project based dissertation

Dissertation Structure & Layout 101: How to structure your dissertation, thesis or research project.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Reviewed By: David Phair (PhD) | July 2019

So, you’ve got a decent understanding of what a dissertation is , you’ve chosen your topic and hopefully you’ve received approval for your research proposal . Awesome! Now its time to start the actual dissertation or thesis writing journey.

To craft a high-quality document, the very first thing you need to understand is dissertation structure . In this post, we’ll walk you through the generic dissertation structure and layout, step by step. We’ll start with the big picture, and then zoom into each chapter to briefly discuss the core contents. If you’re just starting out on your research journey, you should start with this post, which covers the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis .

*The Caveat *

In this post, we’ll be discussing a traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout, which is generally used for social science research across universities, whether in the US, UK, Europe or Australia. However, some universities may have small variations on this structure (extra chapters, merged chapters, slightly different ordering, etc).

So, always check with your university if they have a prescribed structure or layout that they expect you to work with. If not, it’s safe to assume the structure we’ll discuss here is suitable. And even if they do have a prescribed structure, you’ll still get value from this post as we’ll explain the core contents of each section.  

Overview: S tructuring a dissertation or thesis

• Acknowledgements page
• Abstract (or executive summary)
• Table of contents , list of figures and tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature review
• Chapter 3: Methodology
• Chapter 4: Results
• Chapter 5: Discussion
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Reference list

As I mentioned, some universities will have slight variations on this structure. For example, they want an additional “personal reflection chapter”, or they might prefer the results and discussion chapter to be merged into one. Regardless, the overarching flow will always be the same, as this flow reflects the research process , which we discussed here – i.e.:

• The introduction chapter presents the core research question and aims .
• The literature review chapter assesses what the current research says about this question.
• The methodology, results and discussion chapters go about undertaking new research about this question.
• The conclusion chapter (attempts to) answer the core research question .

In other words, the dissertation structure and layout reflect the research process of asking a well-defined question(s), investigating, and then answering the question – see below.

To restate that – the structure and layout of a dissertation reflect the flow of the overall research process . This is essential to understand, as each chapter will make a lot more sense if you “get” this concept. If you’re not familiar with the research process, read this post before going further.

Right. Now that we’ve covered the big picture, let’s dive a little deeper into the details of each section and chapter. Oh and by the way, you can also grab our free dissertation/thesis template here to help speed things up.

The title page of your dissertation is the very first impression the marker will get of your work, so it pays to invest some time thinking about your title. But what makes for a good title? A strong title needs to be 3 things:

• Succinct (not overly lengthy or verbose)
• Specific (not vague or ambiguous)
• Representative of the research you’re undertaking (clearly linked to your research questions)

Typically, a good title includes mention of the following:

• The broader area of the research (i.e. the overarching topic)
• The specific focus of your research (i.e. your specific context)
• Indication of research design (e.g. quantitative , qualitative , or  mixed methods ).

For example:

A quantitative investigation [research design] into the antecedents of organisational trust [broader area] in the UK retail forex trading market [specific context/area of focus].

Again, some universities may have specific requirements regarding the format and structure of the title, so it’s worth double-checking expectations with your institution (if there’s no mention in the brief or study material).

Acknowledgements

This page provides you with an opportunity to say thank you to those who helped you along your research journey. Generally, it’s optional (and won’t count towards your marks), but it is academic best practice to include this.

So, who do you say thanks to? Well, there’s no prescribed requirements, but it’s common to mention the following people:

• Your dissertation supervisor or committee.
• Any professors, lecturers or academics that helped you understand the topic or methodologies.
• Any tutors, mentors or advisors.
• Your family and friends, especially spouse (for adult learners studying part-time).

There’s no need for lengthy rambling. Just state who you’re thankful to and for what (e.g. thank you to my supervisor, John Doe, for his endless patience and attentiveness) – be sincere. In terms of length, you should keep this to a page or less.

Abstract or executive summary

The dissertation abstract (or executive summary for some degrees) serves to provide the first-time reader (and marker or moderator) with a big-picture view of your research project. It should give them an understanding of the key insights and findings from the research, without them needing to read the rest of the report – in other words, it should be able to stand alone .

For it to stand alone, your abstract should cover the following key points (at a minimum):

• Your research questions and aims – what key question(s) did your research aim to answer?
• Your methodology – how did you go about investigating the topic and finding answers to your research question(s)?
• Your findings – following your own research, what did do you discover?
• Your conclusions – based on your findings, what conclusions did you draw? What answers did you find to your research question(s)?

So, in much the same way the dissertation structure mimics the research process, your abstract or executive summary should reflect the research process, from the initial stage of asking the original question to the final stage of answering that question.

In practical terms, it’s a good idea to write this section up last , once all your core chapters are complete. Otherwise, you’ll end up writing and rewriting this section multiple times (just wasting time). For a step by step guide on how to write a strong executive summary, check out this post .

Need a helping hand?

Table of contents

This section is straightforward. You’ll typically present your table of contents (TOC) first, followed by the two lists – figures and tables. I recommend that you use Microsoft Word’s automatic table of contents generator to generate your TOC. If you’re not familiar with this functionality, the video below explains it simply:

If you find that your table of contents is overly lengthy, consider removing one level of depth. Oftentimes, this can be done without detracting from the usefulness of the TOC.

Right, now that the “admin” sections are out of the way, its time to move on to your core chapters. These chapters are the heart of your dissertation and are where you’ll earn the marks. The first chapter is the introduction chapter – as you would expect, this is the time to introduce your research…

It’s important to understand that even though you’ve provided an overview of your research in your abstract, your introduction needs to be written as if the reader has not read that (remember, the abstract is essentially a standalone document). So, your introduction chapter needs to start from the very beginning, and should address the following questions:

• What will you be investigating (in plain-language, big picture-level)?
• Why is that worth investigating? How is it important to academia or business? How is it sufficiently original?
• What are your research aims and research question(s)? Note that the research questions can sometimes be presented at the end of the literature review (next chapter).
• What is the scope of your study? In other words, what will and won’t you cover ?
• How will you approach your research? In other words, what methodology will you adopt?
• How will you structure your dissertation? What are the core chapters and what will you do in each of them?

These are just the bare basic requirements for your intro chapter. Some universities will want additional bells and whistles in the intro chapter, so be sure to carefully read your brief or consult your research supervisor.

If done right, your introduction chapter will set a clear direction for the rest of your dissertation. Specifically, it will make it clear to the reader (and marker) exactly what you’ll be investigating, why that’s important, and how you’ll be going about the investigation. Conversely, if your introduction chapter leaves a first-time reader wondering what exactly you’ll be researching, you’ve still got some work to do.

Now that you’ve set a clear direction with your introduction chapter, the next step is the literature review . In this section, you will analyse the existing research (typically academic journal articles and high-quality industry publications), with a view to understanding the following questions:

• What does the literature currently say about the topic you’re investigating?
• Is the literature lacking or well established? Is it divided or in disagreement?
• How does your research fit into the bigger picture?
• How does your research contribute something original?
• How does the methodology of previous studies help you develop your own?

Depending on the nature of your study, you may also present a conceptual framework towards the end of your literature review, which you will then test in your actual research.

Again, some universities will want you to focus on some of these areas more than others, some will have additional or fewer requirements, and so on. Therefore, as always, its important to review your brief and/or discuss with your supervisor, so that you know exactly what’s expected of your literature review chapter.

