Format 1 A written document and an explainer video of 3 to 5 minutes length

This format anticipates the same workload as the traditional format (of about 25 full-time working days), but it is different from a traditional Bachelor thesis in two ways: 

• It does not include the usual Discussion and Conclusion parts 

• It includes a Video Script and a Video Storyboard (the basis for your explainer video).

We are offering two interesting topics under this format: 

The Delphi Technique: Applications, Limitations and Best Practices

The Delphi Technique is a qualitative and interactive forecasting method that relies on experts knowledgeable about a certain topic to forecast the outcome of future scenarios and predict the likelihood of an event. 

For this topic, your written part should provide insights on the technique’s applications and limitations, as well as best practices. Your explainer video should showcase a real-life example of the method applied in practice. 

Contact person: Shtefi Mladenovska - shtefi.mladenovska@wu.ac.at

A/B testing as a basic form of business experiments

Companies are increasingly collecting and using a variety of data due to new possibilities provided by digital technologies (e.g., Internet of Things, mobile connectivity, cloud services or artificial intelligence) (Lanzolla et al., 2020). But in order to fully explore the potential of these new data available (e.g., testing novel concepts), managers have to subject it to a rigorous experiment (Thomke and Manzi, 2014). 

However, in most companies, such tests do not adhere to scientific and statistical principles and as a result, managers often end up interpreting statistical noise as causation - and making bad decisions (Thomke and Manzi, 2014). Although the process of experimentation seems straightforward, it is surprisingly hard in practice, owing to myriad the differenct challenges of business experiments.

Today in practice, one important way to conduct experiments is the so-called A/B testing - a basic randomized control experiment.

For this BA-thesis topic, you are asked to do a case study on A/B testing as a common type of a business experiment in the context of a successful start-up. Your written part should provide insights on the process and barriers (e.g., wrong randomization; self-selection bias) of A/B testings in practice. Your explainer video should showcase a real-life example of A/B testing applied by a start-up successfully and explain the process and potential barriers of this type of business experiment.

Contact person: Benjamin Monsorno - benjamin.monsorno@wu.ac.at

Besides continious and close support from your supervisors, you will be provided with a guideline on producing a good explainer video, as well as a ready-to-use E&I branded video opening and closing scenes. 

The explainer video produced can be later featured on the E&I Youtube channel and support future students in learning. 

FORMAT 2 A written document and coding

Prisoner’s Dilemma

The E&I institute is looking for a talented programmer who is able to code an interactive app that can be used in the classroom to support traditional lecturing. The idea is to enhance the understanding of the prisoner’s dilemma by programming a classroom game that the students can join via their smartphones.

The prisoner’s dilemma is a classic example of game theory illustrating why two completely rational individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so.

For this topic, the main outcome of your thesis will be a ready-to-use application that is supplemented by a short theoretical introduction into the topic and written documentation.

Contact person: Linn Kretzschmar – linn.kretzschmar@wu.ac.at

This sounds like your cup of tea? Then choose one of the offered topics and contact us for more information.