Dick Heinhuis

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May 8 th :
Influences on Research
Reading an article
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May 15 th :
Research question(s)
Conceptual mapping
Ethics and research
How to write
C 2

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Being able to formulate an appropriate research question
Being able to criticise scientific literature
Being able to write a research paper (?)

Research is full of false starts, blind alleys, mistakes, and enforced changes to research plans. But these are rarely written about in the final research publications.
Books (no matter how well written) can only deal with generalities, so individual pieces of research may seem difficult to reconcile with the broader picture.
There are plenty of things that can go wrong with a research plan so being flexible and being willing to persevere in adverse circumstances are desirable traits in a social researcher.
Nonetheless, the methodological principles and techniques outlined in this book provide a road map for the research journey.

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Literature review
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Concepts and theories
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Research questions
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Sampling
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Data collection
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Data analysis
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Writing up the research

IS research does not ‘exist in a bubble’ in a world apart from the social sciences -it is integrated with them;
The variety and diversity of business and management studies makes it hard to find agreement on how IS research claims should be evaluated;
Perhaps it can only be seen as an ‘applied’ field because it is concerned with solving management problems;
Academic researchers add to theory “supported by bits of practice” and management consultants contribute to practice
“backed by bits of theory”. (Gummesson, 2000)

The quality of research

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Reliability – are measures consistent?
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Replication/replicability – is study repeatable?
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Validity – are conclusions well-founded?

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Measurement (or construct) validity – do measures reflect concepts?
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Internal validity – are causal relations between variables real?
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External validity – can results be generalized beyond the research setting?
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Ecological validity – are findings applicable to everyday life?

(Bryman, 2011, 2012)

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Theory as a framework
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Theory and data collection

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Grand theories
These theories seek to explain much of human behavior, but are often considered outdated and incomplete in the face of modern research. Psychologists and researchers often use grand theories as a basis for exploration, but consider smaller theories and recent research as well.
Middle range theories

Which comes first, theory or research?
- should we examine a problem and try to work out how it’s caused and how it might be solved
(inductive reasoning),
- or should we take a generally accepted theory of how things work and find evidence for it in the problem we examine (deductive reasoning)?

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What is (or should be) considered acceptable knowledge?
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Can the social world be studied ‘scientifically’?
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Is it appropriate to apply the methods of the natural sciences to social science research?

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Positivism
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Interpretivism
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Critical research

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Knowledge is based on the senses
Apply the methods of natural sciences to all research
Knowledge is arrived at through gathering of facts
Purpose of theory is to generate hypotheses
Science must be value free (objective)
A difference between normative and scientific statements

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Roots in sociology (Saint Simon, Durkheim)

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A different approach is needed for social sciences
(compared to natural sciences)
The objects are different: human action has a meaning for human beings
Social sciences need to understand the subjective meaning
Human behavior is complex

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Subject matter of the social sciences (people) demands nonpositivist methods
Verstehen : interpretative understanding of social action
(Weber 1947)
Attempts to see world from the actor’s perspective: subjective reality
Influenced by Symbolic Interactionism

Example: Symbolic Interactionism
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Erving Goffman (1958), a prominent social theorist in this tradition, discusses roles dramaturgically, using an analogy to the theater, with human social behavior seen as more or less well scripted and with humans as role-taking actors. Roletaking is a key mechanism of interaction, for it permits us to take the other's perspective, to see what our actions might mean to the other actors with whom we interact. At other times, interactionists emphasize the improvisational quality of roles, with human social behavior seen as poorly scripted and with humans as role-making improvisers.

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Sciences have an emancipatory role to play
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Academic research in not objective and neutral
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Emphasis on power relations

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Assume (power) conflicts
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Roots in Marxism

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Security issues in an organization. The research focuses on the reasons of using or not using security features of a system by the employees.

