ITE 28 (Prelim Part 2)

• Observational: Researcher simply observes human or other animal behavior
• Naturalistic involves observing how humans or other animals behave in their natural habitat
• Laboratory observing behavior in a contrived and controlled situation usually in the laboratory
• Case study: An in-depth study of one or more individuals
• Case study: Is considered descriptive in nature because it involves

  simply describing the individuals being studied
• Case study: It can be used to describe a unit of analysis
• Case study: Most common qualitative method used in IS/CS research
• Case study: It investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident
• Case study: Well-suited to IS research, since the object of this discipline is the study of information systems in organizations, and the

  interest has shifted to organizational rather than technical issues
• Survey: Questioning individuals on a topic and then describing their

  responses
• Surveys can be administered by mail, over the phone, on the Internet, or in a personal interview
• The advantage of survey is it allows researchers to study larger groups of individuals more easily
• Survey: Concerns include: (1) whether the group of people (sample) who participate is representative of all the people about whom the study is meant to generalize (population) and (2) clarity and ease of understanding of the questions
• Survey concerns can be overcome by random sampling
• A random sample is achieved when, through random selection, each member of the population is equally likely to be chosen as part of the sample
• Correlational method is when two variables are related in some way.
• Correlation does not imply causation.
• A correlation simply means that two variables are related in some way
• Correlational research is used in Information Technology to investigate the relationship between variables.
• In correlational research, the researcher measures two or more variables and examines whether they are related to each other.
• Correlational research can be used to explore patterns and relationships in large data sets, and to identify variables that may be important for predicting or explaining a particular outcome.
• Correlational research can be used to explore patterns and relationships in large data sets, and to identify variables that may be important for predicting or explaining a particular outcome.
• Positive relationship – as one variable increases (height), we observe an increase in the second (weight)
• Negative relationship – as one variable increases, the other systematically decreases
• Quasi-experimental method: Enables us to compare naturally occurring groups of individuals
• Subject or participant variable – a characteristic of the participant that cannot be changed (we do not control whether people join fraternities)
• Quasi-experimental research is a type of research design that is used in information technology to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions or treatments.
• Quasi-experimental studies do not use random assignment of participants to groups, which is a key feature of experimental studies.
• Quasi-experimental studies use other methods to create groups that are comparable in terms of relevant characteristics.
• Quasi-experimental studies are often used when random assignment is not feasible or ethical, but they have some limitations in terms of internal validity and the ability to draw causal inferences.
• Careful design and analysis are necessary to ensure that the results of quasi-experimental studies are valid and reliable.
• Explanatory/Experimental Method: Allows researchers proper controls
• Explanatory/Experimental Method: Also determine whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the variables of interests
• Explanatory/Experimental Method: Allows researchers to know when and why a behavior occurs
• Explanatory/Experimental Method: Requires many pre-conditions
• Explanatory/Experimental Method involves conducting experiments to test hypotheses or to evaluate the effectiveness of a system or technique.
• Experimental research typically involves manipulating one or more variables and observing their effects on the outcome.
• Explanatory/Experimental Method is suitable for evaluating the performance of algorithms, evaluating the usability of interfaces, or testing the effectiveness of new techniques.
• Basic premise of experimentation: researcher controls as much as possible to determine whether there is cause-and-effect relationship between variables
• Variables can be divided into two main categories: independent variables and dependent variables.