In 2019 the FHNW investigated the influence that supervision has on a student’s thesis grade and found indications that, in addition to the supervision and the previous average grade, the team setting (single woman, single man, two women, two men, one woman and one man) could have a significant influence. As they did not have sufficient data to reach a conclusion about the team settings influence, they commissioned this thesis to analyse the grades of 377 theses written between 2018 and 2020 with a focus on pairs and pair settings.

Based on goals stated by the client and a review of relevant literature, seven research questions were formulated concerning differences between students working in pairs and students working alone as well as between the different team settings, the differences between two students that build a team, different kinds of teams and the various factors influencing the thesis grades. Descriptive and inferential statistics as well as a k-means clustering were used to answer the research questions.

An extensive discussion of the results presented can be summarized in four main points. First, the average thesis grades of students working alone and students working in a team, as well as the average thesis grades of the different team settings (single woman, single man, two women, two men, one woman and one man) are not significantly different from each other. Second, students working alone are older, more likely to be part-time students, and more likely to have topics that are self-acquired or related to an employer. Third, the pairs can be sorted into clusters according to the way their members are similar to and different from each other, but the different kinds of teams do not have significant differences in their thesis grades. Fourth, three different sets of regression analyses show, that the average grade, whether a topic is self-acquired, and a student’s satisfaction with their supervisor’s methodological support have the most significant influence on thesis grades. The thesis concludes by pointing out that this research adds a new, holistic perspective to the existing literature and lists ideas for further investigation.