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Search for theories that explain the use of IS systems, e.g. TAM, DeLone&McLean, TTF
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Select suitable theory and use constructs from this theory
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Pilot research
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Quantitative approach

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Meaning of security and IS for employees
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The role of colleagues
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Search for theories in sociology and psychology that explain the role of security and work

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Interviewing of managers and employees

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Work implies power relations that have to be analysed
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Organizations are institutions to maintain power relations
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Security is related to these power relations
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What is the purpose of the security features and what will it do to power relations

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For instance action research in which employees are made aware of this power relation and the ways in which they can change it

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Are social entities objective
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Do they have a reality external to social actors
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Or perceptions and actions of social actors

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Objectivism
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Constructionism

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Objectivism is an ontological position that asserts that social phenomena and their meanings have an existence that is independent of social actors. It implies that social phenomena and the categories that we use in everyday discourse have an existence that is independent or separate from actors.

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Social phenomena and their meanings are continually being generated by social actors and are produced through social interaction.
Social phenomena and categories are in a constant state of revision. Researchers' own accounts of the social world are constructions.

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Safety and security of IS systems

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Safety and security have a reality that exists without the individuals

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Everyday interaction determines safety and security

 personal beliefs or the feelings of researcher
 all ‘preconceptions must be eradicated’ (Durkheim 1938)
 affect every stage of research process

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May influence or determine choices on:
 research strategy
 design
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 method resources and costs
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May be influenced or determined by:
 nature of the topic
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 people being investigated political acceptability

 time
 cost/funding available
 how much prior literature exists (theory testing or theory building?)
 topic (deviant activities/sensitive issues may be more suited to qualitative research)
 research is a compromise between the ideal and the feasible

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Effect of peer review
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Effect of publish requirements
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Effect of positivist tradition
Effect of editor’s policy

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Evaluate your own research paper according to these five influences and the effects on reliability, replicability and validity

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Literature review

Essentially, we must read the existing literature to find out:
 what is already known about the topic,
 what concepts and theories have been applied to it,
 which research methods have been applied to it,
 what controversies exist about the topic and/or how it has been studied,
 what clashes of evidence exist, if any,
 who the key contributors are.

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 a list of relevant theories; a search for relevant information; a survey of writing on the subject;
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 a way of learning about the subject; a help in finding dissertation topics and research methods;
 an important component of a dissertation or report.
Adapted from Bruce (1994)

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 you need to know what is already known about your research area; you can learn from the mistakes of others; you can learn about different theoretical and methodological approaches to your research area; it may help you to develop an analytic framework; it may lead you to consider including variables in your research of which you might not have thought; it may suggest further research questions;it is required!

o o o o o o
Take lots of notes (including references);
Ask yourself questions about what you read (its value to your topic, methods used, conclusions);
Find research questions (perhaps because what you read indicates contention);
Identify sources to which you will want to return later on;
Be selective (read for relevance);
Don’t stop reading!!

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Read books and articles you know, or are recommended by your supervisor;
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Keep notes based on your reading;
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Note the keywords used;
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Note other literature which might be interesting later;
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Generate your own keywords.

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Search your institution’s library;
Search online (using an appropriate database);
Examine titles and abstracts for relevance;
Retrieve selected items, read, take notes;
Check regularly for new material.

Figure 5.1
page 119
Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4 th edition

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Search engines find sites but do not evaluate them
Dictionaries and encyclopaedias are fine for basic definitions, but little else
Many Internet sites serve a commercial purpose, so don’t be taken in by propaganda
Rely on academic sites (usually.ac or .edu), government sites
(.gov), not-for-profit institutions (.org), in that order.
Download and save all material found on the Internet. Sites are dynamic and you may not find the data a second time. Your institution may also require proof when defending your thesis.

o o o o o o
Through ......
putting material together which is not usually related
(synthesized coherence); building up separate items into a consensus
(progressive coherence); showing lots of related contributions but no overall agreement (non-coherence); revealing a gap in the literature; developing a new perspective; showing the existing literature to be simply wrong.
(Golden-Biddle and Locke, 1997:43).

