Requirements

We only supervise master's theses of students who have already written a term paper or their bachelor's thesis in the field of education and teaching in sport and have received appropriate feedback. In addition, participation in the seminar "Educational and Instructional Research in Sport" is mandatory.

Topic identification and development

Finding or developing a topic is a time-consuming process for which you should allow sufficient time. As a rule, we do not offer "ready-made" topics, but the students look for their own topic. In some circumstances, however, the thesis can be written based on a current project in the department (see "Documents and Links"). Once you have thought about a possible Master's thesis topic, the question can be fleshed out in a consultation meeting.

Suggested topics and contact persons*:

Physical Education (Dr. Marion Golenia)

• Motives and attitudes of student teachers in sport
• Promotion of pedagogical attitudes in the teacher training program
• Promotion of male physical education students
• Inclusion in physical education
• Research-based learning in physical education
• Competencies of physical education teachers

Individual support (Dr. Kathrin Kohake)

• Pedagogical quality of teaching and training
• Perspective of students
• Motivation and satisfaction of students
• Learning and movement
• Promotion of boys in sports
• Digital teaching-learning formats

Children's and youth sports (Prof. Dr. Nils Neuber)

• Child and youth sports during and after the Corona pandemic
• Youth research in sports
• Informal learning in sport
• Promotion of engagement and participation in sports
• All-day education
• Educational networks

Supervision relationship and consultation meetings

If you are planning to write your master's thesis in the Education and Sport department, request an initial consult with one of our examiners. Please prepare for this interview by checking whether you meet the requirements and by thinking about a possible topic as concretely as possible in advance.
You can take advantage of a total of three consultation meetings for your Master's thesis. We recommend that you prepare for advising interviews with concrete questions, otherwise effective advising is not possible. Please always bring a current outline of your thesis to the interviews.

Master's theses are supervised in the Department of Education and Instruction in Sport by the following examiners, provided they have supervisory capacities available: Prof. Dr. Nils Neuber, Dr. Marion Golenia, Dr. Markus Jürgens, Dr. Kathrin Kohake, Uta Kaundinya, Franziska Duensing-Knop, Andre Magner, Ute Große-Westermann, Nils Kaufmann and Renate Nocon-Stoffers. The first reviewer is usually Prof. Neuber.

An ideal overview of the different stages of the registration and writing process can be found under "Documents and Links".

Topic formulation and writing of an exposé

Based on the initial consult, you will need to write an exposé (length one to two pages). It should be written after reviewing the relevant literature for the specific research question and should contain the following points:

•     the exact title of the paper
•     a short introduction to the topic (problem of the thesis)
•     considerations on the theoretical basis of the work (with reference to the state of research and the need for research)
•     the concrete formulation of the (empirical) research question of the paper
•     a short description of the selection of methods, sample, data collection and data analysis
•     a preliminary outline
•     8-10 references

The exposé, the outline and the bibliography should be sent to the first reviewer by email. After making an appointment, these can then be discussed together. If optimizations are necessary, these must be incorporated.

Registration and Formalities

The length of a Master's thesis should be 60-80 pages. For certain empirical work, it is recommended to work with a computer-assisted analysis program, e.g. MaxQda or SPSS. Hints for the formal design can be found in our script "Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten in der Sportdidaktik" (Scientific Work in Sports Didactics), which can be purchased at cost price from the support staff of the Department of Education and Instruction in Sports (VG 116). For all theses we use the citation standard of the German Association for Sport Science (see Documents and Links).

The finished thesis must be handed in at the Examination Office I.

Registrations for the Master's thesis in the field of Education and Teaching in Sport are accepted digitally. For this purpose, please submit your exposé as well as the two completely filled out registration forms (see documents and links: "Registration Form First Examiner" and "Registration Form Examination Office I") signed as a scan in an e-mail to Prof. Nils Neuber. He will forward the documents to the second examiner and to the examination office. The processing time starts with the day of the e-mail from Prof. Neuber to the examination office.

Publication

Final theses are not only relevant for evaluation and serve as the crowning achievement of the studies, they can also make a scientific contribution to gaining knowledge. After particularly successful completion of the thesis, a scientific article can therefore be written from the central contents. It is desired that this be done by the student or written in collaboration with the first reviewer. If the candidate is not interested in a publication, this can also be done by the first examiner after consultation. Irrespective of this, we include all master's theses in our archive, provided you agree to this with the examination registration.

Checklist

Prerequisites

• Term paper written in AB Education and Instruction in Sport or Bachelor thesis in M5.
• Participation in the seminar "Educational and Instructional Research in Sport" (can be done concurrently)

Initial Consult

• concrete considerations on the topic as far as possible
• Examiner selected

Writing of the exposé

• exact title of the thesis
• short introduction to the topic (problem of the thesis)
• considerations about the theoretical basis of the work (with reference to the state of research and the need for research)
• concrete formulation of the (empirical) problem of the thesis
• brief description of the choice of methods, sample, data collection and analysis
• preliminary outline
• 8-10 references

Registration of the thesis

• Registration with the first examiner (Prof. Dr. Nils Neuber) using the form of the department of work
• Registration with the examination office using the form of the examination office

Documents and Links

Registration form first examiner

Registration form Examination Office I ( Application for admission to master thesis)

Information from the Examination Office I on Master's Theses

Stages and supervision of a master thesis

Citation standard of the German Association for Sports Science (DVS)