Master thesis, how to develop the topic?

  • I'm not sure whether is it the proper forum category for that question, but I didn't find better.

    So, my master thesis topic can be translated as: "Analysis of available solutions in the field of data access in a Business Intelligence software". I would like to make some research within SQL Server BI services. But I have not a clear idea what research can be done. E.g. compare times of retrieving "the same" data from Database Engine, Multidimensional Model Database and Tabular Database.

    Do you have any idea what interesting research (of medium difficulty), related to the thesis topic, could be done within MS SQL Server.

    I will be thankful for any suggestions.

  • Best thing would be to discuss this with your thesis advisor or a professor at your university. Also, review the existing literature. The google scholar and microsoft academic search engines are excellent for that, so are the librarians at your university.

    Spend a few days or weeks reading up on the existing academic literature in the area you are interested in, and see if you can identify a hole in the research, something that hasn't yet been done. Then speak with your thesis advisor or a professor and revise it until you get a research question that you can, in a masters dissertation, answer sufficiently.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
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  • AdamSerisier wrote:

    Your research idea needs to be fresh, relevant, and interesting. Read as much as you can on your topic. Look at textbooks, read journal articles, watch relevant documentaries, and talk to people in the field.

    From that, make lists of ideas and possibilities and research those. Take a deep dive down multiple pathways. Get as much information as you can. Take notes and keep track of them, either in files on your computer, or take them in a notebook.

    How do you know when you've found what you're looking for? When you come up with a question that won't go away. When you can't stop thinking about an idea. When your wonder on the topic keeps you up at night.

    I know that we're both posting on a 6 year old thread but what you say is true.

    My problem is that someone who is working on a Masters Thesis has already had a shedload of schooling and have presumably been taught how to do research.  The OP said "But I have not a clear idea what research can be done".  Isn't developing such a "clear idea"  of what research can be done supposed to be a part of the discovery process and isn't the process of how to develop such a hypothesis taught in Masters level education?

    To be more blunt, isn't asking the general public how to figure out what research should be done to support a chosen topic for a Masters Thesis gaming the system a wee bit?

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • The topic is very complex, but fascinating if you study it.

    Someone in 2020-2022 to write work on it?

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