Motivation
Research aims to advance understanding of reality before providing advice on how to change it.
This course is designed to teach you the fundamentals of information systems (IS) research through a combination of teaching sessions and independent study. The course is also designed to help you make significant progress on your master’s thesis, in particular in understanding the role of theory and finding a suitable method.
Contents
Research is the process of describing phenomena we perceive in the world, articulating theories to account for these phenomena, and testing how well the theories explain the observed phenomena (Weber, 2003).
This course teaches you basic things you need to do your own research project (e.g., as part of your master’s thesis), particularly regarding:
- Theory of science and knowledge acquisition
- Basic principles of research (in IS)
- The research process
- The role and nature of theory
- Research design with a focus on the basics of quantitative and qualitative research methods as well as design science research
Learning outcomes
You will advance your knowledge and skills in following areas.
- Understanding the fundamentals of doing sound research and the need for focus (especially the alignment of research question, theory, and methods)
- Understanding the need for theory-guided explanations of real-world phenomenon and approaches and the nature and role of theory in IS research
- Ability to chose adequate research methods depending on the research objective (incl. related data acquisition and data analysis techniques)
- Crafting own theoretical contributions and evaluating those of others, while maintaining academic integrity and uphold the standards of good academic work
Learning set-up
This course combines class teaching with brief exercises, coaching, and self-learning components.
- The self-learning components are necessary to prepare and reflect the teaching sessions and to pass the assignment. They include reading the lecture notes
- The focus of the teaching sessions is on giving you input to the fundamentals of IS research (lecture notes) as well as specific examples (often from PhD students)
The learning progress is reflected in multiple assignments.
Effort
You will gain 5 ECTS for this course. This equals min. 125 hours workload for an average student required to pass the course.
- Teaching sessions including preparation and reflections: approx. 30 hours
- Assignment (presentation and method paper): approx. 95 hours
Please prepare your schedule accordingly.
Schedule
To make this course as valuable as possible in preparation for your thesis, we have blocked the bulk of the sessions at the beginning of the semester. You will be through with the course by mid-December.
| Date | Topic | Lecturer | Location | Preparation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, 29.09., 13.15 - 16.45 | Administrivia & Introduction | Risius & Weeger | E1.1.01 | — |
| Tue, 30.09., 09.00 - 12.30 | Theory | Weeger | E1.1.01 | Read Podsakoff et al. (2016) |
| Wed, 01.10., 09.00 - 12.30 | Research Process | Weeger | E1.1.01 | Read Hund et al. (2021) |
| Wed, 01.10., 13.15 - 16.45 | Research Design & Quantitative Methods | Risius et al. | E1.1.01 | — |
| Wed, 01.10., 18.00 - 20.30 | Master Mastered Event | Alumni | Creative 1 | — |
| Thu, 02.10., 09.00 - 12.30 | Qualitative Methods & DSR | Risius et al. | E1.1.01 | — |
| Thu, 02.10., 12.30 | Deadline: Theory selection | — | — | — |
| Thu, 02.10., 13.15 - 16.45 | Back-up | E1.1.01 | — | |
| Mon, 13.10. | Deadline: Theory slides | — | Slides | |
| Tue, 21.10., 08.00 - 13.00 | Theory Presentations #1 | E5.1.09 | — | |
| Tue, 28.10., 08.00 - 13.00 | Theory Presentations #2 | E5.1.09 | — | |
| Tue, 04.11., 08.00 - 13.00 | Q&A Research Methods | Risius et al. | Zoom | — |
| Mon, 22.12. | Deadline: Method paper | — | Paper |