Strategy & process

What to consider when writing a thesis/article?

Andy Weeger

Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences

July 31, 2023

Opening remarks

Warm-up (A or B)

In the following, I will give you alternatives that you will have to decide between quickly.
A stands up, B stays seated.

• Snooze vs. getting up
• Mindfulness vs. no time
• Yes vs. maybe
• Sharing vs. having
• Inside vs. outside
• VoiceMessage vs. Text Message
• VoiceMessage vs. Call
• Bio vs. Regional
• Sealed organic cucumber vs. normal non-sealed cucumber
• Vegan sausage vs. no sausage
• Globules (homeopathic) vs. aspirin

Motivation

Good papers require good research, good research requires good writing Recker (2021, 168)

Discussion

The research question is the fundamental cornerstone that around which your whole research project and your writing revolves and evolves.

Let’s have a look at the research questions you have drafted.

Good research

Good research starts with an important phenomenon that (a) deserves attention from academia and (b) relates to a problem with the existing knowledge about this type of phenomenon and takes following steps to address the problem:

Step 1: Motivation (relevance, scope, and research question)

• State the topic
• Explain why it is relevant
• Describe what we already know, explain the problem or challenge (what we do not know but should know)
• Formulate a clear research question addressing the problem or challenge
• Delimit the research (what is within the scope and what is out of scope)

Step 2: Theory (concepts and interrelations)

• Choose theoretical basis for analysis and introduce it
• Define all technical terms
• Forward a research model and posit hypotheses or explicate your theoretical sensitivity

Step 3: Method (approach to knowledge generation)

• Define an adequate (empirical) method (and sample) that allows you to study the phenomenon and generate data to answer the research question
• Address validity and reliability issues

Step 4: Analysis (evaluation of data)

• Analyze the collected data
• Document the analysis and the findings

Step 5: Interpretation (implications)

• Interpret the analysis to answer the research question and to derive management recommendations
• Reflect contributions and limitations

If the research was successful, the process ends with the dissemination of the knowledge generated—the publication.

Discussion

What do you think, how important are publications to a academic career?

Publish or perish

Figure 1: The evolution of academia

Publications are key to any academic career

• Publications are key for universities (reputation, funds, etc.)
• Papers make research outcomes last as additions to the body of knowledge
• Papers are the main proof of valid research activity
• Papers are the best way for you to market your skills and creativity
• Papers are the best mechanism for getting feedback about your research
• Papers helps you become a member of a research community
• Writing helps clarify your ideas and fit them into the discussions in the field

Publications are the most important KPIs of a researcher—they shape the career path in academia (Recker 2021).

• Number of peer-reviewed publications
  (e.g., Assistant Professor in the US requires minimum 8+ journal articles in 6 years to achieve tenure; German universities usually expects around 6 or more A+ journal articles for a W3 professor)
• Quality of peer-reviewed publications
  Citations to your paper (e.g. H-index¹) and the type and quality of the outlet in which your paper is published (e.g., journal impact factor, journal ratings)

Academics are ranked, literally, and publications are the most important factor (e.g., AIS Research Ranking)

Success requires a strategy

In this chapter, we touch three important strategic considerations that will impact your writing:

• Preparation
  How to prepare to write a successful paper?
• Process
  How to set up the process of writing?
• Publication
  Where to publish good research?

Preparation

Read before you write

Figure 2: Reading is key for getting to know the “voice” of the journal

Reading is not only required for doing good research, also to get familiar with the “voice” of studies published in the journals you want to submit (Recker 2021, 171).

Write early and write often

Don’t wait until the research is fully completed.

Present early versions of your article early (e.g., on a conference or in roundtable discussions).

Additional tips

• Treat the proposal of your research as being your first paper that will be reviewed.
• Write from the middle out, at least for the first draft. Work through drafting (or listing and then drafting) the background section and theory building, first. Then, draft the rest of the paper and the introduction last (Baird 2021).

Staff a team

In scientific publications, co-authored articles are the rule, not the exception. You might also consider teaming up for your master-thesis (e.g., selecting related topics that allow for clear individual contributions and synergies).

If you set-up a team, look for complementarity of skills and alignment in working styles (Recker 2021, 172).

Tasks that can be shared

• Developing an original idea
• Designing a study
• Organizing data collection
• Collecting data
• Analyzing data
• Writing and revising a paper (but not a thesis)

Process

Writing process

Baird (2021, 1202) proposes following step-by-step process for writing IS papers

1. Identify and clarify your core message
   Area of focus, background, tension, resolution, and contribution
2. Draft the outline of your future manuscript
3. Outline the introduction
4. Create a literature review synthesis table
5. Create table and figures in the findings section
6. Add relevant details to the methods section
7. Outline the discussion
8. Draft the body of the paper
9. Write a draft of the abstract, introduction, and discussion
10. Go back through the entire paper

Recker (2021) adds to these points

11. Put it in a drawer, take it out, read again, revise again
12. Send it to a friendly reviewer and (professional) copy editor
13. Submit

Planning worksheet

Baird (2021, 1202) has created a planning worksheet for empirical IS papers. I recommend using the worksheet to draft and refine the core message for your master thesis. This should facilitate the work on your extended proposal.

Exercise

Read section 4 “Generalized Guidelines for Writing IS Papers” in Baird (2021) (download here), where Baird outlines his step-by-step approach as well as additional tips.

Which tips are probably the most important for working on your master’s thesis?

