Dr. Doug Chung, Harvard Business School, on starting your dissertation.

1.
STARTING
THE
DISSERTATION
Doug
J.
Chung,
Harvard
Business
School
2014 Winter AMA DocSIG Pre-Conference Symposium

2. IMPORTANT
QUESTIONS
TO
ASK
YOURSELF
— When
¡
¡
Ideal:
As
soon
as
you
can…0th
year…never
too
early
to
think
about
a
topic
Reality:
A;er
taking
the
full
set
of
coursework
:
end
of
2nd
year
— In
what
area/topic
¡
¡
Ideal:
An
area/topic
that
you
have
PASSION
for
Reality:
data
constraints,
ideas
from
advisor/other
faculty
members/hot
current
topics

3. CHOOSING
AN
AREA
— Relevance
¡
Ideally,
your
topic
has
to
be
relevant
to
the
REAL
world
— Importance
¡
Ideally,
it
has
to
be
an
important
problem
worth
solving
— Rigor
¡
Ideally,
want
to
apply
the
latest
state-­‐of-­‐the-­‐art
technology
in
methods

4. WHAT
IS
“IMPORTANT”?
— QuesKon
to
ask
yourself:
¡
Given
the
(expected)
findings
of
the
research,
how
will
these
findings
alter
standing
thought
in
an
area?
New
boundaries
to
an
established
empirical
phenomenon
÷ New
theoreKcal
explanaKon
for
an
established
phenomenon
÷ New
method
that
allows
improved
measurement
and/or
predicKon
÷
— Traps
to
Avoid
¡
¡
¡
Simply
being
the
“first”
to
do
something
(e.g.,
analyze
certain
data,
apply
an
established
method
to
a
new
area)
does
not,
by
itself,
make
it
valuable;
the
exercise
has
to
have
the
potenKal
for
a
belief
shi;
(see
above)
Picking
a
topic
simply
because
it
is
“hot”
LeXng
data
drive
the
topic

5. LEARNING
THE
TOOLS
— Start
from
the
absolute
basics
¡ Take
demanding
and
rigorous
courses
from
Economics,
Psychology,
StaKsKcs
to
develop
the
fundamental
skills
¡ Don’t
try
to
take
the
easy
route
–
simple
courses,
MBA
courses,
etc.
¡ If
you
don’t
have
the
fundamentals,
it
will
hurt
you
even
a;er
geXng
a
job.
— Apply
to
ideas
that
YOU
come
up
with
¡ Methods
are
important
but
the
substanKve
contribuKon
is
MORE
— Don’t
worry
too
much
about
publishing
at
this
stage!
— ALWAYS
follow
your
PASSION!
¡ Remember
why
you
started
this
(PhD)
in
the
first
place…

6. ANY
QUESTIONS?