ملف شابتر يتكلم عن الشبكات ملخص ومفيد اا

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Scientific Research in Information
Systems: A Beginner’s Guide (2nd
edition)
Created by Professor Jan Recker
Teaching Notes: Scientific Research in Information Systems (2nd
edition) ~ © Copyright 2021 Jan Recker. All Rights Reserved. ~
Teaching Materials

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Copyright Notice & Citation
© Copyright 2021 Jan Recker. All Rights Reserved.
Recker, J. (2021): Scientific Research in Information Systems: A Beginner’s Guide.
2nd
edition, Springer.
Available at Springer, Amazon, and other booksellers

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 This course will provide an introduction and overview of scientific research in Information Systems. It will discuss
elementary scientific principles of research, explore key decisions in identifying research questions, designing a
study, developing and using theory, research methods, and discuss challenges in paper writing, publishing, and
scientific ethics.
 The course will be taught in an interactive style where we jointly discuss learnings, critique articles, attempt to apply
what we have learned to improve and extend our own research and publications, and work together to reach a
deeper understanding of how to produce significant Information Systems research. The course will feature readings,
lectures as well as student presentations and discussions in the classroom.
Course Overview

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 Students learn to…
 ...understand principles of scientific inquiry such as replicability, independence, and precision.
 …evaluate phenomena and research problems of interest to information systems scholars
 ...apply discipline and technical knowledge to analyze and evaluate scientific processes and outcomes in
information systems.
 … distinguish, evaluate, and compare different research methods used in information systems research
 …frame important research questions and design research studies appropriate to address these research
questions.
 …develop written communication skills to structure, explain and defend scientific thinking.
 …appreciate ethical issues in planning, conduct, and publishing of information systems research.
Learning Outcomes

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Chapter 1:
Introduction to Information
Systems Research

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Let‘s get going:
What is Research?
What is a famous study you
have heard of?

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a) The willingness to admit ignorance. Science assumes that we
don’t know everything. Even more critically, it accepts that the
things that we think we know could be proven wrong as we gain
more knowledge. No concept, idea or theory is sacred and beyond
challenge.
b) The centrality of observation. Having admitted ignorance,
science aims to obtain new knowledge. It does so by gathering
observations and then using formal tools such as logic or
mathematics to connect these observations into comprehensive
theories.
c) The acquisition of new powers. Science is not content with
creating theories. It uses these theories in order to acquire new
powers, and in particular to develop new technologies.
The Scientific Revolution: Mankind realizes
they do not know everything.

 What is Information Systems research about?
What are we researching in IS?
e
n
a
b
l
e
s
supports
Change
Information
Technology
Value

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 The information systems research discipline is concerned with examining the
development, use, and impact of digital information and communication
technology.
Definition of IS research

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 A focus on digital technologies, that is, technologies that rely on digitisation, the
encoding of analogue information into digital format (essentially, bits and bytes
that contain 0s and 1s).
 This makes IS research dynamic and fast-moving: these artefacts change all the
time!
Two key aspects of that definition (1)

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 The study of development, use, and impacts is very broad and heterogenous:
• What is development
• What do we mean by use?
• What could be impacts?
 This makes IS research diverse and challenging: different theories and methods
are needed to study all these aspects!
Two key aspects of that definition (2)

 Scholars in information technology, software engineering, and computer science study the technical
and computational attributes of digital technology as such.
 Scholars in behavioural, cognitive, and psychological sciences study individuals’ exposure, use,
appropriation, and general behaviours [within digital technology domains].
 Scholars in organisational science, management, and business study how corporate environments
shape, and are shaped by, digital technology.
 Economists study the large-scale effects of digital technology diffusion and innovation on organisations,
markets, and societies.
There are many ways of doing research on Information Systems

 Conceptual research
 is concerned with an analysis of a problem at hand without a commitment to any
(technologically-driven) solutions
 Formal research
 Is concerned with describing concepts in mathematical terms (so as to remove any
potential ambiguity with respect to their interpretation) and presenting theorems with
corresponding proofs to provide more insight into these concepts
Types of research

