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1. Research Design Week 3 lecture
2. Agenda How do we know what we know?
Various research methods
Credibility of research findings
3. How do we know what we know?
4. The way we make reasoning Deductive logic
Begins with one or more premises, reasoning then proceeds logically from these premises toward conclusions that must also be true
All plants produce energy through photosynthesis (premise 1)
Tulip is a type of plant (premise 2)
Tulip produce energy through photosynthesis (conclusion)
If the premise is wrong, we may get wrong conclusion but still it is logically valid
5. The way we make reasoning Induction reasoning
Use specific instances or occurrences to draw conclusion
All observed craws are black, therefore, all crows are black.
I see more traffics this year, therefore, the traffics are heavier this year than last year.
Not considered as formal logical, hard to test the validity.
6. Deductive Research Testing the theory
Considered as the scientific method
Universality
Could be carried out by any competent person
Replication
Control
Measurement
Data can be measured
7. Deductive Research Features Carry out large scale literature review to gather enough theories or evidence as premises
Use deductive logic to derive a set of hypotheses
Systematically gather data relevant to the hypothesis
Statistically test and interpret the data to see if they support the hypothesis
8. Example of deductive research From the paper: HH Teo, LB Oh, C Liu, KK Wei, An empirical study of the effects of interactivity on web user attitude, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Volume 58 , Issue 3 (March 2003)
9. Inductive Research Building theory
Start from the data, begin to detect patterns and regularities, formulate some tentative hypotheses, end up developing some general conclusions or theories
10. Comparision Deductive research
Scientific principles
Moving from theory to data
The need to explain causal relationships
The collection of quantitative data
Clearly define and operationalization of concepts
Highly structured approach
Researcher independence of what is being rsearched
The request for generalization Inductive research
Gaining an understanding of the meanings humans attach to events
A close understanding of the research context
The collection of qualitative data
Flexible structure
Researcher is usually part of the research process
Less concern with the need to generalize
11. How do we choose? Depends on your research topic
Depends on the previous research
Depends on the time
Depends on the risks
Something less practical… your own style
12. Different research strategies Experiment
Survey
Case study
Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies
Grounded theory
Ethnography
Action research
13. Experiment Classical deductive research
Is generally used to find causal relationships
Definition of a theoretical hypothesis
Recruiting of subjects (not in large number)
Allocation of subjects to different experimental conditions
Introduction of planned change on one or more of the variables
Measurement on small number of the variables
Control of the other variables
14. Example of Experiment research From the paper: HH Teo, LB Oh, C Liu, KK Wei, An empirical study of the effects of interactivity on web user attitude, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Volume 58 , Issue 3 (March 2003)
15. Survey Usually associated with the deductive approach
Allow the collection of a large amount of data from a sizable population in an economical way
Questionnaire is the most popular data collection method
Designing and testing questionnaire is the most importing part of a survey research
16. Research questions appropriate for a survey Self-reported beliefs or behaviors.
Ask many things, measure many variables and test several hypotheses in a single survey
Behavior
Attitudes/beliefs/opinions
Expectations
Self-classification
Knowledge
17. Survey Types Cross-sectional design
Collects data at one time
Longitudinal Designs
Takes place over time with two or more data collections
Trend design
Each survey collects data on the same items or variables with a new independent sample of the same target population
Panel studies
Each survey collects data at different times from the same respondents
18. Case study A strategy for doing research which involves an empirical investigation of a particular contemporary phenomenon within its real life context using multiple sources of evidence
Inductive research
Data are collected from interviews, focus groups and so on.
Study one case or a few cases ( comparative case studies )
19. Example of case study Case studies of two virtual project teams
From the paper:J.Sutanto, A. Kankanhalli and C.Y.Tan, Task coordination in global virtual teams, ICIS 2004.
20. Grounded theory Best example of inductive research
Theory developed inductively from a corpus of data
Data collection starts without the formation of an initial theoretical framework
21. Ethnography Firmly rooted in the inductive approach
comes from the discipline of social and cultural anthropology
Researchers have to immerse themselves in the life of people they study
Main difference with case study is the extent to which the researcher immerses in the life of the social group under study
A significant amount of data are collected through observation
Very time consuming
22. Action Research Main features
Purpose is to study the management of a change
Close collaboration between practioners and researchers
Results should have implications beyond the immediate project
The domain of information systems action research is clearest where the human organization interacts with information systems.
Most action research has an iterative process
23. The action research spiral
24. Action Research Example From the paper: Davison R. & Vogel D. GSS in Hong Kong: an action research project, Information Systems Journal, 2000, 10
25. Using multi-methods Different methods can be used for different objectives in a study
Enables triangulation
The use of different data collection methods within one study in order to ensure that the data are telling you what you think they are telling you
26. Credibility of research findings How do I know what I know?
Is the source reliable? Are the raw data reliable? Is the conclusion valid? Is it just some coincidence?
Triangulation is a way help you make judgment
Reliability & validity of the design
Reliability mainly deals with “repeatibility”
Validity is concerned with whether the findings are really about what they appear to be about
27. Validity of the methodology Internal validity
The extent to which its design and the data that it yields allow the researcher to draw accurate conclusions about cause and effect and other relationships within the data
Concerns
Lack of control
Reactivity: Hawthorne effect
Experimenter expectancy
28. Validity of the methodology External validity
The extent to which the conclusions drawn can be generalized to other context
Real-life setting
A representative sample
Replication In a different context
Validity in qualitative research
triangulation
29. Where to go for more information? http://www.isworld.org/#research