Publication process

Publication process in peer-reviewed outlets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3: Publication process in peer-reviewed outlets

Scholarly publications “count” as scientific publications only if they are peer-reviewed:

• Before a paper is published, it is reviewed by experts in the same field.
• This requires a community of experts in a narrowly defined field who are qualified to conduct an impartial review
• In most cases, this is a double-blind process: Authors and reviewers do not know each other’s identity

The review process is managed by an editorial team (usually a senior and an associate editor):

• An editor is usually a successful senior scientist who is familiar with the manuscript’s subject area
• She makes the decision on whether to publish the manuscript

Confessions

It is natural to feel bad about rejections. Unfortunately, I get them all the time too. Jan Recker

Thesis timeline

Coming back to your master’s thesis (which might end in an publication)—a focused schedule looks like that:

• Topic identification and proposal (before registration): it depends …
• Literature review and research model/framework: 6 weeks
• Preparation of the empirical part: 2 weeks
• Data collection and analysis: 4 weeks
• Conclusions, recommendations and “finishing”: 4 weeks

When planning the timeline, consider holidays and so called freezes (typically from mid December to mid January), in particular, if you need interview partners–they might be not available during these periods of time.

Publication

Initial remarks

Publication outlets differ widely in quality (Recker 2021)

• Good outlets will only accept good papers describing good research
• Publish high-impact papers in high-quality outlets

Open publishing process

• Once you publish, your ideas are out there (you can’t withdraw them)
• Published research will impact your reputation

Once you published a result, you can’t publish it again (one-stop option)

Exercise

What different publication formats exist?

Publication formats

(Edited) books, book chapters, journal articles, conference papers, workshop papers, technical reports, and many more

There are a variety of different publication formats.

• (Edited) Books
• Book chapters
• Journal articles
• Conference papers
• Workshop papers
• Technical reports

And many more.

Exercise

What are the differences?

Books

Scholars also write entire books or refereed book chapter in edited books.

However, some universities do not count them at all as publications as part of promotion or tenure decisions.

Implications

• Scholars typically contribute fewer to books than they write journal articles because book chapters are not considered as important (even though peer-reviewed).
• This not imply that the quality of these writings is generally worse (or better) than that of a journal article (at least if good review processes are in place).

Conference proceedings

The purpose of conferences is often to allow scientists to present their ongoing research to the community for opinions, feedback, and new ideas.

Papers presented at conferences are usually intended as an intermediate step in the research and publication process, not as an end goal.

Implications

• Conference papers are usually shorter than journal articles and often describe research in progress.
• The review process for most conferences is much shorter and far less rigorous than for a good journal.

Journals

In most scientific fields, the highest-quality publications are those published in a (defined) number of top-tier journals.

Ranking list evaluate journals based on metrics such as impact factor, readership, editorial board composition, and other criteria, e.g.

• In IS, a consortium of reputable scholars has jointly defined a set of eight elite journals— the https://aisnet.org/page/SeniorScholarListofPremierJournals
• In Germany, the German Association for Business School Professors ranks a list of journals that are relevant to business school researchers—the JourQual
• The Financial Times lists the 50 most renowned journals in the field of management—the FT50 List

The journal impact factor (IF) is a measure of the frequency with which the “average article” in a journal has been cited in a particular year².

Exercise

Have a look at the articles you consider to play a significant role in your thesis (e.g., as a basis for your theorizing). Check the quality of their outlets as well as quality indicators of the article.

Will your research stand on the shoulders of giants?

Prepare to briefly introduce a paper and why you consider it as significant for your research.

If you do not have identified interesting papers, use the time to research these.

Which outlet to choose?

Journals are selective in what they publish—they only look for certain types of contributions (Recker 2021).

Implications

• Inform yourself about the aims and audiences the journal is interested in
• Submit papers only to journals that
  • want to publish the type of contribution your research makes and
  • address the same audience
• Check if you have cited papers from the journal you aim at
• Read many papers of the journal to familiarize yourself with the style and quality

Deciding on a target outlet

In deciding on a target outlet, consider five questions (Recker 2021, 175):

• What journals did you consult most when doing the research?
• How well do you know the outlet?
• Do you meet the outlet’s requirements for submissions?
• What is the audience and pool of reviewers?
  Who reads the journal, and who publishes in it?
  Who will decide on your submission and how?
• How low should you go?

Exercise

Have a look at the https://aisnet.org/page/SeniorScholarListofPremierJournals. Select a journal for which you could write a paper that reports the findings of your master thesis.

Why does the journal fit with your research?

Wrap-up

Developing a manuscript takes a good strategy and a lot time and effort.
Recker (2021) reminds us that …

1. Writing is a process that takes time.
   Dedicate resources to this task. Make it a priority.
2. Writing is a skill that must be developed and refined.
   Spend time on learning how to write better. Read before you write, learn from professionals, editors, and of course engage in learning by doing.
3. Writing benefits from reviewing.
   While you can learn a great deal from reading papers that have been published, you can often learn even more from manuscripts that were written and submitted but may never be published.
4. Good writing comes from revising, polishing, and editing, over and over.

Homework

Select a handful papers from different outlets that might play a role in developing your thesis.

Analyze their structure and come up with a proposal of how to structure a scientific paper (and thesis) in IS and management sciences.

Q&A

Literature

Baird, Aaron. 2021. “On Writing Research Articles Well: A Guide for Writing IS Papers.” Journal of the Association for Information Systems 22 (5): 1197–1211.

Recker, Jan. 2021. Scientific Research in Information Systems: A Beginner’s Guide. Springer Nature.

Footnotes

1. A researcher with an index of h has published h papers with at least h citations each.

2. A = the number of times articles published in 2019 and 2020 were cited during 2021; B = the total number of ‘citable items’ published by that journal in 2019 and 2020; 2021 impact factor = A / B