Welcome to 2012 EC AcYr
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Course Information
Course Title Research Methods in
Information Systems
Course Code INSY2051
ECTS 5
Cr hrs 3
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Course Description
This course concerns us with the topic of research.
It attempts to define what research is, why we do
research, and the various methods that researchers use
to investigate problems.
It is designed as an under-graduate introduction to
research methodology.
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Course Objectives
At the end of this course the students will be
able to:
• The terminologies used by professional researchers
employing scientific thinking.
• How to formulate a solid research hypothesis
(research question).
• The basic stages of research design
• Types of proposals and the contents of each
• The issues covered in research ethics the relationships
that exist between variables in research design and the
steps for evaluating those relationships 4
Course Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction and Meaning of Research
Chapter 2: Research Proposal
Chapter 3: The Research Process
Chapter 4: The Research Design
Chapter 5: Data Collection and Analysis
Chapter 6: Report Writing
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Assessment Method
Assessment Type Mark (%)
Mid Exam 30
Research Work 20
Final Exam 50
Total 100
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Chapter 1
Introduction and
Meaning of Research
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Meaning of Research
• Research may be defined as
– The systematic investigation into and study of
materials and sources in order to establish facts and
reach new conclusions
– seeking through methodical processes to add to one’s
own body of knowledge and to that of others, by the
discovery of non-trivial facts and insights.
– a scientific, and systematic search for pertinent
information on a specific topic (A systematized effort
to gain new knowledge)
– Most people associate the word ‘research” with
activities substantially removed from day-to-day life
and which are pursued by outstandingly gifted
persons. 8
Meaning of Research … (cont’d)
• Research is an Organized and Systematic way of Finding
answers to Questions
– Systematic: because there is a definite set of
procedures and steps which you will follow. There
are certain things in the research process which are
always done in order to get the most accurate results.
– Organized : because there is a structure or method in
going about doing research. It is a planned
procedure, not a spontaneous one. It is focused and
limited to a specific scope.
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Meaning of Research ..(cont’d)
– Finding Answers : is the end of all research.
Whether it is the answer to a hypothesis or even
a simple question, research is successful when we
find answers. Sometimes the answer is no, but it
is still an answer.
– Questions : are central to research. If there is no
question, then the answer is of no use. Research
is focused on relevant, useful, and important
questions. Without a question, research has no
focus, drive, or purpose.
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Meaning of Research … (cont’d)
– Research is an academic activity
• Search for knowledge
• An art of scientific investigation
– Research comprises
• defining and redefining problems.
• formulating hypothesis
• collecting, organizing and evaluating data
• making deductions and reaching conclusions
• Carefully testing the conclusions to determine
whether they fit the formulated hypothesis
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Meaning of Research … (cont’d)
Research often makes use of various
Sources of Knowledge
• INTUITIVE (when coming up with an initial idea
for research)
• AUTHORITATIVE (when reviewing professional
literature)
• LOGICAL (when reasoning from findings to
conclusions)
• EMPIRICAL (when engaging in procedures that
lead to these findings)
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Scientific Research
Objectives of Research
• Employs systematic observation and
• rational answers
To discover processes to
to create new through
questions
knowledge. of scientific procedures.
the application
• Based on logical relationships not just
beliefs.
• To find out the truth which is hidden
which• Involves
has notanbeen
explanation of the methods
discovered as yet.
used to collect and analyze data;
explanation to “why the results are
meaningful?”
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Objectives of Research … cont’d
Objectives of Research
• To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to
achieve new insights into it;
• To discover answers to questions through
• To portray accurately the characteristics of a
the application of scientific procedures.
particular individual, situation or a group;
• To determine the frequency with which something
To findorout
• occurs withthe truth
which it iswhich is hidden
associated with
which haselse;
something not been discovered as yet.
• To test a hypothesis of a casual relationship
between variables;
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Significance
Significance
Objectives
Motivation ofResearch
research
inofResearch
research
of … cont’d
… cont’d
To
•• Whatgainmakes
familiarity
– Increased with
people
amount a phenomenon
undertake
of research or to
research?
make progress possible.
achieve new
Desire to
– Research getinsights
a researchinto it; along with its
degree
Knowledge
– Research inculcates scientific thinking and
consequential
promotes the benefits.
development of logical habitsof of a
• To portray accurately the characteristics
– Desire to and
thinking solveorganization.
a challenge in solving the unsolved
particular individual, situation or a group;
problems.
– Complexity in business and government is increasing.
