Information systems Research methods

Introduction: What is Science

4/11/2014

Course Objectives• To define what is science.

• To understand the tools of scientific research.

• To design, evaluate, and understand research methods and methodologies for information systems research.

• To be able to distinguish among research methods in order to answer the research question.

• To design hypotheses depending on the type of data and research method.

• To describe sampling techniques, questionnaire development, analysis and testing.

• To interpret findings and hypotheses evaluation.

Course Structure• Information Systems Research as a Science

• Research Process

• Research Methods

• Data Collection

• Data Analysis

• Group-assignment presentation

Course Material• Bhattacherjee Α. (2012). Social Science Research: Principles,

Methods, and Practices. Textbooks Collection. Book 3. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/oa_textbooks/3.

• Recker, J. (2013). Scientific Research in Information Systems: A Beginner’s Guide. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

• Mingers, J. 2001. Combining IS Research Methods: Towards a Pluralist Methodology, Information Systems Research, 12:3, pp. 240-259..

Course Exam

• Group assignment:

• Topic selection, e.g. facebook use increases based on time of the day and gender, OR how does gender, age and occupation influence mobile banking use, how does privacy influence citizens to use mobile applications in public places etc.

• Develop the research question

• Outline 4-5 similar research papers in the field

• Describe the research method

• Select sample technique

• Present your results: presentation of 10 minutes during the last two weeks

• Submit a short paper, 3-5 pages (references included), describing the aforementioned deliverables – upload: eclass

• Group: 4-5 people

Science• Science refers to a systematic and organized body of knowledge

in any area of inquiry that is acquired using “the scientific method”.

• Grouped into two broad categories based on the discipline: natural science and social science.

• Grouped into two broad categories based on their purpose: basic science and applied science.

Natural vs Social• Natural science is the science of naturally occurring objects or phenomena, such as light,

objects, matter, earth, celestial bodies, or the human body. Classified into:

• Physical sciences: disciplines such as physics (the science of physical objects), chemistry (the science of matter), and astronomy (the science of celestial objects).

• Earth sciences consist of disciplines such as geology (the science of the earth).

• Life sciences include disciplines such as biology (the science of human bodies) and botany (the science of plants).

• Social science is the science of people or collections of people, such as groups, firms, societies, or economies, and their individual or collective behaviors. Classified into disciplines such as:

• psychology (the science of human behaviors),

• sociology (the science of social groups), and

• economics (the science of firms, markets, and economies).

Basic vs Applied • Basic sciences, also called pure sciences: explain the most basic objects and forces,

relationships between them, and laws governing them. Examples include physics, mathematics, and biology.

• Applied sciences, also called practical science: apply scientific knowledge from basic sciences in a physical environment. For instance, engineering is an applied science that applies the laws of physics and chemistry for practical applications such as building stronger bridges or fuel efficient combustion engines, while medicine is an applied science that applies the laws of biology for solving human ailments.

• Characteristics:

• Both basic and applied sciences are required for human development.

• Applied sciences cannot stand on their own right, but instead relies on basic sciences for its progress.

• Industry and private enterprises tend to focus more on applied sciences given their practical value, while universities study both basic and applied sciences.

Scientific Knowledge• Scientific knowledge refers to a generalized body of laws and theories

to explain a phenomenon or behavior of interest that are acquired using the scientific method.

• Laws: observed patterns of phenomena or behaviors.

• Theories: systematic explanations of the underlying phenomenon or behavior. There may be good or poor explanations, depending on the extent to which those explanations fit well with reality, and consequently, there may be good or poor theories.

• Characteristics• The progress of science is marked by our progression over time from poorer

theories to better theories, through better observations using more accurate instruments and more informed logical reasoning.

• Scientific laws or theories are produced through a process of: logic (theory) and evidence (observations). In science, theories and observations are interrelated and cannot exist without each other.

• Theories provide meaning and significance to what we observe, and observations help validate or refine existing theory or construct new theory. Any other means of knowledge acquisition, such as faith or authority cannot be considered science.

Scientific Research• Scientific research: theory and observations are

essential components. For instance, relying solely on observations for making inferences and ignoring theory is not considered valid scientific research.

• Operates at two levels: theoretical and empirical.

• Theoretical level (theories): concerned with developing abstract concepts about a natural or social phenomenon and relationships between those concepts (i.e., build “theories”)

• Empirical level (observations): concerned with testing the theoretical concepts and relationships to see how well they reflect our observations of reality, with the goal of ultimately building better theories.

Inductive vs Deductive• Inductive research - theory-building research : the goal of a

researcher is to infer theoretical concepts and patterns from observed data - more valuable when there are few prior theories or explanations.

• Deductive research - theory-testing research : the goal of the researcher is to test concepts and patterns known from theory using new empirical data - more productive when there are many competing theories of the same phenomenon and researchers are interested in knowing which theory works best and under what circumstances.

Inductive vs Deductive

Scientific Method - Definition• Refers to a standardized set of techniques for building

scientific knowledge, such as how to make valid observations, how to interpret results, and how to generalize those results.