Now that you’ve investigated the current state of knowledge in your literature review chapter and are familiar with the existing key theories, models and frameworks, its time to design your own research. Enter the methodology chapter – the most “science-ey” of the chapters…

In this chapter, you need to address two critical questions:

• Exactly HOW will you carry out your research (i.e. what is your intended research design)?
• Exactly WHY have you chosen to do things this way (i.e. how do you justify your design)?

Remember, the dissertation part of your degree is first and foremost about developing and demonstrating research skills . Therefore, the markers want to see that you know which methods to use, can clearly articulate why you’ve chosen then, and know how to deploy them effectively.

Importantly, this chapter requires detail – don’t hold back on the specifics. State exactly what you’ll be doing, with who, when, for how long, etc. Moreover, for every design choice you make, make sure you justify it.

In practice, you will likely end up coming back to this chapter once you’ve undertaken all your data collection and analysis, and revise it based on changes you made during the analysis phase. This is perfectly fine. Its natural for you to add an additional analysis technique, scrap an old one, etc based on where your data lead you. Of course, I’m talking about small changes here – not a fundamental switch from qualitative to quantitative, which will likely send your supervisor in a spin!

You’ve now collected your data and undertaken your analysis, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. In this chapter, you’ll present the raw results of your analysis . For example, in the case of a quant study, you’ll present the demographic data, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics , etc.

Typically, Chapter 4 is simply a presentation and description of the data, not a discussion of the meaning of the data. In other words, it’s descriptive, rather than analytical – the meaning is discussed in Chapter 5. However, some universities will want you to combine chapters 4 and 5, so that you both present and interpret the meaning of the data at the same time. Check with your institution what their preference is.

Now that you’ve presented the data analysis results, its time to interpret and analyse them. In other words, its time to discuss what they mean, especially in relation to your research question(s).

What you discuss here will depend largely on your chosen methodology. For example, if you’ve gone the quantitative route, you might discuss the relationships between variables . If you’ve gone the qualitative route, you might discuss key themes and the meanings thereof. It all depends on what your research design choices were.

Most importantly, you need to discuss your results in relation to your research questions and aims, as well as the existing literature. What do the results tell you about your research questions? Are they aligned with the existing research or at odds? If so, why might this be? Dig deep into your findings and explain what the findings suggest, in plain English.

The final chapter – you’ve made it! Now that you’ve discussed your interpretation of the results, its time to bring it back to the beginning with the conclusion chapter . In other words, its time to (attempt to) answer your original research question s (from way back in chapter 1). Clearly state what your conclusions are in terms of your research questions. This might feel a bit repetitive, as you would have touched on this in the previous chapter, but its important to bring the discussion full circle and explicitly state your answer(s) to the research question(s).

Next, you’ll typically discuss the implications of your findings? In other words, you’ve answered your research questions – but what does this mean for the real world (or even for academia)? What should now be done differently, given the new insight you’ve generated?

Lastly, you should discuss the limitations of your research, as well as what this means for future research in the area. No study is perfect, especially not a Masters-level. Discuss the shortcomings of your research. Perhaps your methodology was limited, perhaps your sample size was small or not representative, etc, etc. Don’t be afraid to critique your work – the markers want to see that you can identify the limitations of your work. This is a strength, not a weakness. Be brutal!

This marks the end of your core chapters – woohoo! From here on out, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

The reference list is straightforward. It should contain a list of all resources cited in your dissertation, in the required format, e.g. APA , Harvard, etc.

It’s essential that you use reference management software for your dissertation. Do NOT try handle your referencing manually – its far too error prone. On a reference list of multiple pages, you’re going to make mistake. To this end, I suggest considering either Mendeley or Zotero. Both are free and provide a very straightforward interface to ensure that your referencing is 100% on point. I’ve included a simple how-to video for the Mendeley software (my personal favourite) below:

Some universities may ask you to include a bibliography, as opposed to a reference list. These two things are not the same . A bibliography is similar to a reference list, except that it also includes resources which informed your thinking but were not directly cited in your dissertation. So, double-check your brief and make sure you use the right one.

The very last piece of the puzzle is the appendix or set of appendices. This is where you’ll include any supporting data and evidence. Importantly, supporting is the keyword here.

Your appendices should provide additional “nice to know”, depth-adding information, which is not critical to the core analysis. Appendices should not be used as a way to cut down word count (see this post which covers how to reduce word count ). In other words, don’t place content that is critical to the core analysis here, just to save word count. You will not earn marks on any content in the appendices, so don’t try to play the system!

Time to recap…

And there you have it – the traditional dissertation structure and layout, from A-Z. To recap, the core structure for a dissertation or thesis is (typically) as follows:

• Acknowledgments page

Most importantly, the core chapters should reflect the research process (asking, investigating and answering your research question). Moreover, the research question(s) should form the golden thread throughout your dissertation structure. Everything should revolve around the research questions, and as you’ve seen, they should form both the start point (i.e. introduction chapter) and the endpoint (i.e. conclusion chapter).

I hope this post has provided you with clarity about the traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below, or feel free to get in touch with us. Also, be sure to check out the rest of the  Grad Coach Blog .

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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36 Comments

many thanks i found it very useful

Glad to hear that, Arun. Good luck writing your dissertation.

Such clear practical logical advice. I very much needed to read this to keep me focused in stead of fretting.. Perfect now ready to start my research!

what about scientific fields like computer or engineering thesis what is the difference in the structure? thank you very much

Thanks so much this helped me a lot!

Very helpful and accessible. What I like most is how practical the advice is along with helpful tools/ links.

Thanks Ade!

Thank you so much sir.. It was really helpful..

You’re welcome!

Hi! How many words maximum should contain the abstract?

Thank you so much 😊 Find this at the right moment

You’re most welcome. Good luck with your dissertation.

best ever benefit i got on right time thank you

Many times Clarity and vision of destination of dissertation is what makes the difference between good ,average and great researchers the same way a great automobile driver is fast with clarity of address and Clear weather conditions .

I guess Great researcher = great ideas + knowledge + great and fast data collection and modeling + great writing + high clarity on all these

You have given immense clarity from start to end.

Morning. Where will I write the definitions of what I’m referring to in my report?

Thank you so much Derek, I was almost lost! Thanks a tonnnn! Have a great day!

Thanks ! so concise and valuable

This was very helpful. Clear and concise. I know exactly what to do now.

Thank you for allowing me to go through briefly. I hope to find time to continue.

Really useful to me. Thanks a thousand times

Very interesting! It will definitely set me and many more for success. highly recommended.

Thank you soo much sir, for the opportunity to express my skills

Usefull, thanks a lot. Really clear

Very nice and easy to understand. Thank you .

That was incredibly useful. Thanks Grad Coach Crew!

My stress level just dropped at least 15 points after watching this. Just starting my thesis for my grad program and I feel a lot more capable now! Thanks for such a clear and helpful video, Emma and the GradCoach team!

Do we need to mention the number of words the dissertation contains in the main document?

It depends on your university’s requirements, so it would be best to check with them 🙂

Such a helpful post to help me get started with structuring my masters dissertation, thank you!

Great video; I appreciate that helpful information

It is so necessary or avital course

This blog is very informative for my research. Thank you

Doctoral students are required to fill out the National Research Council’s Survey of Earned Doctorates

wow this is an amazing gain in my life

This is so good

How can i arrange my specific objectives in my dissertation?