 Technological research
 Is concerned with the development of sophisticated software artifacts to prove that
certain ideas can indeed be realized and to reason about the comparative strengths and
weaknesses of various architectural approaches
 E.g., Workflow Systems (YAWL) or Process Mining (Celonis)
 Experimental research
 typically addresses a limited set of properties of a phenomenon (e.g., a property of a
technology or person, or a method), and examine these properties in controlled settings
 E.g., experiments in medicine or physics
Types of research

 Empirical research
 sets off to study phenomena in real-life practice, and to build or confirm theories about
how the phenomena came to be about.
 can be based on case studies, surveys, action research, grounded theory, or other
methods.
 E.g., Technology Acceptance, Success factor models
Types of research

 Demonstrate your ability to conduct research and scholarship that make a unique contribution
and meet the standards of credibility and verifiability
 Example: PhD
“The Doctor of Philosophy degree is awarded in recognition of a student's erudition in a broad field of learning and for
notable accomplishment in that field through an original and substantial contribution to [the body of] knowledge.”
From the QUT Doctor of Philosophy Regulations (IF49)
What do you need to do when you pursue
research in your studies?

 Common misleading views on what research is about:
 The great idea
“I have just had this great idea! I do not know if anyone else has ever had the same idea, because I’ve not checked, and I’m rather
new in this field. Anyway, my idea is brilliant, so I really would like to share it with you all.”
How do you know you are not on the right track?

 Other people’s idea
“I have just read this great book that I really like a lot. I’ll just give you a short resume of the interesting points in the book and apply
it to this situation over here.”

 The software hacker
“I have just built this great computer system/software tool/mobile application. It is not based on previous theories or empirical
findings. I am not very theoretical myself, but the system has a lot of fantastic features, and the interface is neat. Plus, people could
really use it.”

 The theory hacker
“I have come up with this theory/conceptual framework/model/methodology. It is not related to other theories/conceptual
frameworks/models, or any empirical data for that matter. Most of the concepts have been defined differently by all the big shots in
the field, but I just do not like their categories so I have invented my own. And I think it is surely better (I haven’t checked that
either).”

 Ambition
 The ambition to complete a doctoral degree to enter (or progress) an academic career is different from the ambition to
pursue a research degree as recognition of thought leadership for industry or corporate careers.
 What is your ambition?
 Dedication
 The enthusiasm that you need to work on a novel and intrinsically complex challenge for a substantial amount of time
 Are you dedicated?
 Commitment
 The willingness to free time and resources to work dedicatedly on the research
 Are you free to commit yourself?
What matters to research?

• Fewer than 65 percent of people who start PhD programs finish them (Bowen, W. and N. Rudenstine.
1992). More recent data paints a similar picture: Attrition in residential doctoral programs is as high as
50 percent in face-to-face programs (de Vise, 2010) and 50–70 percent in online programs (Rigler Jr.
et al., 2017). In Germany, attrition rates are said to be about 15 percent of doctoral students in social
science disciplines and about 25 percent in engineering disciplines (Franz, 2015).
• Ten percent of doctoral students claim to have considered suicide, and 54 percent of doctoral students
have felt so depressed at various stages that they had difficulty functioning (OnlinePhDPrograms.Net).
• In one study, 43 percent of participating graduate students reported experiencing more stress than they
could handle, with PhD students expressing the greatest stress. More than half listed stress or burnout
as a major concern, about a quarter cited feeling like outsiders, and nearly a third listed their
relationships withprofessors as a cause of stress (Patterson, 2016).
 Why is that?
Research is a challenging task

 Most common reason is that students do not understand the formal cause of
earning a research degree.
 Elementary school is like learning to ride a tricycle.
 High school is like learning to ride a bicycle.
 College is like learning to drive a car.
 A master’s degree is like learning to drive a race car.
 Students often think that the next step (a research degree) is more of the same, like
learning to fly an airplane.
 On the contrary, a research degree (like a PhD) is like learning to design a new car.
Instead of taking in more knowledge, you have to create knowledge

• The body of knowledge is the current accumulation of theories, evidence and
methods in a certain domain (e.g. medicine, management, education etc).
• Typically consists of theories that have been evidenced – i.e., not falsified (yet).
• Also consists of methods that have been used to evidence or falsify theories.
• Sometimes can be innovative and important new evidence.
• Is available in the scientific community in the form of paper, articles and books.
How do you create new knowledge?

What is the body of knowledge?

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