CIS 9280 "Quantitative Methods in IS Research" Course Syllabus Instructor: Detmar Straub

Meeting place and time: Wednesdays, 10am-12:30pm

Room 1100, RCB Building

 

Last updated: October 22, 2002 at 11pm 

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General Information Conduct of Course Course Resources Schedule Learning Objectives Projects Grading Citations for Readings   General Information   Instructor: Detmar Straub Computer Information Systems (CIS) Department 904 J. Mack Robinson College of Business Building Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia 30302-4015 Phone (404) 651-3827; CIS Dept. telephone #: (404) 651-3880 E-mail: dstraub@gsu.edu                    Instructor-Participant Meetings:           You are welcome to call me at home (or on my cell) for pressing matters that cannot wait for an email response. I check my email every half hour when I am working, so this is usually a good avenue of exchange. However, if you need to call me at home, please keep in mind that it would be considerate not to call before 9AM nor after 11PM. I thank you (and my wife thanks you) for this extra measure of consideration.   (404) 352-2938; (404) 210-6650 (my cell phone)   Conduct of Course      The course will be conducted as a seminar.  Each student is expected to participate in every class.  The grade will be determined on the basis of the quality of the student's preparation and participation (abstracts and critiques, class discussions, and course project).  Discussion Guides: One student will be assigned primary responsibility for each reading assignment.  That student will: (1) prepare and present a 5-10 minute opening analysis of the material, (2) lead the subsequent class discussion, (3) prepare a short (less than 1/3 page single spaced) abstract of the assignment, simply copying the abstract when it is provided in the original reading or creating a new one when it is not provided, and (4) prepare a short, up to 1 page (single-spaced) critique of the material including, where appropriate, its relation to other relevant readings in the course. (Items 3 and 4 are to be neatly prepared and a copy is to be distributed to each member of the class in e-mailboxes by 9:00 a.m. of class day).  Each student will read all assignments before the class on which it is due.  There will be no quizzes or examinations; however, there will be two course assignments, as described below.   Learning Objectives   In general, CIS 9280 attempts to give doctoral students the conceptual resources they need to think like scientists and to function effectively in the IS academic profession.  Specifically, at the conclusion of the course, students should be able to: 1.      Describe the major sub-domains of IS/IT research, 2.      Define and describe essential characteristics of the major positivist, quantitative research methods covered in the course, 3.      Discuss, in oral and written form, key philosophies of science and intellectual currents underlying the domain(s) of study, 4.      Identify potential research designs and articulate one that will obtain desired results under specified circumstances, 5.      Formulate research design, data analysis, and evaluation techniques for research projects, 6.      Articulate the main characteristics of successful validation of IS instruments, 7.   Present a cogent argument, in written and oral forms, for a selected research topic in information systems, the importance of that selected research, both for the literature that has been advanced in this area and for a research method appropriate for studying this research area. 8.   Describe the process of preparing manuscripts for publication and effectively presenting ideas to a journal readership 9.   Articulate the components of a dissertation and the process required to complete a doctoral degree.     Course Resources     Resource #1: Your Classmates One course project will be team-executed in groups of: Two (2) persons Your group should function as a self-managed team and adopt the rules and practices of this organizational work and task structure.  