Brief Review of Research Model / Hypothesis

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Brief Review of Research Model / Hypothesis
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Research is Argument
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Research

• One definition of research
• Research is a formal, systematic, and rigorous
  process of inquiry used to generate and test the
  concepts and propositions that comprise
  middle-range theories, which are derived from or
  linked with a conceptual model.

Reference Fawcett, J., The relationship of
theory and research, 3rd ed., F.A. Davis Company,
1998. (p.8)
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Journal Review

• Articles pass through a double blind review
  process to ensure the quality of their underlying
  research methodology and argument.
• Australian Accounting Review
• Whats interesting here? Rigorous argument and
  presentation are expected throughout.
• Information Systems Research

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ICIS 2006 Review Criteria for Research Papers

• Fit with track
• Interesting/important problem
• Clear motivation (why the problem is interesting
  theoretically or practically)
• Conceptual development or grounding in prior
  literature
• Methodological adequacy (if relevant)
• Interesting findings
• Well structured and clearly written paper

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Conceptual Model Hypothesis
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Different Levels of Abstraction

• Most abstract -------- Conceptual Model
• Grand Theory
• Middle-range theory
• Most concrete ------- Empirical research
• methods

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Concept

• A concept is a word or phrase that summarizes the
  essential characteristics or properties of a
  phenomenon.
• A proposition is a statement about a concept or a
  relation between concepts.
• A construct usually means a concept that is
  complex or inferred.
• A variable refers to the concrete, measured
  values.

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Hypothesis

• Hypotheses are special types of propositions that
  represents conjectures about the concepts of
  middle-range theories stated in empirically
  testable forms.
• (Concepts are linked to empirical indicators. But
  many reports use concepts directly in the
  hypothesis.)

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Example 1

• Proposition There is a phenomenon known as X.
• Hypothesis The phenomenon known as X is
  empirically demonstrated by X

X
X
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Example 2

• Proposition There is a relation between X and Y.
• Hypothesis X and Y are related.

X
Y
X
Y
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Example 3

• Proposition There is a negative relation between
  loneliness and cognitive functioning.
• Hypothesis The higher the score on the Revised
  Loneliness Scale, the lower the score on the
  Mental Status Examination.

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Example 4

• Proposition There is a strong positive relation
  between walking exercise and physical
  functioning, such that moderate walking exercise
  is associated with much better physical
  functioning than usual care.
• Hypothesis The difference in scores on the
  12-minute walk test between the experimental
  moderate walking exercise program group and the
  control usual care group signify a large effect
  size, with higher scores for the experimental
  group.

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Example 5

• Hypothesis Groups will make fewer spreadsheet
  development errors than will individuals working
  alone.
• What are the constructs relations?

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Example 6

• Hypothesis If individuals sustain a distinction
  between entities and attributes, they will recall
  an item that represents an entity first during a
  recall task.
• What are the constructs relations?

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Examples (bad)

• Hypothesis Gender has higher speed.
• Hypothesis Good interfaces lead to better
  interaction.
• Hypothesis Old men have higher anxiety about
  computer applications.

Checks 1) How are these measured? 2) How are the
measurements to be related? 3) What are the
comparison groups?
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Conceptual Model

• A conceptual model is a set of relatively
  abstract and general concepts and the
  propositions that describe or link those
  concepts.
• A conceptual model shows the relevant phenomena,
  while ignoring less important phenomena.

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Theory

• A theory is a set of relatively concrete and
  specific concepts and the propositions that
  describe or link these concepts.
• Grand theory broader, more abstract
• Middle-range theory narrower, more concrete
  (could be tested)
• Theories allow us to explain or unite phenomena.

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Theory Example 1

• Technology acceptance model
• constructs perceived usefulness, perceived ease
  of use, intention to use
• Relations among constructs
• Measurement items

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Theory Example 2

• Fitts Law
• Movement time (for a device) is a function of the
  distance and width of the target.
• MTa b log2(D/W 1)

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Theory Example 3

• Hicks Law
• Time taken to choose between a number N of
  alternative targets.
• Timea b log2(N 1)

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Theory Example 4

• Levels of analysis theories
• A 4-level theory (Foley et al., 1995)
• Conceptual level (users mental model)
• Semantic level (input/output meanings)
• Syntactic level (sequence of input actions)
• Lexical (precise mechanisms for input)

See Ch 2 of Shneiderman Plasiant
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Theory Example 5

• Stages of action model (Norman, 1988)
• Cycles of action and evaluation
• Forming goal, forming intention, specifying
  action, executing action, perceiving system
  state, interpreting system state, evaluating
  outcome.
• Gulf of execution / evaluation

See Ch 2 of Shneiderman Plasiant
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Theory Example 6

• GOMS model (Card et al., 1983)
• Goals (e.g. to delete some words)
• Operators (mouse, delete key)
• Methods (the sequence of actions)
• Selection (rules to choose among alternative
  methods)

See Ch 2 of Shneiderman Plasiant
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Types of Theory

• Descriptive what is (descriptive)
• Explanatory why (correlational)
• Predictive does an intervention result in the
  intended effect (experimental)