• The scientific method allows researchers to independently and impartially test preexisting theories and prior findings, and subject them to open debate, modifications, or enhancements.

Scientific Method - Characteristics• Replicability: Others should be able to independently replicate or repeat a

scientific study and obtain similar, if not identical, results.

• Precision: Theoretical concepts, which are often hard to measure, must be defined with such precision that others can use those definitions to measure those concepts and test that theory.

• Falsifiability: A theory must be stated in a way that it can be disproven. Theories that cannot be tested or falsified are not scientific theories and any such knowledge is not scientific knowledge. A theory that is specified in imprecise terms or whose concepts are not accurately measurable cannot be tested, and is therefore not scientific. Sigmund Freud’s ideas on psychoanalysis fall into this category and is therefore not considered a “theory”, even though psychoanalysis may have practical utility in treating certain types of conditions.

• Parsimony: When there are multiple explanations of a phenomenon, scientists must always accept the simplest or logically most economical explanation. Parsimony prevents scientists from pursuing overly complex or outlandish theories with endless number of concepts and relationships that may explain a little bit of everything but nothing in particular.

Types of Scientific Research• Exploratory research is often conducted in new areas of inquiry, where the

goals of the research are: (1) to scope out the magnitude or extent of a particular phenomenon, problem, or behavior, (2) to generate some initial ideas (or “hunches”) about that phenomenon, or (3) to test the feasibility of undertaking a more extensive study regarding that phenomenon. Example - citizens of a country level of satisfaction with governmental policies e.g. mandatory use of taxis during an economic recession, exploratory research may be directed at measuring the extent of citizens’ dissatisfaction, understanding how such dissatisfaction is manifested etc .

• Descriptive research is directed at making careful observations and detailed documentation of a phenomenon of interest.

• These observations must be based on the scientific method (i.e., must be replicable, precise, etc.), and therefore, are more reliable than casual observations by untrained people.

• Examines the what, where, and when of a phenomenon.

• Example - the role of technologies such as Twitter and instant messaging in the spread of democracy movements in Middle Eastern countries.

Types of Scientific Research• Explanatory research seeks explanations of observed phenomena, problems,

or behaviors.

• Examines why and how types of questions.

• It attempts to “connect the dots” in research, by identifying causal factors and outcomes of the target phenomenon.

• Examples include understanding the reasons behind social media use, with the goal of suggesting strategies to increase company profits.

• Most academic or doctoral research belongs to the explanation category, though some amount of exploratory and/or descriptive research may also be needed during initial phases of academic research.

• Seeking explanations for observed events requires strong theoretical and interpretation skills, along with intuition, insights, and personal experience.

Types of Scientific Research• Explanatory research seeks explanations of observed phenomena, problems,

or behaviors.

• Examines why and how types of questions.

• It attempts to “connect the dots” in research, by identifying causal factors and outcomes of the target phenomenon.

• Examples include understanding the reasons behind social media use, with the goal of suggesting strategies to increase company profits.

• Most academic or doctoral research belongs to the explanation category, though some amount of exploratory and/or descriptive research may also be needed during initial phases of academic research.

• Seeking explanations for observed events requires strong theoretical and interpretation skills, along with intuition, insights, and personal experience.

Types of Scientific Research Questions• How does privacy influence citizens to use mobile applications in

public places?

• Why do users that have a lot of friends in Facebook receive more “likes” than others with less friends?

• How does economic recession influence the use of mobile customer relationship management tools by small and medium sized enterprises?

• Why do employees that spend time browsing the internet pages at work are less productive?

Unit of Analysis (I)• Unit of analysis refers to the person, collective, or object that is

the target of the investigation.

• Include individuals, groups, organizations, countries, technologies, objects, and such.

• Examples –

• If we are interested in studying people’s shopping behavior, their learning outcomes, or their attitudes to new technologies, then the unit of analysis is the individual.

• If we want to study characteristics of street gangs or teamwork in organizations, then the unit of analysis is the group.

• If the goal of research is to understand how firms can improve profitability or make good executive decisions, then the unit of analysis is the firm. In this case, even though decisions are made by individuals in these firms, these individuals are presumed to represent their firm’s decision rather than their personal decisions.

Unit of Analysis (II)• Examples –

• If research is directed at understanding differences in national cultures, then the unit of analysis becomes a country.

• Even inanimate objects can serve as units of analysis.

• For instance, if a researcher is interested in understanding how to make web pages more attractive to its users, then the unit of analysis is a web page (and not users).

• If we wish to study how knowledge transfer occurs between two firms, then our unit of analysis becomes the dyad (the combination of firms that is sending and receiving knowledge).

Concepts, Constructs & Variables (I)• Concepts - Explanations require development of concepts or

generalizable properties or characteristics associated with objects, events, or people.

• While objects such as a person, a firm, or a car are not concepts, their specific characteristics or behavior such as a person’s attitude toward immigrants, a firm’s capacity for innovation, and a car’s weight can be viewed as concepts.).

