“Getting started: selection of a topic, defending proposal”

Felipe CsaszarStrategy Department

Stephen M. Ross School of BusinessUniversity of Michigan

BPS Managing Your Dissertation WorkshopAugust 13, 2011

Disclaimer

• N = 1 sample– What happened to me– What I have heard form others– What I theorize– … Think of this as a point to start a conversation

Selecting a topic

Defending the proposal

Choosing a thesis topic is important

• You’ll be working on this for years

• Will affect your identity– People will associate you with this topic

• People will make decisions about you based on your topic

Some fit considerations

• How much you like the topic– Enthusiasm

• How much the world likes your topic– Tricky. Not necessarily today, but

tomorrow– Solving the trickiness: how it

relates to the big, important, unanswered questions in the field

• How much value you can add to the topic– Match with experience, skills,

methods

Topic

World Methods

You

Likes

Love

Understood

Master

Some positioning considerations:Your thesis and the knowledge frontier

• Are you in the frontier?– Dominated positions

don’t score points

• Can you move the frontier?

• Can you achieve both dimensions at the same time?

Leading edge method

Rel

evan

ce o

f qu

estio

n

• A PhD is about creating knowledge• If you are not in the frontier you’ll get no “customers”

Some “flexibility vs. commitment” considerations

• Solving the fit and positioning problems is difficult– Take your time (but not too much)– Use your time:

• Try different things, talk to different people, read broadly, take many courses, engage in deep conversations with you and others

Cost of not exploring enough(omission error)

Cost not having enough time to develop a state-of-the-art project

(commission error)

Year 1 Year 4/5Time

Co

st

Optimal time

Selecting a topic

Defending the proposal

What’s the goal of“defending the proposal”

• Disclaimer:– At Wharton this happens quite late, many times when

one is already in the job market

• Original goal:– Quality control: another screening method, for the

PhD program to make sure you are doing something sensible

• Current goal:– You choose it– My proposal: it is all about feedback

Maximizing feedback during the“proposal defense process”

Choose members that know about

your subject

Keep them updated

Tell them where they can help

Prepare the defense

10’

1’

30’

1:30’

Book

Beta test (with many subjects) +

Improve

Give committee members time to

read

Meet with committee members

Defend the proposal

Gather their feedback

Improve