1.
Systematic review: a) Very extensive search of the specific research field; b) Grouping of sources into categories:
* very relevant, based on good research,
* very relevant, weak research,
* low relevance, or too general; c) Giving a step-by-step report on the search method used, decisions taken and derived conclusions.
(Tranfield et al,
2003:209)

2. Narrative Review : a) Limited search for the most interesting contributions; b) Concentration on connections between sources located and research questions; c) Revision of research questions in the light of readings.

Systematic:
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Positivist;
“Quantity” focus;
Theory informs the search;
Synthesis is the research goal.
Narrative:
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Intrepretivist;
“Quality” focus;
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Theory emerges from the search;
Identifying the discourse is the research goal.

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Plagiarism means pretending that we, ourselves, wrote what others actually wrote;
Plagiarism might be accidental:
- not using quotation marks for direct quotes might be careless rather than deceitful;
or, forgetting to cite a source in the text;
Plagiarism might not be seen for what it is:
- recycling our own material from previously submitted work;
- not referencing ourselves as the author of our own older work.

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Is your reading list up-to-date?
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Are there any new areas of interest?
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What have you read recently?
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How much time do you allocate to reading?
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What have you learned from your reading?

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Has this changed your understanding of your subject area?
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Has your reading influenced your research design?
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Has it given you ideas about your hypotheses and research tools?
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Have you been taking notes from your reading?
Adapted from Bruce, 1994

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Writing a literature review is a means of reviewing the main ideas and research relating to your chosen area of interest;
A competent literature review confirms you as someone who is competent in the subject area;
A great deal of the work of writing a literature review is based upon reading the work of other researchers in your subject area; key skills can be acquired to help you get the most from your reading;
Systematic review is a method that is gaining in popularity in business research as a way of enhancing the reliability of literature searching and review;
Narrative review is a more traditional approach which has advantages of flexibility that can make it more appropriate for inductive research and qualitative research designs.

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Background of an article
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General structure of an article
Important “extra’s” of an article

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Journal
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Author(s)
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Background of the author(s)

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Structure of an article:
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- Introduction (literature review)
Methods
Results
Discussion
A. McNeal, Hampshire College: How to read a scientific research paper- a four-step guide

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What is the overall purpose of the research
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How does the research fit into the context of its field (new, settling a controversy)
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Relevance of the literature review
A. McNeal, Hampshire
College

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What research
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What kind of experiment
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Comparison other research
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Quality of the research: sample population
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Research methods
A. McNeal, Hampshire
College

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What are the most important findings
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Does this becomes clear from the data in the article
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Other patterns
A. McNeal, Hampshire
College

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Do you agree with the conclusions
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Are there other factors influencing the results
A. McNeal, Hampshire
College

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How are they organized
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How to prepare to read a paper
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Difficulties
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How to understand and evaluate
J.W. Little and R. Parker, University of
Arizona, How to read a scientific paper,
2009

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Summary
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Introduction
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Materials and methods
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Results
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Discussion
J.W. Little and R. Parker,
University of Arizona, 2009

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What questions does the paper address
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What are the main conclusions of the paper
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What evidence supports those conclusions
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Do the data support the conclusions
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What is the quality of the evidence
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Why are the conclusions important
J.W. Little and R. Parker,
University of Arizona, 2009

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Understand the methods used in the experiments/research
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Limitations of the methods (sample)
J.W. Little and R. Parker,
University of Arizona, 2009

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Consider the article as a whole
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Determine the overall purpose,structure, design
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Read the article
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Evaluation of the article
A. Graham, Yokon College, 2009

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Who is writing
What are the author’s qualifications
What audience
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What is the article about
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What sources
A. Graham, Yokon College, 2009

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What is the author’s main point
What evidence is used
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What limits
What is the author’s point of view
A. Graham, Yokon College, 2009

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What was left unfinished
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Did it make the case
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What are the implications of the article
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Is the organization of the article clear

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Author(s): background, university, career
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Journal: quality, peer review
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Subject/purpose of the article/research (reading the introduction)
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Screen remaining part of the article
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Read conclusions
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References

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Decide relevance of the article
No use
Worth citing (example of research)
Worth citing (sideline)
Key article
Use references

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Screen/read for citing
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Read article