– Desire
• To to design
determine theappropriate
frequencypolicies
with which something
Thereoris with
more information and Information
knowledge
–– Desire
occurs to which
contribute toitthe
is existing
associated oftoknowledge.
stockwith
understand the world than before.
something
– Desire to getelse;
intellectual joy of doing some creative
Multi disciplinary professions have become common
– work
• To test atohypothesis
– Desire be of serviceoftoasociety
casual relationship
between variables;
– Directives of government. Development
– Curiosity about new things, etc.... 15
Significance of research
Significance of research … cont’d
– Increased amount of research make progress possible.
Research Knowledge
– Research inculcates scientific thinking and
promotes the development of logical habits of
thinking and organization.
– Complexity in business and government is increasing.
Information
– There is more information and knowledge to
understand the world than before.
– Multi disciplinary professions have become common
Development
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Scientific Research
• Employs systematic observation and
rational processes to create new
knowledge.
• Based on logical relationships not just
beliefs.
• Involves an explanation of the methods
used to collect and analyze data;
explanation to “why the results are
meaningful?”
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Significance of research … cont’d
– A means of livelihood
– The outlet for new ideas and insights;
– The development of new styles and
creative work;
– The generalizations of new theories;
– Fountain of knowledge;
– Important source of providing guidelines
for solving different problems; etc.
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Requirements
Research requires resources, such as the
following:
• Money;
• People;
• Time and space;
• Experimental Subjects, in some cases;
• Data
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• Research is both enjoyable and frustrating.
• Enjoyment comes from considering a specific
problem or subject field.
• Frustration comes from discovering that it is not
possible to do all that is intended to at the start of
the investigation.
– The Research topic may be imposed on the
student
– The Research must be completed within a given
time period.
– Funds for Experiments, travel, postage and so on
may be limited or even non -existent.
– The results of the research must be presented in
a specified manner.
– The student may possibly have to relate to an
academic supervisor who is not interested20
Ethical Issues in Research
• Ethical concerns
– Moral issues: honesty, integrity
– Legal implications: confidentiality/privacy,
– Neutrality
– Protecting Human Subjects
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Types of Research
The basic types of research are
– Exploratory
– Descriptive
– Explanatory
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Types of Research …cont’d
Exploratory Research
• The result of an exploratory study may indicate that
further research can be reduced and/or certain
aspects of the larger study can be eliminated
• Exploratory study is conducted in the following
situation:
– To design a problem for investigation and to
formulate hypotheses;
– To determine priorities for further research;
– To gather data about the practical problems of
carrying out research on particular conjectural
statements;
– To increase the researcher’s interest in the problem;
– To explain basic concepts; 23
Types of Research …cont’d
Descriptive Research
includes surveys and fact finding enquiries of
different kinds.
Major purpose:
Could be the description of the state of affairs as
it exists at present
Main characteristic:
Researcher has no control over the variables
The researcher can only report what has
happened and what is happening.
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Types of Research …cont’d
Descriptive Research
Example
• Measuring the following
– Frequency of shopping
– Preferences of people
– Income profile of customers
– Pattern of expenditure
– Frequency of sales by income levels
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Types of Research …cont’d
Descriptive Research … cont’d
• Is conducted in the following situations:
• To analyze characterization of certain groups
(eg. age, sex, education, …)
• To identify the proportion of people in a
population who behave in a certain way (e.g.
customers who use a particular technology
service)
• To forecast future trends (e.g sales in the next
five years)
• To study whether certain variables are
associated or not (e.g. income and telephone
expense)
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Types of Research …cont’d
Explanatory/Causal Research
Main purpose: finding the ‘reasons why’
• desire to know how the causal factors relate to the
effects under predictions
• Usually referred as hypothesis-testing research
• Such studies require procedures that
– Reduce bias and increase reliability
– Permit drawing inferences about causality
• Research design in such kind of studies means
Design of Experiments
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Types of Research …cont’d
Analytical Research
Unlike the Descriptive Research, the researcher
has to use facts or information already available,
and analyze these to make critical evaluation of
the material (a certain phenomenon)
Applied Research : aims at finding a solution for an
immediate problem facing a society or any
industrial/business organization.
Fundamental research: is mainly concerned with
generalizations and with formulation of a theory.
– Research concerning some natural phenomenon
or relating to pure mathematics. (Deriving
formulas)
– Research carried to make generalizations about
human behaviour 28
Types of Research …cont’d
• Quantitative Research:- based on the
measurement of quantity or amount- applicable to
phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity.
• Qualitative Research :- Concerned with
qualitative phenomena (relating to quality or kind)
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Types of Research …cont’d
• Conceptual Research
• related to some abstract idea or theory - Generally
used by philosophers and thinkers to develop new
concepts or to reinterpret existing ones.
• Empirical Research –
• relies on experience or observation. It is a data-
based research, coming up with conclusions which
are capable of being verified - Appropriate when
proof is sought.
