I've finished all my core courses and am now in the dreaded dissertation process. Aside from general anxiety over the research I'm having a tough time settling on my topic. Here's where I'm starting:
"Measuring the Post-Implementation Impact of ECM Systems on Innovation in Business Practices" or in layman's terms "Now that you have that fancy software package is it now the round hole all your square pegs have to fit into?" Ok, that might be a little less layman and a little more folksy but I bet you get it.
Obviously a quantitative dissertation. Questions I have for myself that I can't reconcile. How do you even measure "innovation in business practices"? Should I just say technology instead of ECM? Should I pick a specific ECM like Sharepoint (which I did research but fighting Microsoft marketing in search results wasted a ton of time)? I've had other variations of this theme but each time I start on it I find myself in the same loop.
"Oooh, this would be a great topic!"
Researches for articles and finds nothing even remotely related
"So what if I change (insert topic focus) to (another topic focus)?"
Researches for articles and finds nothing that feels helpful or supportive of my argument
Gives up for a few days
Start back at the top, rinse and repeat
If you're a technically inclined person (my PhD is in Information Technology) and completely understand my topic and have advice, please let me hear it. If you're not technically inclined but still have red flags you can see that you want to share with me, please let me hear it. I'm not really getting the topic selection support from my school I need so I'm open to any advice about my topic you might have.