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Research question
Previous research (conclusions)
Relevance theoretical part
The model
The research method(fieldwork, experiment, sample)
Analysis method (statistics)
Conclusions

 http://home.aisnet.org/
 http://www.ieee.org/portal/site

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Read articles Wade and Davis
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Review 3 research questions (presentation)

Dick Heinhuis

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How to come up with a suitable research question?
84

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 86

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 87

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 88

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 89

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 90

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 91

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 92

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 93

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 94

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How to come up with a suitable research question?
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Bryman, 2011
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Maxwell, 2013
95

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Guide literature search
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Guide decisions about research design
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Guide decisions about data collection
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Guide decisions about analysis of data
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Guide writing up
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Avoids taking unnecessary paths
Course Research Methods Lecture 2
96

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Personal interest/experience
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Theory
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The research literature
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Puzzles
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New developments (organizational/technical)
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Organizational problems
Course Research Methods Lecture 2
97

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 98

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Questions should be clear
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Questions should be researchable
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Questions should connect with established theory and research (?)
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Questions should be linked to each other
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Questions should have potential for making a contribution to knowledge
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Questions should be neither too broad nor too narrow
Course Research Methods Lecture 2
99

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Which factors explain consumer channel choice in an ICT enabled multichannel configuration, therewith finding an explanation for the trial, adoption and choice of a new channel?
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 100

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Which theories can be used to find the factors that explain the trial, adoption and choice of an ICT enabled channel by customers in a multichannel configuration?
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Is it possible to arrive at a model based on these theories that explains the use of ICT enabled channels?
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Can this model be confirmed empirically?
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 101

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 102

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Choose a topic that interests you
Ask yourself whether you can answer the research question
Read a lot, read thoroughly and appropriately.
Identify your strengths, weaknesses, interests, and personal development opportunities.
Don’t pre-commit to one idea, approach, research design, or data source.
Use opportunities to talk to others in your own field and other fields about your proposed research.
Research something that is likely to be interesting to others: either practitioners or researchers.
Start writing early. Analysis takes much longer than you think, but this is where ‘added value’ can be gained.
Remember that this is not your life work or a bid for a Nobel Prize.
Listen to your supervisor, but make your own choices.
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 103

Course Research Methods Lecture 2 104

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Descriptive: what, when, where and who
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Explanatory: why and how
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Has consequences for research design and research strategy
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 105

As a general rule of thumb, if a quick Google search can answer a research question, it ’ s likely not very effective (George Mason
University)
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 106

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Evaluate your own research question

Dick Heinhuis & Ronald Kleijn

How should we treat the people on whom we conduct research?
Are there activities in which we should
– or should not – engage in our relations with those people?
Page 122
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 109

Based on Diener and Chandall (1978) we can say that behaving ethically means:
•No harm should come to research participants,
•They should agree to participate and know what the research is about,
•Their privacy should not be invaded,
•They should not be lied to or cheated.
Page 128
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 110

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What about the use of students?
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 111

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Lazar, J. et al., (2010), Research Methods in
Human-Computer Interaction: pp. 391 – 392
(about Online research!)
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 112

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Physically
By damaging their development or self-esteem
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By causing stress
By hurting their career prospects or employment opportunities
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By breaking confidentiality
By revealing their identity
Page 128
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 113

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Milgram was concerned with the processes whereby a person can be induced to cause extreme harm to another by virtue of being ordered to do so. To investigate this issue further, he devised a laboratory experiment. Volunteers were recruited to act out the role of teachers who punished learners (who were accomplices of the experimenter) by submitting them to electric shocks when they gave incorrect answers to questions.
Course Research Methods Lecture 2
114

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Experiments conducted by Zimbardo and his graduate students from the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, California, involved creating a mock prison, in order to examine the roles played by prisoners and guards. Twenty-one male participants were selected from a group of seventy-five who responded to an advertisement in a local newspaper. Individuals were selected on the basis that they were mature, emotionally stable, middle class, well educated, and had no criminal record. Each was paid $15 per day to participate in the study. A coin was flipped in order to decide if the participant was to play the role of prisoner or guard.
Course Research Methods Lecture 2
115