• Evidence gathered through Empirical Studies is
considered to be the most powerful support
possible for a given hypothesis.
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Types of Research …cont’d
• Experimental research
– is commonly used in sciences such as sociology and
Information Technology, physics, chemistry, biology
and medicine etc.
– It is a collection of research designs which use
manipulation and controlled testing to understand
causal processes.
– Generally one or more variables are manipulated to
determine their effect on a dependent variable.
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Types of Research …cont’d
• From the point of view of time, we may
have
– One-time research :- where the research is
confined to a single time - period.
– Longitudinal research:- where the research is
carried on over several time periods.
• from the point of view of environment, we
have
– Field-setting research
– Laboratory research
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• Research can also be
– Conclusion oriented
• While doing a conclusion oriented research, the
researcher is free to pick up a problem, redesign the
enquiry and is prepared to conclude as he wishes.
– Decision oriented
• Decision - oriented research: is always for the need
of a decision maker and the researcher is not free to
embark upon research according to his own
inclination.
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• All other types of research are variations of one
or more of the above stated approaches, based
on.
– the purpose of the research
– the time required to accomplish the research
– the environment in which the research is conducted.
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Research Questions
• A research question
– is a methodological point of departure of scholarly
research in both natural sciences and humanities.
– what a research aims to answer
– a problem or statement in need of a solution or
answer
– helps you to identify the things you need to find out;
– helps you to know what you want to pay attention to
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10/2/2009 2
Research Questions … cont’d
• General research questions
– Guide our thinking
– Are of great value in organizing the research project
– Are not specific enough to be answered
• Specific questions
– Direct empirical procedures
– Are the questions actually answered in the research
– Guide the type of data we need to collect
• It is useful to identify and separate the general
and the specific questions.
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10/2/2009 3
Research Questions … cont’d
• A research area is different from a topic
– Research area is the broader subject of your topic
• A topic is different from a question
– Topic is the broad subject of your work
– A question is what you want to know about a
topic
– Example of Research area
• Gender issues
• Telecommunication
• Education
– Example of Topic
• Protests against gender inequality
• Telecom Security
• Educational Technology 37
10/2/2009 4
Research Questions … cont’d
The following are all questions
Ex:
• How can we get our customers satisfied?
• What is the level of Fraud detection in mobile
telephones?
• How can we get SMS in local languages on the
Mobile infrastructure?
• How can we determine the students’ learning style
in eLearning systems?
• How can evaluate student satisfaction in use of
ICT in education?
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10/3/2009 5
Research Questions … cont’d
Another Example:
– Area: Performance Evaluation
• Topic: Effectiveness/Efficiency Measures
• Research question:
–Is there any performance difference
between systems A, B or C?
–Specific question:
»Is system A better than system B?
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10/3/2009 6
Research Questions … cont’d
• Critical Issue:
– Questions must be in principle answerable;
• Specific;
• Refer to something you can look at or find an
answer for;
• Hierarchy of the concepts
– Research Area
• Research topic
– research questions
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10/3/2009 7
Research Questions … cont’d
Developing research questions
• Knowing the knowledge gap is crucial
• What are we trying to find out? Why?
1. Generate possibilities
2. Mixture of question subdivision
• General question into component parts;
• Disentagling the different questions from each
other;
3. Ordering and developing focus
• Categorizing and grouping of questions together
4. Bringing the project down to a workable problem
• NOTE: There are benefits doing this work with others
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10/2/2009 8
Research Questions … cont’d
Developing research questions … cont’d
– Question development stage is pre-empirical
– Not yet focusing on methods
– “How will I do this?” or “Should I use this method
or that method?” should not come too early
• Questions are refined gradually to make them
specific and answerable
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10/2/2009 9
Research Questions … cont’d
• Hypothesis: A predicted answer to a
research question
– A specific research question states what a
researcher is trying to find out
– A hypothesis predicts, apriori, the answer to a
question
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10/3/2009 10
Research Questions … cont’d
• Important Questions in Hypothesis:
• What is the basis for prediction?
• Why do we expect what we predict?
• Possible answers:
–Because another researcher did some
research;
–Existence of theory;
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10/3/2009 11
Research Questions … cont’d
The Role of Research Questions
1. Organize the research project and give it
direction and coherence
2. Delimit the research project – show the
boundaries
3. Keep the researcher focused
4. Indicate the data that will be needed
5. Provide a framework for writing up the
project
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Research Questions … cont’d
Good research questions are:
– Clear
– Specific
– Answerable
– Interconnected
– Substantively relevant
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Question? Welcome !
&
See You Next Lesson!
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