Welcome to the communities.

You can produce a great A grade piece of work on almost any topic.

What interests you? What are you prepared to invest time and thinking into studying at great depth? Do you have access to an organisation where you can do primary research and if so what would they be interested in you studying? What level are you studying at? What guidance have your tutors given? Etc....

In reply to Keith:

Hi Jacqueline
Keith's guidance is very sound. Whilst we can offer advice and help you refine your ideas, you need to share your ideas with us in the first place. I'd pick out two pieces of Keith's advice that I think is absolutely critical - choose something that interests you and something that you are able to get primary research about fairly easily and that is important to your organisation.

Why not tell us which areas of HR interest you and what topics you are considering at the moment?

Hope that helps

Jackie

Agreeing with Elizabeth and Keith, I also think it's important to remember that a dissertation is, by definition, something you create and therefore its subject (and the choice of that subject) should reflect your interests or priorities.

Identifying what is, or is not, of significance in (various) situations is a large part of what we do; deciding on your topic is therefore a reflection of your ability to select and prioritise: Part of the assessable context of your submitted work which you should therefore feel confident, and committed, to contribute.

P

Great advice from my colleagues and this Community will happily support you in discussing your ideas.
Do remember it's also important to work closely with the tutor who's supervising your dissertation if you want the highest grade. Make sure you clarify your focus with him/her and get feedback on your drafts.
Good luck.

In reply to Jacqueline:

I would like to go into employee retention and training and link it somehow to healthcare since I'm working as an HCA. Would like to open a recruiting agency for healthcare professionals. I am really confused o. What I can combined together to bring out a good research TOPIC. Any ideas?

I really think this is an issue for discussion with your Tutor, since there are a wide range of issues that can be linked in that field, e.g. the effects of varying recruitment, training and retention policies or practices on the various grades of Healthcare Professionals (HCPs), however these are enormously complex subjects involving both administrative and clinical career development structures alongside ethical and data-processing issues. I also have to suggest (given a fairly extensive background in the NHS and with a number of close family members involved in Healthcare), that your ambition to run a recruiting agency for HCPs straight from qualification seems somewhat over-ambitious, given the scope of that status, from Drs, Nurses, Therapists and professional Councillors, to Porters and Care-assistants. You would also be up against some extremely stiff commercial competition, unless you can find a niche-market relating to a particular field or clinical focus.

I am NOT seeking to pour cold water on your idea or ideals, but I think "one step at a time" might be the best advice, and talking to your Tutor regarding your existing knowledge and background career interests, and how those might best be presented in an original piece of thinking in your dissertation, would seem to me to be the immediate need.

A dissertation (or any presentation of ideas and insights, from speaking to a filled lecture-hall or drafting a learned paper, to what I write here on these pages at this moment), is not a pre-determined path to a known outcome (e.g. choosing "the right" subject to get an "A"), but a course set, by its author (you), to make the value of what you have to say obvious to the reader, even if its significance in the "great scheme of things" at first seems insignificant. It is the association of the components into an original concept, and the clarity of presentation of that concept, which determine the outcome, not the starting point (or indeed the destination).

So again I must return the question to you: What do YOU think is important to recognise about the process of recruiting and training HCPs which both separates them from other professional groups, or might be done (or done differently) to improve outcomes of performance and retention?

Then take that thought, establish its validity through research of sources, develop it using (or challenging) those sources, present your arguments and conclusions clearly and in detail, and there will be your "A".

It's hard work and makes your brain ache! That's what makes it worth doing. But start with what YOU think is worth that effort to say, not what Keith, or Elizabeth, or Anna, or I, or any of the other contributors to these threads think, or what might seem like an exciting, shiny, subject that is bound to get an "A" (there isn't one).

Your tutor will, most certainly, have had such discussions before and will have insights into how best to structure where you are with where you need to be that we here do not have.

Once you have your ideas in place, then test them with us by all means; use us as sources if we have value as such and we'll be happy to help if we can; but it's your path you need to tread, not one that goes to where we would want to go (or think would be a good destination).

P

Hi Jacqueline

I would say keep a reasonably broad topic which can then be tailored with specific research questions within your dissertation.

Perhaps retention in the healthcare industry is your broad topic and then you can use your research questions to examine impact of training and how this affects retention?

I agree with others, you need to find something that is interesting to you and that you are motivated by as you will spend a lot of time reading, researching and writing.

Good luck!