What tense to use when writing a thesis? I am well aware of the fact that there are a number of questions that talk about tenses in research, but I still have not found exactly what I am after.

Basically my question is this, in a Master dissertation, should the tense be the same throughout the entire text? Or is it acceptable (or even required)  to use different tenses in different structures?

Assuming the following structure, if you believe that there should be separate tenses, would the suggestions in brackets be correct?


Title (Present)
Abstract (Imperfect Past)
Introduction (Present + Future)
Methodology (Past Perfect, Present, Future or Mix?)
Results (Past Perfect)
Discussion (Present*)
Conclusion (Mix?, conditional present)


*Would the choice of any present tense put all preceding sections in a past tense?

Looking at that structure I find it hard to see that only one tense should be adopted throughout the entire text. 

Sources: This, this and that.
The answer to this question varies across disciplines. Your dissertation presumably falls within some academic discipline. Look at other papers in the same discipline, and see what tenses they use. For example, unlike your suggestion, in math papers the abstract is usually present tense. 

If some of the premier journals in your discipline have a style guide, look at these style guides and see what they say. 

The journal Nature, in which the majority of articles are in the  sciences, has the following suggestions for verb tense (I've left out a few of their examples):


  Past tense 
  
  Work done  
  
  
  We collected blood samples from . . .
  Consequently, astronomers decided to rename . . .
  
  
  Work reported 
  
  
  Jankowsky reported a similar growth rate . . .
  In 2009, Chu published an alternative method to . . .
  
  
  Observations  
  
  
  The mice in Group A developed, on average, twice as much . . .
  The conversion rate was close to 95% . . .
  
  
  Present tense     
  
  General truths  
  
  
  Microbes in the human gut have a profound influence on . . .  
  The Reynolds number provides a measure of . . .
  
  
  Atemporal facts  
  
  
  This paper presents the results of . . .
  Section 3.1 explains the difference between . . .
  Behbood's 1969 paper provides a framework for . . .
  
  
  Future tense 
  
  Perspectives 
  
  
  In a follow-up experiment, we will study the role of . . .  
  The influence of temperature will be the object of future research . . .