MIS%20650%20Generating%20Knowledge:%20Some%20Methodological%20Issues

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MIS 650 Generating Knowledge Some
Methodological Issues
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Background

• Information systems research is by necessity
  multidisciplinary. Our focus is on users of
  technology in context. This automatically
  implies a social-scientific ecological approach.
  However, because we are concerned with motives,
  goals, and plans, we of necessity will look at
  images, expressions, and strategies these imply
  humanistic approaches also. Our roots, however,
  are in maths and computer science and imply a
  tendency to see the world in scientific and
  systems terms. This implies a scientific or
  systems scientific method. On the other hand, IS
  tends to construct, modify and attempt
  improvement we sometimes adopt an engineering or
  medical approach. Its a stew of methods!

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Understanding Research

• Goal of our enterprise is knowledge
• Knowledge requires research from the Latin word
  cicare to explore from circus, a ring from IE
  root (s)ker- to turn, bend
• Research requires a phenomenon, an observation
  method, and an interpretive scheme(-a).
• Research issues centre on the phenomena, the
  methods and the schemes.

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Modeling Research

• Research requires a phenomenon, an observation
  method, and an interpretive scheme(-a).

This says That is These
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Modeling Research

• A Phenomenon has locale, temporal status,
  antecedents, consequents, etc.
• The phenomena, taken as a group, are a field of
  study. Where temporal status is fleeting and
  antecedents and consequents are difficult to
  define or observe, research is difficult.

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Modeling Research

• An observation method has procedures, resources,
  use characteristics, etc.
• Methods that have poorly defined procedures,
  require a lot of resources or special users,
  cant be performed reliably, or present ethical
  problems make for difficult situations in research

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Modeling Research

• An interpretive scheme(-a) has procedures,
  content, use characteristics, input requirements,
  output characteristics
• This enables communication of results to
  interested consumers of the research. Where the
  procedures are slippery and only certain
  individuals can understand your interpretations,
  where it isnt clear what the interpretations
  mean, research is problematic

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Innovation in Research
Gravitational
Big Bang
There are two different ways in which a field
innovates through its ideas. (a) Big Bang one
idea or method spawns many others soon there is
specialization and different streams of
research (b) Gravitational a series of disparate
ideas is drawn together to form a new line of
thought or method.
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Research Flow and Your Paper
Focus ? Component It (research domain) You (researcher) Them (audience)
Phenomena
Observation Methods
Interpretive Schema
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
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Research Issues
Research

• What is appropriate research in IS?
• Do we lead or follow business?
• How to avoid bias at all phases of research
• Are we just researching learning?
• How do we research experience?
• Is anything really new? New wine in old bottles?
• How central is the technology in our research?
• Fatalism, determinism, particularism
• Pure vs. applied research

Knowledge
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Methodological Issues
Methods

• Qualitative methods
• New or different paradigms, including
  interpretivistic ones, action research,
  evaluation research
• Subtle vs. bold effects
• Problems posed by new technology, globalization,
  E-Commerce, etc.
• Researcher bias from a variety of sources
• Holding down the phenomenon long enough to
  measure it.

Research
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Qualitative Approaches
Designing research for Qualitative methods Using
qualitative data Problems of reliability,
informants, recording Appropriate data analysis
methods Interpreting results Mixed methods and
triangulation
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New Paradigms

• Interpretivistic approaches
• Understanding meaning and informants
• Objectivity is a problem
• Action research
• Object is to change something
• Researcher becomes part of the situation
• Evaluation research
• Schema is the important aspect here

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Subtle Effects

• How do we select appropriate analysis techniques
• How big an effect are we looking for? What is
  the difference between significant (plt0.001) and
  SIGNIFICANT?
• How permanent an effect are we looking for?
• How broad an effect are we looking for?
• Does statistics matter?
• What will we do with the effect? issue of
  control/prediction and their costs

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The New Technologies

• The new technologies are pervasive how to select
  a level of phenomenon and to sample from what
  sampling frame.
• The new technologies are global how to overcome
  cultural problems and bias
• The new technologies are expensive what to learn
  from a trial and how much technology is employ.

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Researcher Bias

• Sources of bias include the
• The researcher,
• conscious or unconscious
• The researchers milieu(x),
• Society at large,
• The economics of research and resulting social
  pressures

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Slippery Phenomena

• How do we select appropriate analysis techniques
• How big an effect are we looking for? What is
  the difference between significant (plt0.001) and
  SIGNIFICANT?
• How permanent an effect are we looking for?
• How broad an effect are we looking for?
• Does statistics matter?
• What will we do with the effect? issue of
  control/prediction and their costs

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Other Issues in Methodology, some very specific
indeed

• 1. ICT convergence Level of aggregation
• 2. Ethics informed consent, esp. in
  interventions
• 3. Use of students or other disadvantaged
  participants
• 4. Naïve subjects? Get with the context
• 5. The availability of alternative explanations
• 6. Sampling frame, snowball sampling, convenience
  sampling
• 7. Appropriate proxies (experience, computer
  capability, poorly conceptualised variables)