Course content

The master thesis is a written work that shows the candidates abilities to handle a research problem in STS. The specific thesis topic for the master's thesis is prepared in consultation with the supervisor and the data / source acquisition can be linked to the practice period that the student has had in a company/organization. The thesis should normally have a scope of approx. 15 000 - 25 000 words. Two students in the same company / institution can choose to write the master's thesis together. If this is chosen, each student must explain what parts he / she is responsible for and the length of the assignment should be 30 000 - 50 000 words.

Learning outcome

The thesis must be related to a company or an institution / organization. The work with the thesis should give the student practice in doing a research project by developing a research problem and gattering an analysing empirical materials. The thesis work should give competence in analysing socio-technical phenomena and processes of change.

KNOWLEDGE:

A candidate with employment-oriented thesis in STS:

• Has through working with the thesis acquired a thorough knowledge of a corporate / institutional business; visions, aspirations, goals and challenges.
• Can outline different perspectives using advanced STS theory and has good knowledge of the design and methodology of doing a limited research assignment for a company / institution.
• Can obtain and process research-based knowledge about a particular, limited topic related to a corporate / institutional wishes/needs and use relevant theory to elucidate this research assignment.
• Has knowledge of research ethics guidelines.

SKILLS:

A candidate with employment-oriented thesis in STS:

• Has experience in doing relevant research assignment for companies, organizations / institutions related to a specified and limited problem area.
• Has training in a type of systematics and abstraction that is suitable for use in research work.
• Has training in systematic and analytical writing.

Learning methods and activities

Master's thesis written under the guidance of the department, in groups and individually. Please see link for the numbers of hours of supervision eligible for your master's thesis https://innsida.ntnu.no/wiki/-/wiki/Norsk/Masteravtale+HF

Further on evaluation

An adjusting oral part is included in the assessment.

The Master's thesis must include an abstract, in both Norwegian and English, at approx. 300 words (max. 1 page).

Specific conditions

Required previous knowledge

Requires admission to Master's program in STS and passed KULT3301, KULT3303, KULT3304, KULT3322, EiT/HIP, KULT3331 and KULT3307 or equivalent.