T HE AUTHOR ’ S PRE - UNDERSTANDING

Birks and Mills (2011, 19) stress that the researcher must acknowledge his “existing assumptions, experience and knowledge of the area” – his “thoughts, feelings and ideas” – at the outset to establish his position in relation to the study at hand. By making the pre-understanding transparent the researcher can become aware of ideas that might force the data, and at the same time they may become data (Birks & Mills 2011, 80). Corbin and Strauss (2008, 10–14) stress along the same lines that every person is a product of his culture, time in history, gender, experiences and training.

Action pertaining

to a phenomenon

Interaction National

Collective Sub-org’l, Sub-inst’l

Community Org’l Inst’l International, Global

Because of this it is important for every analyst to “wave the red flag” with regard to himself and his respondents when “biases, assumptions, or beliefs” intrude on the analysis (Corbin & Strauss 2008, 80). The researcher must understand that he also is a research instrument, and therefore needs to be self-reflective to explore how he influences the research, and how the research influences him (Corbin & Strauss 2008, 11, 13).

Some of the pre-understandings I hold are evident in the research objective chapter (1.6) in the discussion about the personal and professional interests from which the topic emerges. A more in-depth reflection is, however, appropriate in a qualitative study, and, specifically, in a GT study.

In the many professional roles I have taken toward and with the students, in the observation, teaching of, collaboration and colearning with students, I have come to hold several beliefs about UAS bachelor thesis candidates.

Firstly, I have had the great privilege to work with well over a thousand thesis candidates over the past fifteen years. The overwhelmining majority have chosen their thesis topics from the authentic world of work in the quest to develop their working life skills, experience something new, build their professional networks, and/or to prepare for their chosen careers and further studies. A small minority have entered and interrupted or completed the thesis process with little to no motivation, competences or personal professional goals. Unfortunately, for such students the outcomes have often matched the initial attitude of “having to do a pointless thesis”. Students have researched and developed solutions for real organizational problems, and planned and implemented projects related to our four specialization fields: Human resource management, marketing and customer relations management, accounting and finance, and supply chain management. The best of our students continue to amaze and motivate me professionally with their thesis achievements.

Secondly, regarding thesis students, their professional and RDI competences vary from individual to individual between quite deficient to excellent. Similar variation is evident in their motivation for and ability to engage in self-directed thesis work. Some find it very difficult to cope with the stress, uncertainties, challenges and surprising changes a thesis project inevitably contains. In the degree program investigated, commissioned theses are the preferred option among both faculty and students. Commissioned thesis projects require knowledge and skills above and beyond a desktop study. Students’ competences to sell their expertise, coax out a development need in an interview, consult on business problems that need solving, and negotiate the terms and conditions of a commissioning agreement show great variation. For quite a few even the first step of starting with cold calls to find a commissioning organization is a daunting task.

To sum up my preunderstanding of the thesis candidates’ experience, they are required to engage in RDI project acquisition, selling, planning, implementation, assessment and publication activities that generate a myriad of cognitive, emotional, physical and social responses in them.

These responses vary from fear, stress and exasperation to feelings of competence, success and joy.

Thirdly, regarding the faculty working with thesis students, their competences, motivation and attitudes appear to greatly influence students’ experiences of and progress in the thesis process. UAS faculty commonly hold, at the minimum, master’s degrees and are experts in a certain study field in which their teach and advise. Their pedagogic expertise and RDI competences vary, however, depending on their prior studies, further education activities and work experience. Additionally, their attitudes toward students and their motivation to advise students’

undertaking thesis projects vary from poor to excellent. Due to many and varied demands on faculty time, work time can also be in such short supply that it may be challenging to schedule long thesis advising meetings with students. Thesis candidates give feedback on their experiences of faculty support in academic advising meetings and through graduation feedback surveys.

Comments have varied from deep gratefulness to heartfelt complaints. Students appreciate greatly the support they receive from faculty members who show authentic interest in the student’s project, and have the working life, substance, methodological and academic writing expertise to help the student negotiate hurdles they feel unable to manage alone.

Fourthly, prospective and contracted commissioning organizations are an important stakeholder in the thesis process. They can facilitate or hinder the success of thesis projects. Based on discussions with hundreds of students, the organizations appear to have remarkably varied levels of appreciation for, and motivation, commitment and compence to collaborate with UAS thesis candidates. During the years, a number of commissioning companies have taken weeks or months to decide whether they will or who has the authority to contract a student for a thesis project (even an unpaid one), gone out of business when a thesis was almost ready, and undergone staff changes that resulted in the disappearance of an agreed thesis project. Some companies agree on a project, but when it is time to distribute surveys they either put limitations to the contents of the survey or set rigorous conditions on whom the survey can be sent to, in the process crippling the student and his thesis project. Fortunately, there have been hundreds of commissioning companies who have appreciated the student’s work, been actively engaged in the planning and implementation of the project, and facilitated its success in all ways possible. Students are invariably thankful for such great learning experiences.

Lastly, situations arise in students’ personal lives that can slow down or stop progress in the thesis project – or – facilitate and hasten it. Over the years, there have been illnesses, pregnancies divorces, losses of work places and bankcruptsies as well as excellent unexpected job opportunities, high-quality professional networks and foreign assignments. These factors are outside the remit of instruction, and academic and thesis advising, but nevertheless carry undeniable consequences to academic progress.

It is these preunderstandings that generated my interest in the topic at hand. This study aims look deeper into the matter in order to capture student experience in their own words and theorize on it. The study’s delimitations arise from the fact that getting started with the thesis project has, in my observation, proven to be one of the biggest hurdles for students. As this is the first GT study in the area, it also makes sense to start with students’ experiences at the beginning of the thesis project.