Quality Criteria

-- JohanJeuring - 06 Sep 2002

Here is a list of criteria we use to determine the grade of your Master's thesis.

• Research question. Is the research question relevant? Has the proposed research been done before? Is it doable? Has it been formulated in such a way that useful research is possible? Is it clear how the research question and the proposed research are related?
• Previous work. Research is always done in a context. What has been done before? How can you use it? What background is necessary for the research? What theories are used? Is it clear that you have found the relevant literature?
• Contribution. A Master's thesis should contribute to science: it should investigate something that hasn't been investigated before, or not in the same way. What is the contribution of your thesis?
• Analysis. Have you analysed the research question properly and carefully? How deep did you dive into the subject? Do you apply the techniques appropriately and carefully? If important aspects are omitted, do you justify this? Do you distinguish between fact and opinion?
• Critical attitude. Which choices do you make? What is the quality of the decisions you take? Do you give good arguments for your choices? Do you follow the traditions in the field? Do you ask yourself `Why?' sufficiently often? A careful analysis why research question and the research plan fit together well is necesary.
• Reflection. Reflect on what you do, how you do it, why you do it, and how you write something about it. Reflect on everything you do! Which results are interesting? Do you think more research should be spend on one of the results in your work?
• Literature. Where does you show that you can find relevant material to obtain a result, or to speed up the research? Does you use literature or material different from what has been suggested by your supervisor? Did literature research lead to new insights? Do you explain these insights properly in the thesis?
• Synthesis. Did the student find a good solution for the research question? Is the reasoning correect? Are the conclusions worth the effort of the research?
• Abstraction. Does the student abstract from the problem? Is there a generic solution which can be translated or instantiated to practical situations?
• Relevance. Does someone have an interest in, or would someone benefit from the research? Does the thesis make clear that the results are of any help?
• Integration. Are practice and theory integrated?
• Justification. Is it possible to read the thesis on itself? Does the thesis contain a justification of the research plan, and the actual research that has been done?