3.1 Thesis Topic Selection
Defining the Problem Area
The general thesis topic is required to be selected during the beginning of the first semester of the first year. The thesis topic, does not, however, determine the hypotheses, methodology or general approach taken by the student to understand the problem (e.g. experimental, quasi-experimental, meta-analytic methods). It would be premature for any student to attempt to define a hypothesis in the first year when their understanding of the topic area is limited and not justified by a thorough literature review. Hypotheses are typically developed after the first year of study when the student has a better grasp of the problem to be solved (see the Wampold article in Section 10 References for a guide on hypothesis development).
Tips for finding a Topic
Students are often unnecessarily delayed in choosing an area to study which could impact the success of the thesis. In choosing a topic students should keep a few points in mind:
It certainly is helpful if you are passionate about the topic. When a person is passionate about a topic they naturally want to read about and understand the area under study. They often go to bed thinking about the topic and will wake up excited and thinking about what they will do next in relation to their project. It can be a very exciting time because you’re working on something you love and have fun doing.
Reflect on your interests. It’s okay if you are not particularly passionate about any specific area of study. Passion often starts by first examining an area of interest with some degree of focus, commitment, and consistency. If you have areas of interest then the next step is to simply select one area, commit to it, and start reading and writing. Passion often comes after we put the work in.
Select one interest. Don’t flip-flop. The problem is that we all have multiple interests. For example, you might really like schizophrenia but at the same time you’re really interested in forensic psychology and the prison system. One semester you might want to study psychosis and the next semester you might become more interested in the prison system. Students can “flip flop” for a variety of reasons which can have two unfortunate consequences. First, you never get anything done. When you don’t get anything done then it’s hard to feel good about yourself and you also make no progress. Second, continued indecisiveness could implicitly instill in the student a sense that they should always feel comfortable with their topic, that work on the thesis should always be easy and interesting, or that they might be “missing out” by not researching some other area of interest. In reality, none of these are true. One of the greatest challenges of doing research is developing the ability to consistently make small steps on a project even when the feeling is not there or other demands are present and taking up our time. It is likely that your lifestyle and habits will change when you are dedicated to research. You will simply be working more (much, much, more) and have less leisure time.
The thesis will not define you. Students should understand that the topic they select to study will not define their career. In this sense, the thesis topic itself is not really that important. What is more important is that students pick a topic so they can learn how to do competent research. You can’t learn how to do competent research if you don’t have a focused topic. In sum, it would be nice if you are passionate or, at minimum, interested in the topic but it simply is not necessary in order to complete a thesis and learn how to conduct good research.
Find an article that excites you. One way to find a topic is to choose an area of interest and read as many research articles in the subject that you can find. In doing so, it will be easiest for your to restrict your reading to the introduction and discussion sections only. Diving into the method and results sections can sometimes be overwhelming and demoralizing. Once you find an article that excites you then can consider the method and results sections. A second important point here is that good science should include replication. An excellent thesis would be a proposed replication of the study that was found to be interesting. The model for the thesis (e.g., lit. reviewed, method, data analysis) can be the published paper. In the past, students in the MSCP program have taken this approach with considerable success and have even had the authors on those papers act as committee members.
Due: October 1st, first year.