Dr Simon Bastow

Dr Lloyd Gruber

This course is compulsory on the MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Hertie). This course is available on the Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-Sciences Po), Master of Public Administration, Master of Public Policy, MPA Dual Degree (LSE and NUS) and MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Tokyo). This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

Please note that most SPP students who wish to produce a substantial piece of individually-authored work would be well-advised to write a policy paper instead of a dissertation.  Students whose funders require a dissertation, or who have other legitimate reasons for choosing PP4B4 over PP4V8 (the Policy Paper), will be asked to explain their situation when they request PP4B4 during the Autumn Term course selection period.  

This course is not available to first year MPA students.

Deadline for application: 9am on Monday of week 1 of Autumn Term.  We aim to inform students of the outcome of their request by 12.00noon on Tuesday of week 1 of Autumn Term.

For queries, please contact mpa@lse.ac.uk
 

Mutually exclusive courses:

This course cannot be taken with PP4V8 at any time on the same degree programme.

The aim of this course is to enable students to plan, design and conduct independent substantial research in an area of public policy.  Students will write a dissertation of no more than 10,000 words on a topic of their choice to be agreed with their supervisor.  The dissertation will carry out an evidence-based analysis of a concrete policy issue with the aim of deepening our understanding of the problem.  The main body of the dissertation will provide a critical review of any relevant academic literature, describe and justify the student's methodology, discuss major findings, and explain how these results advance our knowledge of the subject under investigation.  While students may wish to incorporate quantitative data in their dissertations, qualitative approaches and methods are also welcome.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.

This course is delivered through lectures and collaborative workshops totalling a minimum of 6 hours in Autumn Term and another 6 hours in Winter Term.

The collaborative sessions will provide dissertation writers with opportunities to try out ideas and gather feedback. Each student's supervisor will also be available to provide advice and guidance throughout the dissertation-writing process.

A 1,500 word dissertation proposal will be submitted in the Autumn Term.  Students will be asked to explain their research puzzles, describe their research designs, anticipate their findings, and consider the larger policy relevance of their projects.  Students will receive written feedback on their proposals from their dissertation supervisor, after which point they can no longer change their topics except with the explicit agreement of their supervisor.

• Stella Cottrell, Dissertations and Project Reports: A Step by Step Guide (Palgrave Study Skills, 2014)
• W.Phillips Shively and James W. Enderby, The Craft of Political Research, 11th ed. (Routledge, 2025)
• John Gerring,  Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework, 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
• Nick Huntington-Klein, The Effect: An Introduction to Research Design and Causality (Routledge, 2022)

Continuous assessment (15%).

Dissertation (85%, 10000 words).

The continuous assessment will be evaluated through a Structured Supervisor Assessment in the second half of Winter Term.

The final dissertation will be submitted early in Spring Term.