Concepts, Constructs & Variables (II)• Constructs - A construct is an abstract concept that is specifically chosen (or

“created”) to explain a given phenomenon. A construct may be a simple concept, such as a person’s weight, or a combination of a set of related concepts such as person’s communication skill, which may consist of several underlying concepts such as the person’s vocabulary, syntax, and spelling.

• The former instance (weight) is a unidimensional construct, while the latter (communication skill) is a multi-dimensional construct (i.e., it consists of multiple underlying concepts).

• The distinction between constructs and concepts are clearer in multi-dimensional constructs, where the higher order abstraction is called a construct and the lower order abstractions are called concepts. However, this distinction tends to blur in the case of unidimensional constructs.

• Constructs used for scientific research must have precise and clear definitions that others can use to understand exactly what it means and what it does not mean. For instance, a seemingly simple construct such as income may refer to monthly or annual income, before-tax or after-tax income, and personal or family income, and is therefore neither precise nor clear.

Concepts, Constructs & Variables (III)• Variables - is a measurable representation of an abstract construct. As abstract

entities, constructs are not directly measurable, and hence, we look for proxy measures called variables. For instance, a person’s intelligence is often measured as his or her IQ (intelligence quotient) score, which is an index generated from an analytical and pattern-matching test administered to people. In this case, intelligence is a construct, and IQ score is a variable that measures the intelligence construct.

• Independent variables: explain other variables,

• Dependent variables: are explained by other variables,

• Mediating variables (or intermediate variables): are explained by independent variables while also explaining dependent variables,

• Moderating variables: influence the relationship between independent and dependent variables, and

• Control variables: other extraneous variables that are not pertinent to explaining a given dependent variable, but may have some impact on the dependent variable. These variables must be controlled for in a scientific study.

• Example: higher intelligence causes improved learning among students, then intelligence is an independent variable and learning is a dependent variable.

Theoretical and empirical planes of research

Variables

The Research Process

Functionalism vs Interpretivism• Functionalism paradigm:

• researchers view the world as consisting mostly of social order (ontology)

• seek to study patterns of ordered events or behaviors,

• believe that the best way to study such a world is using objective approach (epistemology) that is independent of the person conducting the observation or interpretation, such as by using standardized data collection tools like surveys.

• Interpretivism paradigm:

• researchers believe that the best way to study social order is though the subjective interpretation of participants involved, such as by interviewing different participants and reconciling differences among their responses using their own subjective perspective.

The Research Process - Functionalism

Exploration – research question, literature review• Research Question

• Specific questions about a behavior, event, or phenomena of interest that you wish to seek answers for in your research – can delve into issues what, why, how, when, and so forth.

• Examples:

• what factors motivate consumers to purchase goods and services online without knowing the vendors of these goods or services,

• how can we make high school students more creative, and why do some people commit terrorist acts.

• More interesting research questions are those that appeal to a broader population (e.g., “how can firms innovate” is a more interesting research question than “how can Chinese firms innovate in the service-sector”), address real and complex problems (in contrast to hypothetical or “toy” problems), and where the answers are not obvious.

• Literature Review: The purpose is three-fold:

i. to survey the current state of knowledge in the area of inquiry,

ii. to identify key authors, articles, theories, and findings in that area, and

iii. To identify gaps in knowledge in that research area. Literature review is commonly done today using computerized keyword searches in online databases. Keywords can be combined using “and” and “or” operations to narrow down or expand the search results.

Exploration – Literature review• Process

i. Shortlist of relevant articles generated from the keyword search.

ii. Manually browse through each article, or at least its abstract section, to determine the suitability of that article for a detailed review.

iii. Literature reviews should be reasonably complete, and not restricted to a few journals, a few years, or a specific methodology.

iv. Reviewed articles may be summarized in the form of tables, and can be further structured using organizing frameworks such as a concept matrix.

v. A well-conducted literature review should indicate whether the initial research questions have already been addressed in the literature (which would obviate the need to study them again), whether there are newer or more interesting research questions available, and whether the original research questions should be modified or changed in light of findings of the literature review.

vi. The review can also provide some intuitions or potential answers to the questions of interest and/or help identify theories that have previously been used to address similar questions.

Literature review• Electronic databases

• provide the citation of relevant articles

• Sometimes the full-text of the article

• Access to the two databases is available from HUA labs:

• www.sciencedirect.com - Published by Elsevier, world’s largest publisher of science, technology and medical information. Nearly six million full-text articles

• www.scopus.com

• and off-campus via our remote access system: http://www.hua.gr/index.php/el/services80/user-account52

• Keyword search

• Review Abstract

• Synonyms: mobile banking OR m-banking

• Related terms: m-banking how is it related to e-banking

Research design decisionsSpectrum One end of

continuum Other end of continuum

Method Qualitative vs. Quantitative

Aim Exploratory vs. Explanatory

Boundary Case vs. Statistical

Setting Field vs. Laboratory

Timing Cross-sectional vs. Longitudinal

Outcome Descriptive vs. Causal

Ambition Understanding vs. Designing