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Project-based dissertations

The final year project-based dissertation module is for those interested in ‘hands-on’ aspects of English.

How does it work?

The project-based dissertation involves a placement, or period of observation and activity, with a partner from within or outside the university. 

Placement lengths vary. Some run all year long, while others are just for a few weeks.

Research questions are based on the research carried out during the placement. For example, it could be "The role of the supernatural in the Nottingham Playhouse’s production of  Macbeth" .

Who can take part?

• Single and joint honours students from the School of English, who are entering their final year of study*
• Places are limited to the number of placements available
• The application process includes an interview

The project-based dissertation has equipped me with lots of new skills. The placement has provided me with experience in archive cataloguing work, and has also enhanced my ability to be methodical and neat through organising the archive.  - Charlie Jordan, BA English.  Completed a project-based dissertation at Manuscripts and Special Collections

Read more about Charlie's project >

*Unless the course requires a compulsory dissertation of another kind.

What are the benefits?  

You will gain experience not only of independent research, but also of working in a professional environment.

Examples of project-based dissertations

Theatre projects at nottingham lakeside arts.

• Creativity in Action: Analysing the process and performance of the Christmas Show for children and young people
• Creativity in Action: Analysing the process and performance of a new play in a regional context

Nottingham Playhouse projects

• Programming the set text: Education and economics
• Adapting the fairytale: Analysing the process and performance of  Jack and the Beanstalk  by Mike Kenny
• Sport on stage: Analysing the process and performance of  Diary of a Football Nobody  by Billy Ivory

Behind the Scenes at the (Archaeology) Museum projects

• Behind the Scenes of the Museum: Language & Knowledge
• Behind the Scenes of the Museum: Contextualizing Material Culture

DH Lawrence Heritage project

• The Impact of Literary Heritage: Understanding and Evaluating the DH Lawrence Festival 

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Dissertations / work based projects

Advice and resources to support you throughout your dissertation or work based project.

Dissertations and research projects

This is a general resource to help you with the basics of organising and writing a research-based dissertation or project.  The Go further section at the end includes advice on work-based dissertations and signposts other resources.

You should consult your course or programme handbook, including online sources, and project supervisor or programme director for subject-specific guidance.

Dissertations and research projects are an opportunity to focus on particular question, and plan and undertake your own research to explore it further. Many students really enjoy being an independent researcher and becoming the expert on their work. The format varies depending on the disciplinary context, subject area, your research questions and the project. You may be reviewing the literature, analysing a novel, developing and testing a new method or doing a work-based project. However there are some common factors:

• They are an independent piece of work. You will be working under supervision to some extent and may be collaborating with others, but ultimately you are submitting a piece of independent thought and writing.
• They tend to have a large word count. This is to allow you to do sufficient in-depth analysis and discussion of the topic.
• They require a large investment of time, thought and energy throughout the process. As a significant body of academic work, you need to maintain effort whilst reading, researching, thinking, writing and redrafting it.

Choosing your dissertation or project

Whether you are choosing your dissertation from a selection of topics or you are proposing your own, there are a range of factors to consider. For example:

• What is the starting point for your work, i.e. previous or related research?
• How feasible is your project / proposal?
• Do you have enough time and resources to complete it?
• Will it be of an appropriate academic level?

A key questions to ask is “How interested am I in this topic?” You will be working on your dissertation or project for some time, so having a genuine interest in the topic will help to keep you motivated. If you have any questions specific to your topic or project, you should ask your supervisor, programme director or another member of staff who teaches you.

Planning your dissertation or research project

A research-based dissertation or project is a large piece of work requiring a high level of critical analysis. To achieve this you will have to allow time, not just for the researching phase, but also for the writing and editing stages. You will need to give yourself plenty of time to:

• Read around your topic and undertake background research;
• Digest and think about what you are learning and writing;
• Complete experiments, fieldwork, interviews or project placements;
• Analyse data, findings or results, and interpret them;
• Think about and decide on your conclusions.

Taking a project management approach to your dissertation or research project might be a more effective way to successfully complete it. The Time management page has tips and tools for organising your time.

Time management webpage and tools  

The dissertation and project planner can be used to think about the different stages and help give you an overall view of the process. There are some general points and questions to act as prompts, spaces you can add your own notes in and some useful tips and resources.

Dissertation and project planner (pdf )

Dissertation and project planner (rtf)

Writing your dissertation

You should not underestimate the time that should be allocated to writing your dissertation. Writing will involve planning, background research, drafting, redrafting, and proof-reading and editing.

First draft : Your first draft is about getting words on the page. For example, it may sketch out your first thoughts, arguments and potential structure. You can review these and use them to check: are you focussed on the right topics and questions? Is your structure and line of thought sensible? This is also a good time to set up your format requirements (e.g. page layouts, references)

Redrafts : Redrafting is where you expand and refine your ideas and argument. You may also find that as you are writing the direction of your argument changes; for example this could be due to your literature research producing new avenues of thought or your experiments turning up unexpected results. This is a good time to review the focus of your initial question, and whether your arguments or conclusions are still sensible)

Final draft(s) : In your final draft(s) is where you cast a critical eye over your work and assess how effective it is in communicating your argument and conclusions - does it answer the question? You should also check that you presentation, spelling and grammar are appropriate and polished, all your references are included, and it follows the appropriate format guidance, etc.

It is a good idea to take a break between writing and reviewing your work. Try to leave at least a day between writing before you pick it up again, the longer the better. This allows you to look at your work with an analytical eye, looking for ways to improve. Imagine you are reading your work as someone who is not so familiar with the topic: would a reader be able to follow and understand your argument? Do your ideas link? Have you signposted on from one section to the next? Remember also to look back at your question/title, does your dissertation address it? Does it follow a logical structure?

There are a variety of study guides available on dissertation and project writing. Books aimed at postgraduate students can also be useful for undergraduates.  Our IAD Resource List has a selection available in University libraries.

Study Skills Guide

Producing a professional document

Information Services have online courses available to help you produce a professional looking research report or dissertation.  These are self-paced Learn courses using Lynda.com videos and lecture recordings.

Thesis Hub: Producing your thesis or dissertation in Word  

A referencing management tool can help you to collect and organise and your source material to produce a bibliography or reference list.

Choosing a reference manager

Referencing and reference management

Work-based dissertations

Many courses and programmes, particularly at Postgraduate level, offer the opportunity to carry out a work-based dissertation. These opportunities vary between Schools and Programmes but will typically involve students tackling a research question identified by an organisation such as a business, a public sector organisation or a charity. A work based dissertation project can be invaluable for your employability and for career development.

If you are interested in carrying out a work-based dissertation you may need to start planning earlier than you would for a more traditional academic dissertation. If your Programme offers this opportunity, you will be given this information at the start of Semester 1. If you would like to source and set up a dissertation project with an external organisation yourself, you will need to speak with your Programme Director or Course Organiser first.

You can draw on resources developed by the Making the Most of Masters project.

Making the Most of Masters  

Work-based projects – advice for students  

Further information

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Writing at postgraduate level

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• Knowledge Base
• Dissertation

How to Write a Dissertation Proposal | A Step-by-Step Guide

Published on 14 February 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 11 November 2022.

