Improved Support for Master’s Thesis Projects in Software Engineering

Abstract

The aim of the project described in this report was to develop improved support for both students and advisors in the different phases of Master’s thesis projects in software engineering. The work was done in several steps, including a web-based survey among students; an interview study with students, supervisors and examiners; formulation of a support framework; and evaluation of the developed support. The main results of the project are improved understanding of the challenges of thesis projects, a support framework for different project phases, and examples of concrete support for different situations. We believe that the findings are relevant for Master’s thesis projects in areas other than software engineering.