Personal tools
You are here: Home → Academics → Syllabi → Fall 2010 Syllabi → BAD 84007 Fall 2010 Datta
 

BAD 84007 Fall 2010 Datta

B AD 84007: Fall 2010: Conceptual Models for Business Research

Readings, Design, and Implementation[1]

 

Syllabus and Schedule (Click here for SCHEDULE)

                                                                              

 

Class Time:                  Tuesday: 3:30 pm- 6:30 pm @ the M&IS Conference Room (A404)    

                                   

Professor:                     Dr. Pratim Datta

Office Location:           A 408             

Telephone:                    (330) 672-1229

Office Hours:               Tuesdays 11:00 am- 1:00 pm or via email

Email:                           pdatta@kent.edu

Class Web WebCT :    http://vista.kent.edu

 

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

This is an introductory seminar in information technology research. Its major objective is to help seminar participants understand the role of IS research in an academic community, and the methods of social science research. Additionally, the seminar seeks to develop participant motivation to become a contributor to the organizational sciences and information systems research communities by examining:

· The research process, methodologies and strategies

· The information systems research context

· The nature of organizational sciences research

· The major streams of information systems research

 

Another objective of this seminar is to also provide you the ammunition for your comprehensive exams that will follow later in your PhD years. MOST OF ALL, use this seminar to interest yourself in topics that you can carry over to your dissertation (believe me, it really helps smoothen the process).

 

Over the duration of this course, you will focus on reading the craft of writing and reviewing journal articles, most of which are conceptual or synthetic in nature. The articles and journals involved are readily available via the library. The class will follow a schedule where one member will champion a topic at random and lead the discussion for a specific week. I will follow on with asking questions and facilitating the discussions as we progress through the topic on hand. Your discussions and participations are KEY to your success.

 

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ AND SUMMARIZE READINGS FOR EVERY FOLLOWING WEEK.

 

 

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

Seminar grades will be based on students' performance on six required assignments:

 

  1. (15%) Participate in and lead seminar discussions.
  2. (10%) Prepare a critical conceptual review of a scholarly manuscript (6 pages double spaced).
  3. (25%) Complete a mid-term examination (research philosophy and literature review).
  4. (20%) Construct a novel causal model and draw your own hypotheses (10 pages double spaced).
  5. (30% + 10%) Build on your existing work to prepare and present a research paper on the literature review and causal model (motivation, contributions to research and practice, literature review, theory development, hypotheses, discussion, limitations, conclusion.

 

The standard letter grading scale (A to C) will be used for these seminar requirements and for the overall grade. Late assignments will not be accepted. I will gladly talk with you (and examine written materials) regarding assignments prior to their assigned dates.

 

READINGS & WRITING

The day a journal article or a chapter is assigned, prepare a two-page set of “bullets highlighting (i) interesting, (ii) intriguing, (iii) problematic, and (iv) confusing aspects of each of the assigned reading. What were the most important insights you obtained from the article, e.g., what ...do you know now that you didn't know ... do you now think about differently ... surprised you the most? And, what didn’t you understand? Finally, how would you craft your own ontology and/or epistemology? We will use these pages to drive the discussion of each reading. Post them via WebCT for distribution to all seminar participants.

 

RESEARCH MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

You are expected to select a phenomenon of interest, draw on an appropriate theoretical perspective (not restricted to the subset that is covered in the course) and submit a conceptual paper. The paper must display knowledge of related literature in the domain and of organizational theory, demonstrating the ability to integrate different perspectives. For instance, the paper can propose a theoretical model to examine a specific issue and suggest a research design to study it. Alternatively, the paper could review of the literature in any area of your interest and provide an organizing framework that reveals issues that require further exploration, laying out a research agenda for the field. This paper is expected to be of the quality accepted in conferences such as ICIS, AMCIS, HICSS, and SIGCPR.

I expect that you will at least hand in an outline of the paper accompanied by an annotated bibliography at the end of the term. I will be glad to clarify issues related to completed paper.

 

NOTE: If you cannot arrive at a concept yourself and require my assistance in crafting the model, I am ethically obliged to become a primary author/co-author on the manuscript over its lifecycle. You are free to work with me or any of your mentors or other faculty that you choose.

 

NOTE: These pieces are required as a preface to research. These should help you craft your paper for the semester and more:

 

  1. Straub, D. (2008) Why do Top Journals Reject Good Papers? MIS Quarterly Editor’s Comments, September.
  2. Langley, A. (1999) Strategies for Theorizing from Process Data Academy of Management ReviewVol. 24(4), pp. 691-710
  3. Types of Validities in Research (http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/measval.php)

 

CLASS DISCUSSION LEADERSHIP

A key aspect of preparing for an academic career is the ability to lead and direct an academic discussion. Based on random assignment, I will call upon each seminar participant to be responsible for leading one class session. You will be in charge of the session you are assigned to lead.

 

REQUIREMENT: BUILDING A CAUSAL MODEL

You are to build a causal model representing some aspect of the core elements or forces associated with the phenomenon which is serving as the basis for your research paper (Requirement #4).

This report will most likely be between 5 and 10 pages in length, including diagrams, tables, etc. More specific instructions include:

· Define all entities and constructs

· Describe the nature of relationships among the system entities

· Provide diagrams of these relationships

· Be sensitive to the trade-off between simplicity and completeness

The “structure” of this report should follow this form:

· Introduction

· statement of the aspect of your phenomenon to be modeled

· explanation as to why this is a significant topic

· a `road map' of the remainder of the paper

· Your model

· definitions of elements

· discussion of relationships

· Conclusion

· summary of key issues raised in the paper

· statement of key idea(s) you wish readers to take away after reading this essay

 

REQUIREMENT: CRITIQUE OF A SCHOLARLY MANUSCRIPT

You will be given a scholarly manuscript, which has recently been accepted for publication at MIS Quarterly, to read. Prepare a critique of this manuscript. Your review should be about 3 to 5 pages in length. Do not unnecessarily worry about the organization and style of your critique. I am more concerned about your communicating your ideas to the author of the manuscript.

Begin by pointing out the paper's strengths and weaknesses and describe the various issues tat seem important to you. Look towards referent literature to find if similar work has been done and how the authors have pushed the envelope.

In addition to pointing out the manuscript's strengths and weaknesses, be sure to provide the author with suggestions regarding actions to be taken to improve the manuscript. The “structure” of your review should follow this form:

· Recommendation

· Overview of strengths and weaknesses

· Detailed comments

· Directions/suggestions for improving manuscript

 

REQUIREMENT: RESEARCH PAPER

This research paper should develop and present a conceptual model(s) and/or frame(s) that synthesizes current ideas (obtained through a careful examination of relevant scholarly journals) on your assigned topic.

 

The paper itself can be no more than 25 pages in length, including figures, tables and reference list. The structure of the paper should be as follows:

 

· Introduction that clearly describes the phenomenon you will be investigating, its importance to research and practice, and your motivation to pursue that topic.

· Theory development: background literature

· Theory development: the causal model

· Future directions, summary, and conclusion

 

For the presentation, your grade will be decided by an average of my own grading of the presentation and by grades by your peers. We shall discuss this issue during the course of the semester.


 

[1] Course developed with the help of UMD, LSU, University of Minnesota, and UT-Austin

 

 

 

Document Actions