Is it too late to change my dissertation topic?

“Is it too late to change my dissertation topic?”

It seemed like a good idea at the start.

Now, you're bored of it.

You're struggling to motivate yourself to work on it.

Is it too late to change it? Is it too late to do something else?

If you’re a social sciences student thinking about changing topic, before you get in touch with your dissertation supervisor or thesis advisor and say, “That’s it! I’m throwing it in the bin!”, you need to ask two vital questions:

(1) Do you want to change all of it, or just some of it?

(2) What are the implications of changing topic?

Let’s take each of those in turn.

Do you want to change all of it, or just some of it?

Every social sciences dissertation title needs have three things in it. You might want to change, one, two or all three of those things. So, what am I talking about? What three things does a dissertation title need to have?

Firstly, a group of people who have one thing in common,

Secondly, an issue that those people are experiencing or an interest they have.

Thirdly, a context. This is a place or space - virtual or real - in which those people are experiencing that issue or having that interest.

Let’s have a look at a couple of examples that have all three:

Take this title: What challenges exist in tackling discrimination against Muslim women studying for PhDs in the natural sciences in universities? The people are Muslim women, the issue is discrimination, and the context is natural sciences departments in universities.

Let’s look at another example: How accessible is amateur football for male refugees living in the West Midlands region? The people are male refugees, the interest is amateur football and the context is the West Midlands region.

What is your dissertation topic or title? Does it have people, issue/interest and context?

If it doesn’t, you need to make sure it does. If it’s missing people, an issue or interest, and / or a context – add those in and see how you feel about the topic now. It might not seem so bad once you get that other element in there.

For example, say your dissertation topic is: Young black men’s experiences of higher education, Right now, it includes people – young black men, and context – higher education. However, it doesn’t include an issue or an interest, so you need to add one in. Young black men’s experiences of what in higher education? Student union activities, university sports, preparing for graduate schemes, discrimination, part-time employment, friendships, relationships, balancing work and study? Pick an issue or interest and you’ll find that your dissertation takes on a new life.

Another example. Say you were looking at, Loneliness and working at home. You have an issue - loneliness. You have a context - home working. But, you have no people! Who are your people going to be? Solo entrepreneurs? People who’ve just returned to work after having children? Graduates who’ve just started a job?

If your dissertation topic does have all of these three things and you’re still not happy with it, maybe you need to change one of the elements. Change the people, change the issue or interest, change the context. How can you pivot and mix up your dissertation to make it more appealing and interesting to you? Which bits do you want to keep. Which bits do you want to change? Do you want to throw the whole thing away and start again with a whole new trio of people, issues or interests and context, or do you just want to change one of those things?

What are the implications of changing your dissertation topic?

What will happen if you decide to make changes to your topic now?

It all depends on how far through the dissertation process you are and how much time you have until you have to hand it in.

What other things will changing your topic impact upon?

Will you have to go back to your literature revew to update or overhaul it?

Will you need to change your methodology?

Will you have to start your data collection process again, or will you have to go and collect additional data?

If you are making changes like these, will you need to re-apply for ethical approval, or at least make your ethics committee or institutional review board aware of the fact you’ve changed topic?

Might you have to scrap a primary study altogether and do a literature-based dissertation or use secondary data?

Write out a list of these headings: Literature Review; Methodology: Ethics; Data collection; Data analysis; Findings; Discussion and note down what the implications of a change of topic would be for each of these parts of your dissertation.

Say for example you had originally planned to look at, Young women’s experiences of sexual harassment in bars and nightclubs. However, you’re not sure about your context and you want to change bars and nightclubs to public transport.

What does a change in context create for you? More work in terms of the literature review? Yes, maybe, but not too much more work, because you’ve likely covered literature on sexual harassment in general – so you’ll just want to go and see if there is any specific literature about sexual harassment on public transport you can add. That literature might help cover what things might be different on public transport versus in bars and nightclubs – what new issues come up?

Will it change your methodology? If you had planned to do interviews with young women, you can still do interviews with young women, but the questions you’re asking them might need to change.

Will a change in questions require you to go through ethical approval again? It may well do, you’d need to check your institution’s policies about that.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t change topic, but you should be super realistic about the knock-on effects of changing topic.

If the implications of the changes you want to make are too heavy and are going to create a load more work that overwhelms you - and there’s the risk you’re not going to get it done in time - could you make fewer changes?

If you just made some adjustments rather than a complete overhaul, would you be happier with that?

If you have decided that change is for you, you should consider my online course – Dissertation Launch Pad. This mini course will take you from lacking motivation and feeling uninspired, to driven and directed, with a focused title question that reflects your passions and interests, so you can feel excited about your dissertation again and on track to produce a thesis you can be proud of. If that sounds like the kind of thing you need, click here to find out more!