A dissertation proposal describes the research you want to do: what it’s about, how you’ll conduct it, and why it’s worthwhile. You will probably have to write a proposal before starting your dissertation as an undergraduate or postgraduate student.

A dissertation proposal should generally include:

• An introduction to your topic and aims
• A literature review  of the current state of knowledge
• An outline of your proposed methodology
• A discussion of the possible implications of the research
• A bibliography  of relevant sources

Dissertation proposals vary a lot in terms of length and structure, so make sure to follow any guidelines given to you by your institution, and check with your supervisor when you’re unsure.

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Table of contents

Step 1: coming up with an idea, step 2: presenting your idea in the introduction, step 3: exploring related research in the literature review, step 4: describing your methodology, step 5: outlining the potential implications of your research, step 6: creating a reference list or bibliography.

Before writing your proposal, it’s important to come up with a strong idea for your dissertation.

Find an area of your field that interests you and do some preliminary reading in that area. What are the key concerns of other researchers? What do they suggest as areas for further research, and what strikes you personally as an interesting gap in the field?

Once you have an idea, consider how to narrow it down and the best way to frame it. Don’t be too ambitious or too vague – a dissertation topic needs to be specific enough to be feasible. Move from a broad field of interest to a specific niche:

• Russian literature 19th century Russian literature The novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky
• Social media Mental health effects of social media Influence of social media on young adults suffering from anxiety

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Like most academic texts, a dissertation proposal begins with an introduction . This is where you introduce the topic of your research, provide some background, and most importantly, present your aim , objectives and research question(s) .

Try to dive straight into your chosen topic: What’s at stake in your research? Why is it interesting? Don’t spend too long on generalisations or grand statements:

• Social media is the most important technological trend of the 21st century. It has changed the world and influences our lives every day.
• Psychologists generally agree that the ubiquity of social media in the lives of young adults today has a profound impact on their mental health. However, the exact nature of this impact needs further investigation.

Once your area of research is clear, you can present more background and context. What does the reader need to know to understand your proposed questions? What’s the current state of research on this topic, and what will your dissertation contribute to the field?

If you’re including a literature review, you don’t need to go into too much detail at this point, but give the reader a general sense of the debates that you’re intervening in.

This leads you into the most important part of the introduction: your aim, objectives and research question(s) . These should be clearly identifiable and stand out from the text – for example, you could present them using bullet points or bold font.

Make sure that your research questions are specific and workable – something you can reasonably answer within the scope of your dissertation. Avoid being too broad or having too many different questions. Remember that your goal in a dissertation proposal is to convince the reader that your research is valuable and feasible:

• Does social media harm mental health?
• What is the impact of daily social media use on 18– to 25–year–olds suffering from general anxiety disorder?

Now that your topic is clear, it’s time to explore existing research covering similar ideas. This is important because it shows you what is missing from other research in the field and ensures that you’re not asking a question someone else has already answered.

You’ve probably already done some preliminary reading, but now that your topic is more clearly defined, you need to thoroughly analyse and evaluate the most relevant sources in your literature review .

Here you should summarise the findings of other researchers and comment on gaps and problems in their studies. There may be a lot of research to cover, so make effective use of paraphrasing to write concisely:

• Smith and Prakash state that ‘our results indicate a 25% decrease in the incidence of mechanical failure after the new formula was applied’.
• Smith and Prakash’s formula reduced mechanical failures by 25%.

The point is to identify findings and theories that will influence your own research, but also to highlight gaps and limitations in previous research which your dissertation can address:

• Subsequent research has failed to replicate this result, however, suggesting a flaw in Smith and Prakash’s methods. It is likely that the failure resulted from…

Next, you’ll describe your proposed methodology : the specific things you hope to do, the structure of your research and the methods that you will use to gather and analyse data.

You should get quite specific in this section – you need to convince your supervisor that you’ve thought through your approach to the research and can realistically carry it out. This section will look quite different, and vary in length, depending on your field of study.

You may be engaged in more empirical research, focusing on data collection and discovering new information, or more theoretical research, attempting to develop a new conceptual model or add nuance to an existing one.

Dissertation research often involves both, but the content of your methodology section will vary according to how important each approach is to your dissertation.

Empirical research

Empirical research involves collecting new data and analysing it in order to answer your research questions. It can be quantitative (focused on numbers), qualitative (focused on words and meanings), or a combination of both.

With empirical research, it’s important to describe in detail how you plan to collect your data:

• Will you use surveys ? A lab experiment ? Interviews?
• What variables will you measure?
• How will you select a representative sample ?
• If other people will participate in your research, what measures will you take to ensure they are treated ethically?
• What tools (conceptual and physical) will you use, and why?

It’s appropriate to cite other research here. When you need to justify your choice of a particular research method or tool, for example, you can cite a text describing the advantages and appropriate usage of that method.

Don’t overdo this, though; you don’t need to reiterate the whole theoretical literature, just what’s relevant to the choices you have made.

Moreover, your research will necessarily involve analysing the data after you have collected it. Though you don’t know yet what the data will look like, it’s important to know what you’re looking for and indicate what methods (e.g. statistical tests , thematic analysis ) you will use.

Theoretical research

You can also do theoretical research that doesn’t involve original data collection. In this case, your methodology section will focus more on the theory you plan to work with in your dissertation: relevant conceptual models and the approach you intend to take.

For example, a literary analysis dissertation rarely involves collecting new data, but it’s still necessary to explain the theoretical approach that will be taken to the text(s) under discussion, as well as which parts of the text(s) you will focus on:

• This dissertation will utilise Foucault’s theory of panopticism to explore the theme of surveillance in Orwell’s 1984 and Kafka’s The Trial…

Here, you may refer to the same theorists you have already discussed in the literature review. In this case, the emphasis is placed on how you plan to use their contributions in your own research.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

You’ll usually conclude your dissertation proposal with a section discussing what you expect your research to achieve.

You obviously can’t be too sure: you don’t know yet what your results and conclusions will be. Instead, you should describe the projected implications and contribution to knowledge of your dissertation.

First, consider the potential implications of your research. Will you:

• Develop or test a theory?
• Provide new information to governments or businesses?
• Challenge a commonly held belief?
• Suggest an improvement to a specific process?

Describe the intended result of your research and the theoretical or practical impact it will have:

Finally, it’s sensible to conclude by briefly restating the contribution to knowledge you hope to make: the specific question(s) you hope to answer and the gap the answer(s) will fill in existing knowledge:

Like any academic text, it’s important that your dissertation proposal effectively references all the sources you have used. You need to include a properly formatted reference list or bibliography at the end of your proposal.

Different institutions recommend different styles of referencing – commonly used styles include Harvard , Vancouver , APA , or MHRA . If your department does not have specific requirements, choose a style and apply it consistently.

A reference list includes only the sources that you cited in your proposal. A bibliography is slightly different: it can include every source you consulted in preparing the proposal, even if you didn’t mention it in the text. In the case of a dissertation proposal, a bibliography may also list relevant sources that you haven’t yet read, but that you intend to use during the research itself.

Check with your supervisor what type of bibliography or reference list you should include.

Cite this Scribbr article

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Caulfield, J. (2022, November 11). How to Write a Dissertation Proposal | A Step-by-Step Guide. Scribbr. Retrieved 15 April 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/proposal/

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Project Management Dissertation Topics

Published by Alvin Nicolas at January 10th, 2023 , Revised On April 16, 2024

Are you looking to select the best project management dissertation topic for your dissertation? To help you get started with brainstorming for project management topics, we have developed a list of the latest project management dissertation topics that can be used for writing your project management or operations management  dissertation.

