A thesis can also be reported as a practice-based work. The starting-point of a practice-based thesis is to produce new information through the student’s own activity or in a project with partners. (Vilkka & Airaksinen 2004, 11.)
The student’s approach should be investigative and developing and this should be visible in the practice-based thesis report. Therefore, also in practice-based theses, the practical implementation has to be anchored to a theoretical framework and to the central research literature. (Vilkka & Airaksinen 2004, 79.)
Practice-based theses often follow the next structure model:
1. Introduction
2. Overview of the phenomenon or description of the environment
- What is produced, where, why, for what organization and how?
3. Theoretical framework based on references
4. Process description
- description of the product or event
5. Evaluation and discussion
6. Conclusions
Due to the personal character of the practical task, in these practice-based theses, a general, objective way of writing is replaced by the subjective voice of reporting using the writer’s own observations. Consequently, it is recommended to use the first-person pronoun (I, we) in the reporting instead of the passive voice. (Vilkka & Airaksinen 2004, 79.) In the theoretical framework, however, the use of the passive voice is still recommended.
Vilkka, H. & Airaksinen, T. 2004. Toiminnallisen opinnäytetyön ohjaajan käsikirja. Helsinki: Tammi.