Course Research Methods Lecture 2
116

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400 infected men compared with 200 non infected men
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400 men were never treated with penicillin
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In 1972 only 74 participants were still alive; at least 28, but possibly more than 100, died of a direct result of the complications of syphilis
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 117

implementing this principle `is easier said than done‘ (Homan,
1991:73).
It is extremely difficult to present prospective participants with absolutely all the information that might be required to make an informed decision about their involvement.
In ethnographic research, the researcher is likely to come into contact with a wide spectrum of people, and ensuring that absolutely everyone has the opportunity for informed consent is not practicable, because it
Page 133 would be extremely disruptive in everyday contexts.
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 118

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Privacy is very much linked to the notion of informed consent
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The research participant does not abrogate the right to privacy entirely by providing informed consent
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Covert methods are usually deemed to be violations of the privacy principle
 anonymity and confidentiality in the research process
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 119

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Deception usually means we represent our research as something other than it is, so that participants will respond more naturally.
This means it is quite a widespread practice.
So deception means not telling the whole truth, while not actually telling a lie.
We must be vigilant in keeping deception to a minimum and, when it is necessary to the research, mitigating its degree and effects as much as possible.
Apart from moral objections to deception, research participants and funders can become wary of being fooled, or tricked into providing data.
Page 137
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 120

Unfortunately, a lot of writers about ethics in business differ about what is and is not ethically acceptable.
The same issues seem to be always with us – they don’t seem to get resolved.
Certain research methods have a bad name because they are identified with a few extreme cases.
But the real problem is that the potential to behave unethically in research is constant and it does not just depend on particular situations or methods
Page 123
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 121

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Universalism
 absolute rules about un/acceptable conduct
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Situation ethics
 case-by-case assessment
 the end justifies the means?
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Ethical transgression is pervasive
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Key concept 5.2
virtually all research involves some ethically questionable practices
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 122

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You can try to do the best you can by making yourself familiar with guidelines set by respectable institutions:
The Academy of Management : tries to “..treat…research subjects, and clients with respect, dignity, fairness, and caring .”
The Market Research Society : the first rule for researchers is that they “ shall ensure that participation in their activities is based on voluntary informed consent .”
The Social Research Association : includes a guideline that
“ Social researchers must strive to protect subjects from undue harm arising as a consequence of their participation in research.
This requires that subjects’ participation should be voluntary and as fully informed as possible ”.
Page 122
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 123

Most colleges and universities have developed their own guidelines for ethical research. Some of the questions they might pose are as follows:
1. Is the study funded?
2. Is the research compromised by the source of funding?
3. Are there potential conflicts of interest in the financial or organisational arrangements?
4. Will confidentiality be maintained appropriately at all stages of enquiry ?
5. Will human rights and dignities be actively respected?
6. Will highly personal, intimate, or other private or confidential information be sought?
7. Will there be any harm, discomfort, physical, or psychological risks?
8. Will participants be involved whose ability to give informed voluntary consent may be limited?
9. Will the study involve obtaining or processing personal data relating to living individuals?
Tips and skills, page 127
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 124

The 1998 Data Protection Act states that personal data must be:
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 obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purpose and not further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes, adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed, not kept longer than necessary, (for example)
Copyright is an intellectual property right, extending to interviews
– in which the interviewee keeps the copyright to the spoken words. Permission is needed from the interviewee in order to share this data.
Page 140
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 125

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The boundary between ethical and unethical practices is not precise
The potential for deception / lack of informed consent pervades most social research
There is insufficient guidance on marginal areas of research (but be familiar with the existing guidelines)
Internet-based research provides new ethical dilemmas, for which we are still debating solutions.
Page 143
Course Research Methods Lecture 2 126

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Many people find writing up research more difficult than carrying it out
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You must convince your readers about the credibility of the knowledge claims you make
Good writing is to do with developing your style so that it is persuasive and convincing
Page 684