These topics have been developed by PhD-qualified writers of our team , so you can trust to use these topics for drafting your dissertation. If you have used one of the project management dissertation ideas provided on our website and want that removed from this page, please contact us via live chat, email or telecom.

Project management is an important area of study because the success of any business is largely dependent on successful project management. At ResearchProspect, we have many project management experts who can help you with topic selection, proposal writing and full dissertation writing.

Review step by step guide on how to write your own dissertation  here. Check our complete list of dissertation topics .

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2024 Project Management Research Topics

Management quality and control- assessing the role of project length in the uk construction sector..

Research Aim: The construction industry is one of the most significant contributors to the country’s economy. This study investigates the role of project length on management control and quality in the UK’s construction sector. Also, the research will analyse the connection between project length and quality control, considering the moderating impact of management quality control on a project’s success.

Sustainable Construction and Project Management- A review from literature.

Research Aim: The main aim of this study is to analyse the role of sustainability and sustainable construction in project management, focusing on the existing literature for sustainability, sustainable practices, and how it has impacted the project’s success within the construction industry. We will investigate how to achieve sustainability and its benefits to the construction industry.

Project Management- Evolution and Development from the past twenty years.

Research Aim: This study will examine the development and evolution of project management over the past twenty years taking account of how things have changed due to technological advancements, updated skills, and new trends. The paper will discuss theories and various aspects contributing to the changes and latest project management developments. Project management involves operation, risk, dynamics, and several other fields. This study will give you a proper understanding of it has developed and evolved within these twenty years.

Visit our topics database to view 100s of dissertation topics in your research area.

Investigating the Challenges in Public Procurement for Project Management- A case study of UK's IT sector.

Research Aim: In many countries, public procurement estimates for a considerable market section can be essential in inspiring communities and achieving governmental objectives. Keeping this in mind, the government has set rules to regulate public procurement. This research will investigate the challenges faced in public procurement for project management in the UK’s IT sector, highlighting different socioeconomic factors national factors, balancing dynamic pressures, satisfying the requirements, and keeping an ultimate goal of maximising competition in mind.

5- Assessing the Impact of the Coronavirus Crisis on Project Delays and Digitalization - A case of the European Construction industry.

Research Aim: The covid-19 pandemic has forced the countries to confront a new reality; the method adopted to prevent the spread has included social distancing and isolation and complete lockdowns, which caused several problems for the project managers and companies, and also resulted in indefinite delays. This study will examine the impact of the covid-19 crisis on the European construction industry, digitalisation’s role in reducing the negative consequences, and how the industry deals with the situation. a qualitative and quantitive research study will be conducted to get significant results for this study.

Covid-19 Project Management Research Topics

What lessons can we learn from the covid-19 (coronavirus) crisis.

Research Aim: Actually, the ongoing crisis could invite a welcome reality check. It magnifies all those small issues and inefficiencies that we usually tolerate in our daily work; it can help us recognize and understand what could be done better. It could provide the nudge we need to solve them, paving the way for tomorrow’s better, more efficient project management strategy. Remote project management issues… are no different from usual PM issues.

How to Minimise the Impact of the COVID-19 Virus on an Organisation?

Research Aim: The coronavirus outbreak is a major concern for the health of potentially hundreds of thousands of people. It also impacts the global economy with tourism, aviation, and hospitality the initially hardest-hit industries. This research aims to identify the strategies that would enable us to minimise the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the efficiency of organisations.

Project Management and COVID-19: How to Manage an Extraordinary Crisis?

Research Aim: While we’re still early days into the crisis, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that COVID-19 is a black swan event. You couldn’t have predicted it, nor could you have anticipated its impact. Conventional rules go out the window during such a crisis. There is no standard risk management playbook for dealing with a worldwide epidemic; you have to improvise and adapt on the fly. This research will discuss this extraordinary event, how to deal with it, and minimise its impact on your organisation.

Project Management in the Times of COVID-19

Research Aim: Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic as notified by the World Health Organisation has had a significant impact on businesses the world over. More and more countries are being impacted every day with substantial loss of life and business. This study will investigate how business organisations around the world have been proactive in minimising and the COVID-19 impact for their customers, and at the same time, helped their customers to run and deliver efficient services for their customers.

How the UK Government is Supporting Businesses with Project Management (PMO) and Governance During COVID-19?

Research Aim: The main aim of the research will be to focus on identifying the strategies and the policies implemented by the UK government to support businesses with project management and governance during the Covid-19 crisis.

Should Project Risk Management Take the Pandemic into Consideration?

Research Aim: Considering the world has endured pandemics before, this is, in theory, a known risk. But you likely did not include it in your project risk register, as it is very unlikely. In this case, the risk is unknown to you because you and your team didn’t identify this risk. Whether we agree or not, no one in the world was able to assess the impact of COVID-19 before it happened accurately—and there is still uncertainty about its implications moving forward. Consequently, this may not be part of project risk management. So what can we do?

COVID-19 Challenges and Response: How Procurement Underpins the World Bank’s Response to the Pandemic?

Research Aim: The World Bank Group is committed to providing a fast, flexible response to the coronavirus pandemic. It offers financing, policy advice, and technical assistance in every region, from healthcare and education to trade and technology. In this research study, we explore how different teams around the World Bank Group are responding to the challenges ahead.

How to Win a New Project in the Times of COVID-19?

Research Aim: COVID-19 might have derailed project plans for many organisations, but it’s worth considering what might still be possible remotely. There might be more to salvage than we think, which this research study will explore.

Communication Through Crisis: Keeping Project Management Effective in the Wake of COVID-19

Research Aim: The evolution of managing projects is taking a turn during this COVID-19 crisis. Instead of holding a conference call for a few locations where groups of people are in the same room, we are now facilitating sessions where everyone is in a separate location. Think about that for a minute. You are promoting a meeting with ten people, and no one is in the same room. Can we be successful in this new environment? This research aims to identify the communication tools and policies that would enable organisations to respond to the challenges posed by the Covid-10 crisis effectively.

Preventive Measures for Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Research Aim: Employers and occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals have a vital role to play in preventing the spread of coronavirus. To mitigate the spread of the disease, an increasing number of employers are making efforts to modify working patterns, including encouraging staff to work from home if they develop any of the symptoms. This research will investigate the preventive measures taken by business organisations to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.

Considerations for Business and Risk Managers During the Coronavirus/COVID-19 Outbreak

Research Aim: The situation for businesses and risk managers is changing rapidly after the outbreak of Covid-19. Alongside the obvious risks to human health, we also see severe disruption-related impacts on organisations arising from the travel and opening restrictions, event cancellations, workforce issues, supply chain disruptions, financial and market volatility, and cash flow problems. This research study will talk about the considerations for business and risk managers during the Coronavirus/Covid-19 outbreak.

Coping with Coronavirus: Strategies to Mitigate Business Risks

Research Aim: What would happen to your organisation if illness led to a sudden reduction of more than 40% of the workforce? In this research, the researcher will use a mixed research method to uncover the strategies businesses can adopt to cope with coronavirus and mitigate business risks.

