How to conduct a risk analysis for your thesis

A risk analysis can be useful for your thesis. It allows you to determine what the internal and external risk factors are for an organisation or specific project. It is useful to have these risks clearly identified, especially if you are writing your thesis for a client. Include the analysis in your Plan of Approach, for example, or use its results to shape your recommendations. Read about how to prepare a good risk analysis below.

A risk analysis can be qualitative or quantitative. A combination of both is also possible.

• In qualitative risk analysis, you describe the risks in words and make an estimate.
• In quantitative risk analysis, you make the risks measurable (often in the form of amounts, time or product numbers).

Not all risks carry equal weight. Therefore, it is important to align your risk analysis with the research objective or problem statement you have formulated together with your client.

Below is an overview of possible risk factors to consider.

Internal risk factors:

• staff turnover;
• the budget;
• the layout of departments;
• technology within the organisation;
• housing;
• corporate culture;
• mutual conflicts;
• a lack of certain expertise.

External risk factors:

• demographic factors;
• political-legal factors;
• economic factors;
• socio-cultural factors;
• technological factors;
• ecological factors.

Preparing a risk analysis involves a few steps:

1. Decide on the goal you are working towards for the client. Think of: achieving more turnover, saving time, creating more visibility or improving the quality of a service. This will help determine your risk analysis.
2. Determine which internal and/or external factors you will analyse. Also, determine which factors have the highest priority. To find out the external factors, you can perform the DESTEP analysis. For the internal risk factors, McKinsey's 7S model is suitable.
3. Give the risk factors a place in a risk matrix. In this matrix, you indicate the probability of a risk materialising and the consequences of that risk. The risk matrix looks something like this:

4. For each risk, determine the possible measures. For example, can you prevent risk, reduce its damage, or take out insurance for it? Is it perhaps an option to accept that this threat exists, for example, because the probability of the risk is small and the consequences are not huge either?

When reporting a risk analysis, you always use more or less the same structure. Do you use the analysis as part of your thesis or a report, as in not as a report on its own? Then check which parts overlap with other parts of the text. 

Repetitive information can be deleted from your risk analysis. For instance, an introduction is not necessary if you already have it in your thesis. You often only share the recommendations in the recommendations chapter of your thesis. Is the risk analysis part of the action plan? Then you don't need to write recommendations yet. 

The standard template for a risk analysis looks something like this:

• Introduction (1-2 paragraphs)

• Risk policy (1 paragraph)

• Internal and external risk factors (2 paragraphs)

• Measures for each risk (1 paragraph per measure)

• Conclusion and recommendations (1 paragraph)

If your risk analysis is a report separate from your thesis, ittends to be slightly longer.

Do you still find it quite difficult to write a thesis? Check out our articles with practical tips on how to write your thesis or how to use various models in your thesis. 

Afraid of language errors? We have something to offer you for that too. The AthenaCheck editors are happy to check your thesis for language, structure and/or a common thread. That way, you can be sure that your thesis is clear and well-written.