Background: An MBA student at a UK-affiliated business school in Hyderabad came to us in January 2025 with a dissertation that had been rejected at the proposal stage twice. His research topic exploring employee engagement strategies in IT services firms was sound, but his research methodology chapter lacked theoretical grounding and his proposed interview guide did not align with his research questions.
The challenge: The student had proposed a positivist, quantitative design for an exploratory research question. His supervisor had pointed out the philosophical misalignment but had not provided specific guidance on how to restructure. The student had also not identified a theoretical framework to anchor his analysis.
What we did: Dr. Rajan conducted a one-hour consultation to understand the research intent, then recommended a shift to an interpretivist, qualitative design using semi-structured interviews. A revised research philosophy section was drafted articulating the ontological and epistemological positions underpinning the approach. The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) was identified as the most appropriate theoretical framework. A 14-question semi-structured interview guide was developed, aligned to the three main research questions. The methodology chapter was rewritten to cover: research design, participant selection criteria (purposive sampling, n=12 IT managers), data collection procedure, thematic analysis protocol, and ethical considerations including informed consent and data anonymisation.
Outcome: The revised proposal was approved at the third submission with one minor comment (to add member-checking as a validity strategy). The student completed his interviews and returned to us for assistance with thematic analysis, which identified four major themes. The final dissertation received a Merit grade (68%).
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