Comparing connection to theory in Bachelor's theses: Old research university versus new regional university college

Abstract

Quality of higher education is often assumed to be linked to the size of the faculty. Therefore, this study tested the hypothesis whether Bachelor's theses in ecology at a large, old research university would have more connection to theory than those at a small, young university college. The results revealed no significant difference between the universities. One potential explanation for these results is that theory is more likely to depend on the individual supervisor who may demand a clear connection to theory in Bachelor's theses. However, in the group of theses categorized as without a clear connection to theory, there were significant differences between the two universities regarding whether students were testing/developing a method or performing a case study. At the large, well-equipped research university, Bachelor's theses were significantly more likely to be based on developing/testing methods, while those at the university college more often comprised inexpensive case studies. Further studies including more universities of contrasting sizes, across countries and disciplines, are required to test the general validity of the findings.