by us will have to be written in English.

Quantitative analyses may be based on existing, freely available data sets (e.g., the German Socio-Economic Panel), on data that is available via WiWi-IT (e.g., Refinitiv Eikon) or on data that is provided to you by a firm – in case you write your Master thesis in cooperation with a company. You may also consider collecting own data (e.g., via a small survey or experiment). However, you need to consider that collecting own data requires excellent forward planning and strict time management. 

If you want to work with qualitative data, you will typically have to collect your own data via conducting expert interviews. Conducting and analyzing interviews is particularly suitable for addressing “how” and “why” questions, as interviews enable an in-depth exploration of participants’ experiences and perceptions. It is also possible to conduct qualitative research in cooperation with a company, which may provide access to relevant interview partners. In all cases, excellent forward planning and strict time management are required. 

Research colloquium

Students writing their Master thesis with us are required to participate in the research colloquium. The colloquium consists of two parts: Part I “Methods” takes place in mid-April (summer term) and mid-October (winter term). Here students learn about the different empirical approaches that may be used in a Master thesis supervised by the chair and subsequently decide which one they want to use in their own Master thesis. Part II “Presentations” takes place in mid-July (summer term) and mid-January (winter term). Here, students present the current state of their thesis and get feedback from their fellow students and representatives of the chair.