Participation should be relatively equal between the group members, with each member both monitoring one's own level of participation and that of the other member of the group.  Constant, frequent, and open communications between the group members will ensure that the group members feel that all are participating equally, each utilizing his/her own strengths to the fullest.   Self-managed teams are free to make decisions about group processes, including if they will continue to be members of the same team.  If the team decides, for whatever reason, to reconstitute the group makeup, then this change will go into effect immediately.  Please inform the instructor, in writing, that this decision has been made and the reasons for it.  Include this document as well in the deliverables for the project. Consistent with the principles and operations of self-managed teams, peer appraisals are, presumably, ongoing.  These appraisals will become formal in one, and only one circumstance.  If the group members feel that participation has not been even, but that this uneven participation was not sufficiently disruptive to change the constitution of the team, then please send, under separate cover and under your own signature, your evaluation of the percentage participation of the other group member.  Such personalized peer appraisals will become part of the evaluation of the individual class participation score.  Also, to be above board about this with your teammate, indicate to him/her that you have turned in this peer appraisal.  You are not required to reveal your individual assessments; only that your have turned in such an appraisal. If there is no communication to the contrary to the instructor, the assumption will be that both members contributed equally. [Schedule] Resource #2: Software You will need to download the latest shareware version of Winzip in order to decompress some of the files that are located on the Web page server located at the Georgia State University CIS Department. Readings and topic/discussion/lecture overheads are located on the server and downloadable via the schedule and/or readings or cases citation link below. Note: If zipped, the readings are in *.rtf (Rich Text Format) or .doc (Word) format for Windows '95.  Topic/discussion/lecture notes overheads are in *.pdf (Portable Document Format) format, again for Windows '95. All modern word processors can read *.rtf files.  You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader to view and print the Adobe *.pdfs [portable document files]. If you do not have this reader, download it by clicking here.  In the download.com search box, type the word "Acrobat."  Find the 32 bit version of the latest Acrobat.  It should be compatible with the operating system of PC you are working on (e.g., Windows '95). [Schedule] Resource #3: Required Texts 1. Shadish, William R., Thomas D. Cook and Donald T. Campbell, Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference, Houghton-Mifflin Publishers, New York, 2001.  ***Not required, but below is the the original source for the previously listed Shadish et al. book.  This book is frequently cited in the literature.  In fact, I would recommend you read both texts and often cite the 1979 book in your work, but this goes above and beyond the call of duty for this course. Cook, Thomas D. and Donald T. Campbell (1979). Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analytical Issues for Field Settings. Chicago: Rand McNally.  2. Davis, G. B., and Parker, C. A. Writing the Doctoral Dissertation.  Barron's Educational Series, Woodbury NY, 1979. (Please use the latest edition.)  3. Kuhn, T. S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. (Please use the latest edition.)  University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1970.  4. Stone, Eugene. Research Methods in Organizational Behavior. 1978 (Out of print, but electronic copy is available.) [Schedule] Resource #4: Other Materials and Links There are other resources that will allow you, as a serious student, to learn as much as you can about IS research.  The hyperlinks are below.    [Schedule]   For Planning Purposes: GSU Semester Schedules Full Bibliographic Citations for Other Readings in IS Field Links to Other Useful Web sites Full Citations for ScreenCam Videos   Grading Grading Component Type Score Project #1 Group 30% Project #2 Individual 30% Class Participation Individual 40% Total - 100% Grading Correction Symbols Symbol  Meaning OK or good This is the idea; you are on point. vague The writing is too general or ambiguous. It begins and ends with phrases like "higher productivity" and "achieved cost savings" without providing the case details to back up this assertion. irr Irrelevant. This issue is not germane to the question or the answer you are developing. ??? The passage marked is not easy to interpret. Your meaning is not clear. proof In order to be accepted and believed by the reader/manager, the marked passage needs further evidence or proof. In the context of this course, proof is considered to be details from Topic #s, readings, cases, and other authoritative sources that can be cited. Lifting simple narrative from the case and reinserting it in your case brief, for example, is not considered to be proof. Interpretive use of facts, figures, quotations from the case is considered to be proof. logic There is a flaw in logic in the marked passage. There is a lack of clear flow between the thesis or main assertion in the paragraph and the details that are provided by the author to prove the point. sp Spelling error X Careless error; often a typographical error, but, in any case, it should not have occurred with careful proofreading. k Awkward phrasing. The sentence or phrase needs to be rephrased for greater clarity. ww Wrong word. Choose another word. This one is not meaningful in this context or means something different than you want to convey. lc Calls for lower case, not upper case (i.e., no capitalizing). uc Calls for upper case, not lower case (i.e., needs to be capitalized). / Delete this section, word, phrase, sentence or punctuation mark. ^ Insert the word or phrase that appears into this place in the text run-on Run-on sentence. Sentences that run-on do not have proper punctuation at the end of the sentence they continue into the next subject and verb without properly pausing via a punctuation mark like a period or colon. subj-verb The subject and verb do not agree in number. grammar There is a serious grammatical problem with the sentence and, as it stands, it cannot be understood as an English sentence. para There needs to be a new indented paragraph at this point.   Projects   Course Project #1 Past Projects   Course Project #2   [Schedule]   Schedule Session Date Topic Required Readings/ Due dates Optional Readings 1 Aug 21 Introduction to course Guest Speakers: Rich Klein & Gayle Beyah   Endnote & Endnote libraries   Large Endnote library of the instructor (27 MB)   IS BIB Repository (an incredible resource of tens of thousands of queriable journal citations compiled by GSU's Cecil Chua, Karlene Cousins, Kannon Mohan, and Lan Cao)   ABI-Inform and Galileo Dead Grandmother Exam Syndrome   Topic-discussion: What is IS?     2 Aug 28 ---Module 1--- IS as an Academic Discipline     2. Avgerou et al. (1999) [Alex] 3. Brancheau et al. (1996) [Adriane] 4. Szajna (1994) [Radika] Please visit Web sites for ISWorld, AIS, ICIS, HICSS, etc. Discussion Guide Sheets due Alavi et al.  (1989) Barki et al. (1988) Culnan (1986) Hamilton et al. (1981) Madnick (1991) Niederman et al. (1991) Straub & Wetherbe (1989) Grover and Goslar (1993) 3 Sept 4 What is the field of IS/IT?  What are its boundaries? Explanation versus improvement research; managerial vis-à-vis technical 1. Mason and Mitroff (1973) [Ricardo] 2. Banville & Landry (1989) [Lei]   Discussion Guide Sheets due Ackoff (1967) Dearden (1972) Dickson et al. (1980) Dickson (1981) Emery & Sprague (1972) Gorry and Scott Morton (1971) Ives et al. (1980) Kendall and Kriebel (1980) Nolan and Wetherbe (1980) Webster and Starbuck (1988) Origins of IS/IT: Systems Development Methodology Issues CIS 9220, "Design Research Methods," deals extensively with these issues   Origins of IS/IT: Managerial/ Behavioral/ Organizational Issues (MoIS) Gibson & Nolan (1974) Ives & Olson (1981) Davis (1989) Applegate et al.  (1988) Benbasat et al. (1984) Boynton & Zmud (1984) Boynton & Zmud (1987) Dickson (1968) King (1978) King and Kraemer (1984) Leavitt and Whistler (1958) McFarlan et al. (1983) McKenney et al. (1982) Nolan (1979) Robey (1981) Rockart (1979) Rockart and Flannery (1984) Zmud (1984) Origins of IS/IT: IS Economic Issues   Kriebel & Moore (1980) [Scan quickly] Chen & Hitt (2002) [Scan quickly] Dos Santos et al. (1993) 4 Sept 11 --Module 2-- The Processes of Science Theory Construction   1. Kuhn (1970) [book;  pp. 1-110] [Ghiyoung] 2. Shadish, Cook & Campbell (2001) [book; Ch. 1] [Mark] 3. Dubin (1976) [Andrew] 4. Huber (1990) [Xinlin]   Discussion Guide Sheets due Armstrong (1980) Berger & Luckmann (1966) Cheon et al. (1991) Culnan & Swanson (1986) Glaser & Strauss (1967) Keen (1980) Miller (1991) Platt (1964) 5 Sept 18 Theory Construction 1. Kuhn (1970) [book;  pp. 110-end] [Sebastian] 2. Shadish, Cook & Campbell (2001) [book; Chs. 2 & 3] [Sunyoung] 3. Kaplan & Duchon (1988) [Puneet]   Discussion Guide Sheets due Armstrong et al. (1997) Lacity and Janson (1994)   6 Sept 25 Research Methods and Techniques 1.   Stone (1978) [book] [Rebecca] 2. Jenkins (1978) complete version; Jenkins (1978) short version [Stacie] 3a. Institutional Review Board Information (2002) [Rebecca] 3b. Application for Approval of a Research Project Involving Human Subjects [Rebecca] 4. Bouchard (1976) [Shi] Discussion Guide Sheets due Bariff & Ginzberg (1982) Benbasat et al. (1987) Campbell (1975) Cohen & How (1988) DeLone & McLean (1992) Glass (1978) Lee (1989) Moore & Benbasat (1991) Nunamaker et al. (1990-91) Orne (1962) Orne (1969) Rosenthal & Rosnow (1979) Teng & Galletta (1991) Todd & Benbasat (1987) Van Horn (1973) 7 Oct 2 Research Methods and Techniques 1.   Fromkin & Streufert (1976) [Shi] 2. Gefen & Straub (2000) [free simulation experiment] [Xinlin] 3. Orne (various works) [experimental artifacts] [Ricardo] 4. Straub & Karahanna (1998) [scenario experiments] [Anita] 5. Ericsson & Simon (1980) [Adriane]   Discussion Guide Sheets due   8 Oct 9 Oral Reports on Chosen Research Method     9 Oct 16 Validation 1.  Straub (1989) [Jun] 2. Straub et al. (2002) [Lei] 3.  Boudreau et al. (2001) [Radika] 4. Gefen et al. (2000) [Vijay]   Discussion Guide Sheets due     Alwin (1973) Baldwin and Yadav (1994) Baroudi and Orlikowski (1989) Campbell (1960) Cronbach (1971) Edwards & Baggozi (2000) Huck et al. (1974) Peter (1981) Peter (1979) Rosenthal (1963) Sharma et al. (1981) 10 Oct 23 Validation 1.   Jarvenpaa et al. (1985) [JJ] 2.   Campbell & Fiske (1959) [Andrew] 3. Churchill (1979) [Alex]   Discussion Guide Sheets due   11 Oct 30 Validation (External Validity) 1.   Calder, Phillips, & Tybout (1981): "Designing Research for Application"; Calder et al. (1982): "Concept of External Validity"; Calder et al. (1983): "Beyond External Validity" [Sunyoung] 2.   Lynch (1982): "On the External Validity of Experiments"; Lynch (1983): "The Role of External Validity"; McGrath and Brinberg (1983): "External Validity and Research Design" [Andrew] 3.   Straub (1990) [response rates] [Mark] 4.  Gordon et al. (1986) [Puneet]   Discussion Guide Sheets due   12 Nov 6 --Module 3-- Disseminating IS Research Preparing Manuscripts for Publication Topic-discussion: Publishing in IS (Please download 4-up pdfs before class for yourself) 1. Mingers (2002) [Anita] Limerick (1994) [Just scan this] Discussion Guide Sheets due Catch up   13 Nov 13 The Dissertation 1.   Davis & Parker (1979; use the latest edition) [book] [Stacie] Discussion Guide Sheets due *** Scan a dissertation of your own choosing (ask Carol Carter or a faculty member for copies of completed dissertations)   14 Nov 20 IS Journals  The Journal Review Process Relevance versus Rigor   Blurb about Sokal (1996)--for fun!! 1.  Chua et al. (2002) [Vijay] 2.   Whitman et al. (1999) [Ricardo]  3.   Pearson et al. (1995) [Rebecca] 4.  Straub et al. (1994) 5.  Frost & Taylor (1985) [Jun] 6. Dennis (2002) [Ghiyoung] 7. Kock et al. (2002) [JJ]   *** Review the “GSU CIS Dept. Target Journal List” *** GSU ranks 3rd in MIS research (Trieschmann, et al., 2001) spreadsheet; original Trieschmann et al. (2000) article acquired by clicking here *** IS journal rankings