Requirements for writing a Master's thesis at our Chair
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Interest in our research topics (everything related to decision science, cognitive science, cognitive psychology, or behavioral research methods)
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Successful completion of the modules "Empirical research methods in management and economics" or "Consumer Behavior Research Methods" (grade of 2.3 or better)
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Successful attendance of at least one further module offered by the Chair (for a list of our teaching portfolio see here)
First steps to writing a thesis with us
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Coordinate the topic of your thesis with your potential supervisor. Reach out via email (attaching your CV and most recent transcripts) and give us a short outline of your proposed thesis topic.
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You can either reach out with your own novel and innovative research ideas, or choose from our currently open thesis topics listed below.
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In general, we are also open to supervising Master's thesis that are written in cooperation with a company, providing they are related to our research topics or require the application of thorough research methods.
Decision making is strongly influenced by how attention is allocated across the choice options and option's attributes (outcome values vs. probabilities). One way to quantify the attention allocation is tracking eye movements (eye-tracking), which has traditionally relied on expensive devices to be set up in experimental lab settings. Recent endeavours have tried to revolutionize eye-tracking by leveraging participant's built-in laptop webcams in online experiments (with participant's consent, of course). This thesis aims to implement the webcam-based eye-tracking tool for a new decision making paradigm.
Requirements: Experience in JavaScript and with data analysis using R. Of advantage: Previous experience with computational modeling
Supervisor: Nuno Busch (nuno.busch(at)tum.de)
Recommended Literature:
- Yang, X., & Krajbich, I. (2021). Webcam-based online eye-tracking for behavioral research. Judgment and Decision Making, 16(6), 1485–1505. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1930297500008512
- Zilker, V., & Pachur, T. (2023). Attribute attention and option attention in risky choice. Cognition, 236, 105441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105441
- Zilker, V., & Pachur, T. (2022). Nonlinear probability weighting can reflect attentional biases in sequential sampling. Psychological Review, 129(5), 949–975. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000304