IS8014 Theory & Qualitative Research in IS Week 1: Introduction & Administration Initial Conceptions and Ideas

Course Design IS8014 offers a unique combination of two critical elements in IS research Qualitative Research Theory Robert will teach the qualitative research in classes 2-5 Kai will teach the theory in classes 6-13 Classes are always on Monday 1500-1750 in AC3-6208 There is no class on February 4th (CNY). Our last class is April 15th. If you cannot attend a class, you must let us know in advance and with good (medical) reason – holiday/wedding is not accepted as a reason.

Assessments There will be continuous assessment of your *active* participation in class: this counts for 25% of your grade You will need to do one individual assignment (10%) for the qualitative part and one group assignment (20%) for the theory part You will need to do presentations in class related to the class readings, but only during the theory part (20%) There is a final three-hour exam that will cover both qualitative and theory topics (25%)

Academic Integrity Academic integrity will be strictly observed and enforced in this course. Academic integrity cannot be compromised under any circumstances. Plagiarism, falsification, fabrication, and collusion and other forms of cheating will be dealt with severely. You must cite your sources using the appropriate citation style when you need to reference someone else’s writings. If you fail to do this correctly, you may fail the course. Please go through the online interactive tutorial (Rules on Academic Honesty) that is available on the university e-portal if you have not yet done so.

Structure of Weeks 2-5 Class Date Topic 2 21/1   Class Date Topic 2 21/1 Qualitative Data, Collection, Analysis, Method 3 28/1 Issues in the Field, Ethnography and Case Studies 4 11/2 Canonical Action Research: Method, Principles, Illustration 5 18/2 Planning, Writing, Presenting and Reviewing Qualitative Research Slides for these classes are available at: http://www.is.cityu.edu.hk/staff/isrobert/is8014.htm

Initial Preconceptions of Qualitative Research What is qualitative research? Is qualitative the same as interpretive? Why do we include this core course in the IS PhD curriculum? What is the unique value that a qualitative approach may bring to IS research? Which kinds of research situations or problems might be more suitable for a qualitative approach? Why? What kinds of skills are needed to undertake qualitative research? How can we develop those skills?

Reading for Week 2 Oshri, I., Fenema, P. van and Kotlarsky, J. (2008) Knowledge Transfer in Globally Distributed Teams: The Role of Transactive Memory, Information Systems Journal, 18, 6, 593-616. Bødker, M., Gimpel, G. and Hedman, J. (2014) Time-out/Time-in: The Dynamics of Everyday Experiential Computing Devices, Information Systems Journal, 24, 2, 143-166.

Activities 1 For each article, identify the key components Motivation (theoretical and practical) Research Question Theory: application and development Method(s) Data: source, type, analysis Outcomes Implications and contributions: for theory, practice References: can you characterise them?

Activities 2 What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of these three articles? What makes the articles special, worth reading, interesting? Who is the intended audience? What are the most difficult aspects of the articles for you? What lessons can we take away from our analysis of these articles? Are there any follow-on studies that could be undertaken? What kinds of research questions would we want to answer?

Overview on the Theory Development Part

Questions to Ponder What is a theory? Why is theory so important? Is having a theoretical base the same as having theoretical contributions?

Foundation of Theory Building   Class Date TOPIC 1..5 6 25/2 Foundation of Theory Building Formulating Research Problem and Questions Theory Building Versus Theory Testing 7 4/3 Type of Theoretical Contribution (Emphasis on Theory Development versus Theory Testing) Approaches to Achieve Theoretical Contribution 8 11/3 Synthesizing Literature 9 18/3 Building A Theory Building Theory by Combining Lenses 10 25/3 Variance versus process Models Writing Theoretical Articles versus Empirical Articles 11 1/4 Achieving Correspondence of Theoretical Arguments and the Specification of Variance Models 12 8/4 Leveraging Context in Theory Development 13 15/4 Leveraging Time in Theory Development

More explanations on the Assignments for the Theory Development Part III) Group Assignments (20%: working in groups of two) Thoroughly read all assigned readings prior to class. Working in groups of two, Each group will prepare a synthesis of the readings and submit the synthesis in the form of PowerPoint slides by noon on the day of the class. Each PowerPoint file should not contain more than 15 slides. Consolidate all slides for a given class into one PowerPoint file. Use the following file name convention: Group Member 1’s Last Name+_ Group Member 1’s First Name+_ Group Member 2’s Last Name+and_ Group Member 2’s First Name+_Class Number E.g., Chan _Jane_and_Wang_Michael_Class_6 is the correct file name of the assignment for Class 6 submitted by Jane Chan and Michael Wang).  No late assignment will be accepted.

More explanations on the Assignments for the Theory Development Part IV) Topic Presentations (20%: Working in groups of two) Using the PowerPoint slides that students prepared for III above, each pair of students will be randomly called upon to make a short presentation during the class. The presentation order will not be announced beforehand. You will need to be fully prepared for each class  Don’t wait till Week 5 to start reading; you will regret 

Any Questions?

Good Luck and Have Fun in the Next 13 Weeks!