Best Project Management Topics for 2023

Correlation between brand dominance and influencer marketing: a case study of lux.

Research Aim:  This study is based on the correlation between the dominancy of brands via influencer marketing. The main objective is to determine the positive or negative impact of the correlation between brand dominancy via influencer marketing.

Analysis of Strategies to Incorporate Innovative Services into Consumer Lives

Research Aim:  This research will analyse the best strategies that need the contemporary life model of consumers and are essentially required to be addressed to meet the modern era’s current requirements.

Factors that Influence Customers Satisfaction on Brand Success: A Case Study of Young Adults

Research Aim:  This study will investigate how brand success relies on customer satisfaction. Identifying determinants of customer satisfaction will be the key objective of this work.

Impacts of Artificial Intelligence on Project Management

Research Aim:  This research aims to identify the Impacts of Artificial Intelligence on Project Management. It will also address the advantages and disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence using the existing literature.

Importance of Soft Skills in Project Management

Research Aim:  This research aims to identify the importance of Soft skills in Project Management. Students may use any example project as the base of the research.

The Role of Digital and Remote Teams in Project Management

Research Aim:  This research aims to address the role of Digital and Remote teams in Project Management. It will be a comparative study of both types of team that covers and assess their advantages and disadvantages.

The Importance of Soft Skills in Project Management-Case Study

Research Aim:  This research aims to address the importance of Soft skills in Project Management. A case study will evaluate project managers’ soft skills and their association with teammates in the workplace. It will also suggest ways to improve the soft skills of all the employees in an organization.

Hybrid Project Management Approaches

Research Aim:  This research aims to address the role of Hybrid Project Management approaches and their growing popularity.

Importance of Change Management

Research Aim:  Change Management is an important skill that a project manager needs to possess to meet organizational transitions’ challenges. This research aims to highlight the importance of change management and its implementation in the working environment.

Culture and Conflict Management

Research Aim:  This research focuses on culture and conflict management in the workplace, addresses the issues of concern, and suggests possible solutions.

Best Project Management Topics for 2022

Is project management software worth the cost.

Research Aim:  Project management, as an individual academic subject, has flourished in recent decades. With it has come companies and software development firms that churn out what they consider project management tools most focused on scheduling time, cost, and team. The research will analyse different project management software to conclude if they increase productivity and lead to project success.

Team Conflict Dynamic Model & Project Success Written by Ruskin Bond

Research Aim:  The research will use the team conflict dynamics model to analyse different conflict types and team conflict profiles to produce resolutions that can improve or lead to project success.

Research Aim:  The research will examine how the cultures of project managers may influence their methods of conflict resolution. How does a project manager’s culture affect how they name, frame, blame and try to tame conflict in their project? Learn more about  Conflict Management.

Analysing the Impact of Project Management Principles and System Dynamics on Humanitarian Logistics

Research Aim:  Recent environmental disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis have increased the need for humanitarian logistics around the world as such events have claimed the lives of millions while also causing millions in infrastructure damage. To reduce these damages improvements, need to be made to logistics operations. The research paper will analyse System Dynamics (SD) in collaboration with humanitarian logistics, which factors in stakeholders, responses, flows in the supply chain, and its interactions. The study aims to recommend adaptations to project management theories to modify them as a tool for planning processes of humanitarian operations.

Analysing the Project Delay Causes and How Global Construction Companies Are Coping with It

Research Aim:  The main aim of the research will be focusing on identifying the leading causes and symptoms of project delays and how it impacts the project life cycle. The second phase of the project will be focused on how global construction companies have devised different strategies to cope with this issue.

Assessing the Importance of Communication in Maintaining Quality and Timely Delivery of Project Activities

Research Aim:  This research will be focusing on analysing the significance of communication between the project organisation and its stakeholders (both internal and external) and how this efficient communication helps the organisation in maintaining quality and timely delivery of project activities.

Identifying the Factors of Project Selection: Does a Drastic Shift in Project Benefits Approach Towards Customer-Centricity?

Research Aim:  The primary purpose of this research paper is to identify the most critical factors that help in selecting a project. This paper will specifically be focusing on analysing the shift of the project benefits approach towards customer-centricity. Project benefits are focused more on attaining tangible things such as high sales, more revenue, faster call handling times, etc.; whereas customer centricity approach is focused more on selecting those clients who are easy to work with, having high brand value, etc.

Analysing the Impact of Project Misalignment with Business Objectives on the Overall Project Performance

Research Aim:  COVID-19 might have derailed project plans for many organisations, but it’s worth considering what might still be possible remotely. There might be more to salvage than we think, which this research study will explore.

Assessing the Importance of Project Management Soft Skills in the Context of Project Success Rates

Research Aim:  This research will conduct a detailed critical analysis of project management soft skills, including its benefits and cost and how it helps the project in achieving the desired result and outcome.

Analysing the Impact of Psychosocial Stressors on Project Manager Performance. The Mediating Effect of Organisational Culture

Research Aim:  Using a research model, the impact of psychosocial stressors (health & well-being, work individual interface, work environment, etc.) is tested on project managers’ performance using dimensions of performance. Project managers are asked to complete a questionnaire that will be the basis of collecting empirical data. The data is then analysed using Smart PLS.

Analysing the Impact of Culture on Project Performance in the IT Industry

Research Aim:  The research aims to analyse the causes of delay and failure due to cultural factors. The research model investigates the impact of national culture and organizational culture, through the mediation of interpersonal conflict, on project performance which is measured through various dimensions.

Examining the Impact of Organization to Implementation of Project Management Practices

Research Aim:  In this research, the researcher will use mixed methods research techniques to undercover the informal people-focused project management practices that are implemented in SMEs. Using interviews and surveys, firms from a specific industry will be selected to collect data to examine the firm’s perceived size and how it impacts project management practices.

Examining Project Management Research Trends that influence Project Success

Research Aim:  The researcher will use systematic literature review techniques to identify and analyse project management research trends. Then using comparative analysis, a plausible relationship between project management research trends and social and economic trends are analysed.

Analysing the Impact of Project Management Maturity Factors on Project Success in Large Enterprises

Research Aim:  The role of projects has significantly increased worldwide due to more improved international standards and training in the field. Many studies still identify that the number of successful projects hasn’t changed. This research aims to study the possible relationship between project performance/success factors and organisational project management maturity.

The Impact of Agile Project Management on Productivity in the IT Industry

Research Aim:  The research will use quantitative research techniques to analyse the impact on productivity in companies working in the IT industry. Mainly, productivity will be measured using the dimension of customer satisfaction, improvement of productivity, and job satisfaction. Empirical hypothesis testing methods will be used to analyse and report the outputs of the data.

Agile-Scrum for Healthcare Project Management

Research Aim:  Agile-scrum project management was developed originally for the IT industry; however, it has unlimited potential to bring benefits to other sectors, including the healthcare industry. The research will attempt to show how it may be applied in the healthcare industry to develop frameworks to improve quality, timeliness, and overall value for delivering healthcare in a large-scale patient setting.  Learn about creating the best environment for research and writing your project.

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Research-Based Project Management Dissertation Topics

Investigating project management success for project-oriented business organisations from the perspective of technical capacity, organisation structure, and leadership.

Research Aim:  This research will talk about the different ways a high achieving, project-oriented firm utilises project management to enhance its organisational structure and leadership. The study will also analyse the technical capacity of organisations based on the implementation and success of project management techniques.

