Hello. My name is Oliver and this is the 2nd blog I am writing as DBA student from Bradford University, School of Management.
My Doctor of Business Administration: Ready for "Take off"
By now I have attended all of the eight modules and I completed the assignments for the first four modules successfully. Those first modules were important to become confident with research methods and to experience pitfalls of designing and conducting studies in social science research. Every time I wrote the discussion and reflection section at the end of the module assignments, I had a lot to tell about what I should have done differently – even though I felt I was pretty good prepared during the planning and implantation of my research work for the specific assignment. Well, "hindsight is easier than foresight" – I remember my parents were telling me already when I was a kid. You can’t go back to your interviewee and recoup information missed to ask in order to fix your survey. Luckily the individual modules helped me to improve.
Doing the analysis
But not just the planning and implementation of social research was a learning process for me, also doing the analysis. The number of data to process can be overwhelming, especially in qualitative social research and for those who are unexperienced. Applying Grounded Theory is a real endeavor. I can imagine now why some PhD students seem to take forever to finish their thesis in social sciences. I am so glad that Icould test my acquired skills in an early phase - before I start with my actual research.
Finding a research topic...
Speaking about research topic, I am currently in the process of pining down a topic for my DBA thesis. I am taking a little longer than my classmates with this process (all my classmates met their supervisor already). I know it is currently delaying my study a bit, but the extra time spent now will help me later I am sure. I might be a little bit too worried about the topic, but from my past experience (when I did a PhD thesis in my earlier career as engineer), I know how important the topic could be. Considering the fact that I am going to spend my rare spare time with something over the next three or four years it should be important and not just ok. Not only to sacrifice the time I couldn’t spent with my kids and wife while being busy writing the thesis, but also to have created a good piece of knowledge which is appreciable and pushes my business career.
... means finding a Professor
Back in the days when I was looking for a professor who is willing to give me a PhD thesis, I hoped it is a rather easy topic. Now, with the DBA it is completely different. I am not looking for a professor who gives me a research topic that fits my interest and that I can work on. Within the DBA program, I am writing a proposal for a research topic that I (!!) want to work on and the DBA program director identifies the proper expert professor(s) in this field and supports me so I can win one as supervisor. This way I can work on a topic that is mine and I can use the previous knowledge I gathered as expert in my specific field of interest (with medical devices).
Oliver Voigt