Start early!
Be persuasive.
Get feedback.
Avoid sexist, racist, and disablist language.
Structure your writing:
Title page – acknowledgements – list of contents – abstract – introduction - literature review - research methods – results – discussion – conclusion – appendices references.
Pages 685-691

Figure 29.1
Page 688

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Strong opening statements grab the reader’s attention and act as signposts to what the article is about
The rationale of the research is spelled out clearly
Research questions are spelled out very specifically
The research methods , nature of data, measurement of concepts, sampling and data analysis are clearly and explicitly summarized
The presentation of findings is oriented specifically to the research questions
The conclusion spells out the implications of the
Pages 694, 695 findings for the research questions and the theories examined earlier in the paper

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Strong opening sentences attract our attention and give a clear indication of the nature and content of the article.
The rationale of the research is clearly identified .
Research questions are specified but are somewhat more open-ended than in other publications.
The research methods are outlined and an indication is given of the approach to analysis .
The presentation of main themes is geared to the broad research questions that motivated the researcher’s interest.
The discussion and conclusion elucidate in a more specific way the significance of the results for the research Page 699 questions.

Type your footer here 132

Page 707

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Have you clearly specified your research questions?
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Have you clearly indicated how the literature you have read relates to your research questions?
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Is your discussion of the literature critical and organized so that it is not just a summary of what you have read?
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Have you clearly outlined your research design and your research methods?

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Have you presented your data in a manner that relates to your research questions?
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Does your discussion of your findings show how they relate to your research questions?
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And on how they shed light on the literature that you presented?
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Are the interpretations of the data that you offer fully supported with tables, figures, or segments from transcripts?

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Does your writing avoid sexist, racist, and disablist language?
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Have you included all appendices that you need (interview schedule, communications with research participants)?
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Have you checked that your list of references includes all the items referred to in your text?
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And that it follows precisely the style that your institution requires?

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Have you ensured that your institution’s requirements for submitting projects are fully met in terms of word length (neither too long nor too short) and whether an abstract and table of contents are required?
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Have you ensured that you do not quote excessively when presenting the literature?
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Have you fully acknowledged the work of others so that you cannot be accused of plagiarism?
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Use the 3W method of Heinhuis
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Write, write, write
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Getting published in the Top Journals
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How high is this hurdle? The stark reality is that a few hundreds of people publish a very small number of top journal articles over half a career while very few persons publish dozens upon dozens, with the middle part of the distribution being extremely sparse (Chua et al. 2003).
Known as a power distribution, this description of IS publishing behavior has been found repeatedly in scientometric studies (Athey and
Plotnicki 2000; Dennis et al. 2006).
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The simplistic and often-offered explanation for this is that, even assuming the quality is present, the top journals do not have the space to publish all of these articles. Therefore, the gatekeepers restrict the pipeline to correspond to the space limitations. While there is some evidence that this has been true in the past (Dennis et al. 2006), is it still the case? Since the
Dennis et al. article appeared in 2006 with its clarion call for top IS journals to increase their ability to print more articles and help to level the playing field against other business disciplines (Kozar et al. 2006),
Information Systems Research has explicitly increased its pages and MIS
Quarterly has not only published an extra issue since 2006, but also now has the ability to print many more papers than it has traditionally published.
Electronic journals like Journal of the AIS, of course, have the luxury of not having such space limitations. Thus, in 2009, this explanation may be overblown.
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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
British Journal of Social Psychology
Motivation and Emotion
European Journal of Social Psychology
Self and Identity
Journal of Environmental Psychology
Social Influence
Basic and Applied Social Psychology
Psychological Science
Cognitive Methods in Social Psychology
Science
Social Cognition
Journal of Consumer Research
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I believe that this underlying problem is that many do not fully understand the reasons top journals accept papers in the first place. This was the point that Soon Ang, Roberto Evaristo, and I made in 1994, one that had been articulated by numerous management researchers to that time and afterward. To raise the general level of appreciation of these factors in the profession, it is useful to know why papers are accepted at the top journals, a set of criteria that seems to be fairly consistent across the business disciplines at least.
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