Understanding The Role Of Project Management Soft Skills To Increase Project Success Rates – Review Of Statistically Meaningful And Documented Evidence

Research Aim: This research aims to analyse the impact of project management soft skills on the success of the project. This will be done using statistical data and evidence.

Understanding The Role Of Project Management Methodologies To Increase Project Success Rates – Review Of Statistically Meaningful And Documented Evidence

Research Aim:  This research will evaluate the role of project management methodologies and the impact it has on project success. Statistical data and evidence will be used for this research.

The Impact of Project Manager’s Optimism and Stress Management on IT Project Success

Research Aim:  The research aims to uncover how soft competencies of IT project management affect project success. The study will focus on optimism and stress’s impact on IT project success. The study will be conducted using empirical research methods using a survey or questionnaire distributed to managers. The study’s data is proposed to be analysed using structural equation modelling.

Analysing Critical Success Factors of Project Management on Global Software Development

Research Aim:  The study will use quantitative research methods to identify critical success factors related to project management in global software development (GSD). The study will analyse the variation of essential success factors with respect to project type and size and company type and size. The data will be analysed using inferential statistics.

Analysing the Impact of Strategic Roles in Project Management Office on Business Ecosystems

Research Aim:  The study will examine seven project management office roles for the achievement of strategic planning in large public sector organisations of the UK. The proposed research will use a questionnaire survey to collect data from project managers in public organisations that have project management office (PMO) units. The data collected will then be analysed using multiple regression.

Examining Project Stakeholder Management (PSM) using Fuzzy Cognitive Map Modeling

Research Aim:  The research paper aims to analyse current methodologies related to the support of PSM. The study aims to improve the practice of project stakeholder management methodologies using Fuzzy Cognitive Map modelling. The data will be collected using a case study of a public organisation in the UK.

Examining the Impact of Risk Management Use on Information Systems Project Success

Research Aim:  The proposed study will analyse the impact of risk management practices on information systems projects to address the continued industry practice of geographically separated teams. The data for the study will be collected using a survey of information systems project managers. The study will attempt to establish a relationship between risk management practices and successful outcomes. The data collected will be analysed using correlation analysis.

Improving Project Management Model – Implementing Support Factors into Earned Value Management (EVM)

Research Aim:  The study proposes to integrate supporting factors into the Earned Value Management (EVM) model such as earned schedule, quality management, and risk management. The purpose of the study is to integrate these factors to examine the weaknesses and limitations of the current EVM model. The model will be tested on a small sample project. Numerical data will be collected and analysed using the model for validating its performance.

Examining The Differences Between Process Groups And Project Life Cycle – Potential Problems For PM Practitioners

Research Aim:  The proposed research analyses the differences in phases of a project life cycle and process groups. The study aims to examine how both methods are practically implemented in a project environment. The data will be collected using questionnaires sampled from project managers in the UK across various sectors. The questionnaire data will then be analysed using inferential statistics.

Analysing the Importance of Project Management in Law Firms

Research Aim: The study will explore the concepts of legal project management, its definition, application, and advantages. The research will examine various law firms in the UK that have implemented legal project management to improve their performance. The data will be collected using surveys of law firms in the UK and analysed using inferential statistics.

Examining Factors for Project Success in the UK

Research Aim:  The methodologies of project management is not limited to construction and national defence projects, and they extend to many other industries. The proposed study will analyse to what extent project management tools and methodologies are effective in these industries in the UK. The research will survey project managers in the UK across various industries and sectors, focusing on project risks, project management methodology, organisational support, and project management tool usage.

Analysing the Role of Project Management Practices in Private Organisations

Research Aim:  The study aims to identify and analyse the project management practices that are commonly used in private organisations generally and sectors of activity. The research also examines practitioners’ characteristics when choosing between project management practices and their use in groups. The study will be conducted using a mixed-methods research methodology, using surveys and interviews to collect data.

Examining the Impact of Cost Salience and Information Asymmetry on Incentive Contract and Project Manager’s Profit

Research Aim: The study will analyse the impact of subjective assessments of cost salience and project variability using the framework of uncertainty theory and principal agency theory. The study will examine the effect of these variables on a project manager’s profit. The research will be conducted using case study methodology, explicitly focusing on cases where project managers pay contractors over a menu of deadline-based incentive contracts to undertake a project broken into two sequential tasks.

Examining the Impact of Employment Background and Social Media Usage on Project Management and Communication

Research Aim:  The proposed research looks to examine the use of social media on project work. The study aims to analyse social media features, preferences, and opinions within projects. The data will be collected using a random sampling of individuals across the UK who are actively involved or participating in projects. The data collection instrument will be a questionnaire survey that gathers information on variables of social media preferences, opinions, and usage of social media for project purposes.

Examining the Agile Management Approach to Develop a Risk Management Framework in Construction Projects

Research Aim:  The study will propose an agile management concept that uses a risk management framework that races alignments and discovers connections between Agile and traditional project management concepts. The purpose of the research is to deal with risk in the construction projects that are built based on the Agile management concept.

Also Read:  Construction Engineering Dissertation Topics Why is engineering management critical?

Dissertation Topics on Project Management in Construction Industry

The impact of inter-organisational projects (iops) on project delivery methods.

Research Aim:  The purpose of the research is to examine how actors use relational, institutional work (IOPs) to activate key stakeholders from coupled subfields to institutionalise new project delivery methods. The study will be cross-sectional and be based on the UK construction industry. The study will use mixed methods research.

Proposing a Multi-Methods Framework of Project Management Operations and Total Building Performance- Towards a Low Carbon Construction Industry

Research Aim:  The research will develop a new multi-methodology framework to analyse the effects of the building development project process that includes operations management, building energy consumption, carbon emissions, and indoor environmental quality (IEQ).

Analysing Practices, Needs, & Delivery Benefits of Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) of Project Management in the Construction Industry

Research Aim:  The research will examine the nature of SMEs in the construction industry that allows them to adopt informal practices of project management and explore its comparative costs and benefits. The research will use mixed methods research techniques to collect and analyse data.

Examining Causes and Effects of Poor Communication in the Construction Industry

Research Aim:  The research will examine the identification of causes and effects that may result in poor communication in the construction industry of the UK. The research will use mixed methods research to conduct a study to compare current and past factors that may result in poor communication through the project life cycle of construction projects.

Analysing Risk Management in Procurement Options in the Construction Industry

Research Aim:  The purpose of the study is to analyse the various risk management factors according to procurement options – design-bid-build, design-build, and collaborative forming contracts. The research will use mixed methods research to collect and analyse data.

The Impact of Organisational Characters on Construction Project Performance

Research Aim:  The research will examine the relationship between project performance and organizational characteristics in construction companies. The study will use key performance indicators (KPIs) to collect data on project performance. The study will also document organisational aspects using social network analysis tools. The study will be conducted using quantitative research techniques.

Also Read: Construction Engineering Dissertation Topics

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Dissertation Topics on Different Project Management Knowledge Areas

Conflict management/resolution, the role of the project manager in internal and external relationship management – a study on new project management.

Research Aim:  The study will use mixed methods research to identify the roles of project managers in internal relationship management and external relationship management. The analysis will both recognise and categorise the role groups to provide evidence for understanding the change from traditional project management to new project management.

Examining the relationship between Project’s Added Value and Trust-Conflict Interaction among Project Teams – A Study on Calculative and Relational Trust

Research Aim:  The research aims to investigate the impact of trust-conflict interactions on project teams and project added value. The research will use calculative and relational trust dimensions to study its influence on project added values with the dimension of project conflict, task conflict, and relationship conflict. The proposed study will be using structural equation modelling for data analysis.

Topics in Leadership

The mediating role of leadership styles in the relationship between emotional intelligence and collaboration satisfaction – perspectives from emotional intelligence.

Research Aim: The research will examine the relationship between the emotional intelligence of project leaders and satisfaction outcomes perceived by team members under the dimensions of performance contribution satisfaction, efficiency satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and interest satisfaction. The study will analyse this relationship through the mediation factor of various leadership styles using structural equation modelling.

A Framework for Balancing Person-Centered Leadership and Team-centered Leadership in Project Managers – Examining Archer's Realist Social Theory

Research Aim:  The research will use Archer’s Realist Social theory to develop a framework for comprehending the project manager interaction between person-centred leadership and team-centred leadership. The study will be conducted using mixed methods research for data collection and analysis.

Topics in Scheduling (Time)

Project scheduling for construction of renewable energy plants using critical path method – application of planning and scheduling.

Research Aim: The proposed study will analyse the construction project demands of various coordinated activities with differing durations and dependencies in a large-scale biogas plant. The study will focus on applications of planning and scheduling to analyse a biogas plant construction project using the critical path method.

Setting Effective Target Benefits using Project Benefits Management – A Research using Goal Setting Theory

Research Aim:  The research will use goal-setting theory to present case studies to validate the scale of practical target benefits. To verify the scale, empirical research techniques will be used to analyse the dimensions of specificity, attainability, and comprehensiveness.

Topics in Quality Management

Improving quality using multi-project strategies – new competence-based theories.

Research Aim: The research aims to analyse the differences in traditional approaches and new competence-based approaches to improving quality. The research will use variables of variety and innovation, project scope, and property of specifications to analyse the impacts on quality. The study is conducted using empirical techniques.

Analysing the Impact of Cultural Heritage on Project Appraisal and Quality Assurance in Major Public Investments – A Case Study

Research Aim:  The proposed research will examine the methods with which cultural heritage values are handled in early phase evaluations of major public investment projects in the UK. The research will use a case study document analysis to analyse how cultural heritage issues are addressed in early project phases.

Topics in HR Management

Adopting dynamic capability among human resource related quality management practices – improving product development.

Research Aim:  The research study will use a theoretical framework to investigate the relationships among human resources related to quality management practices, new product development as a dynamic capability, strategic flexibility, and knowledge integration. The data collected and analysis will be conducted using structural equation modelling.

Allocation of Human Resources to Projects in Service Units – A Comparative Study

Research Aim: The research looks to identify resource allocation issues and practices in service units whose responsibility is both project and non-project activities. The research will portray mechanisms of top-down resource allocation that need to be supplemented or replaced with those that provide greater flexibility. The research techniques used will be empirical.

Also Read: HRM Dissertation Topics

Topics in Communication

The impact of national and organizational culture on communication in projects.

Research Aim: The research will use independent variables of national and organizational culture under Hofstede’s dimensions of culture to analyze the impact of these on communication in projects. The study will use quantitative techniques for data collection and analysis.

Cross-Cultural and Intercultural Competencies in Project Management of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)

Research Aim:  The purpose of the research is to understand the requirements of intercultural communication competencies that are needed when engaging in cross-cultural project management in the non-profit sector. The study will be conducted using mixed methods research techniques, including questionnaires and interviews.

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Important Notes:

As a project management student looking to get good grades, it is essential to develop new ideas and experiment on existing project management theories – i.e., to add value and interest in your research topic.

The field of project management is vast and interrelated to so many other academic disciplines like  civil engineering ,  construction ,  law , engineering management , healthcare , mental health , artificial intelligence , tourism , physiotherapy , sociology , management , marketing and nursing . That is why it is imperative to create a project management dissertation topic that is articular, sound, and actually solves a practical problem that may be rampant in the field.

We can’t stress how important it is to develop a logical research topic; it is the basis of your entire research. There are several significant downfalls to getting your topic wrong; your supervisor may not be interested in working on it, the topic has no academic creditability, the research may not make logical sense, there is a possibility that the study is not viable.

This impacts your time and efforts in  writing your dissertation  as you may end up in the cycle of rejection at the very initial stage of the dissertation. That is why we recommend reviewing existing research to develop a topic, taking advice from your supervisor, and even asking for help in this particular stage of your dissertation.

Keeping our advice in mind while developing a research topic will allow you to pick one of the best project management dissertation topics that fulfil your requirement of writing a research paper and adds to the body of knowledge.

Therefore, it is recommended that when finalizing your dissertation topic, you read recently published literature to identify gaps in the research that you may help fill.

Remember- dissertation topics need to be unique, solve an identified problem, be logical, and be practically implemented. Take a look at some of our sample project management dissertation topics to get an idea for your own dissertation.

How to Structure your Project Management Dissertation

A well-structured   dissertation can help students   to achieve a high overall academic grade.

• A Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Declaration
• Abstract: A summary of the research completed
• Table of Contents
• Literature Review :  This chapter presents relevant theories and frameworks by analysing published and unpublished literature available on the chosen research topic, in light of  research questions  to be addressed. The purpose is to highlight and discuss the relative weaknesses and strengths of the selected research area whilst identifying any research gaps. Break down of the topic, and key terms can have a positive impact on your dissertation and your tutor.
• Methodology:  The  data collection  and  analysis  methods and techniques employed by the researcher are presented in the Methodology chapter which usually includes  research design, research philosophy, research limitations, code of conduct, ethical consideration, data collection methods, and  data analysis strategy .
• Findings and Analysis:  Findings of the research are analysed in detail under the Findings and Analysis chapter. All key findings/results are outlined in this chapter without interpreting the data or drawing any conclusions. It can be useful to include  graphs ,  charts, and  tables in this chapter to identify meaningful trends and relationships.
• Discussion  and  Conclusion: The researcher presents his interpretation of results in this chapter, and states whether the research hypothesis has been verified or not. An essential aspect of this section of the paper is to draw a linkage between the results and evidence from the literature. Recommendations with regards to implications of the findings and directions for the future may also be provided. Finally, a summary of the overall research, along with final judgments, opinions, and comments, must be included in the form of suggestions for improvement.
• References:  This should be completed in accordance with your University’s requirements
• Bibliography
• Appendices:  Any additional information, diagrams, graphs that were used to  complete the  dissertation  but not part of the dissertation should be included in the Appendices chapter. Essentially, the purpose is to expand the information/data.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How to find dissertation topics about project management.

To discover project management dissertation topics:

• Examine emerging industry challenges.
• Investigate novel methodologies or tools.
• Analyze project success factors.
• Explore risk management strategies.
• Review real-world project cases.
• Opt for a topic aligning with your passion and career aspirations.

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Dissertation examples

Listed below are some of the best examples of research projects and dissertations from undergraduate and taught postgraduate students at the University of Leeds We have not been able to gather examples from all schools. The module requirements for research projects may have changed since these examples were written. Refer to your module guidelines to make sure that you address all of the current assessment criteria. Some of the examples below are only available to access on campus.

• Undergraduate examples
• Taught Masters examples