to many, however, it constantly appears as an instructional problem. The final two chapters serve as excellent summary statements. Chapter 13 emphasizes the application of previous text material to the classroom situation. Of great significance is the author's discussion of commonly defined independent, dependent, and moderator variables. The final chapter focuses on evaluation in the overall sense, particularly as it relates to programs of study. The principles of measurement and research design are applied to the evaluation process through several ex-

Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Application:

In 1974 an article appeared in Science magazine with the dry-sounding title “Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” by a pair of psychologists who were not well known outside their discipline of decision theory. In it Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the world to Prospect Theory, which mapped out how humans actually behave when faced with decisions about gains and losses, in contrast to how economists assumed that people behave. Prospect Theory turned Economics on its head by demonstrating through a series of ingenious experiments that people are much more concerned with losses than they are with gains, and that framing a choice from one perspective or the other will result in decisions that are exactly the opposite of each other, even if the outcomes are monetarily the same. Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of our brain’s wiring.

Thinking fast and slow.

How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally. The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge. To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself withthe master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future. Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.

The knowledge-creating company

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

/pdf/qualitative-research-in-information-systems-1sezxwy02d.pdf

Qualitative Research in Information Systems

This paper introduces a framework for conducting and writing an effective literature review. The target audience for the framework includes information systems (IS) doctoral students, novice IS researchers, and other IS researchers who are constantly struggling with the development of an effective literature-based foundation for a proposed research. The proposed framework follows the systematic data processing approach comprised of three major stages: 1) inputs (literature gathering and screening), 2) processing (following Bloom’s Taxonomy), and 3) outputs (writing the literature review). This paper provides the rationale for developing a solid literature review including detailed instructions on how to conduct each stage of the process proposed. The paper concludes by providing arguments for the value of an effective literature review to IS research.

/pdf/a-systems-approach-to-conduct-an-effective-literature-review-1sy3z1qeat.pdf

A systems approach to conduct an effective literature review in support of information systems research

Several studies have been conducted related to dropouts from on-campus and distance education courses. However, no clear definition of dropout from academic courses was provided. Consequently, this study proposes a clear and precise definition of dropout from academic courses in the context of e-learning courses. Additionally, it is documented in literature that students attending e-learning courses dropout at substantially higher rates than their counterparts in on-campus courses. Little attention has been given to the key factors associated with such substantial difference. This study explores two main constructs: (1) academic locus of control; and, (2) students satisfaction with e-learning. Results show that students satisfaction with e-learning is a key indicator in students decision to dropout from e-learning courses. Moreover, dropout students (non-completers) reported to have significantly lower satisfaction with e-learning than students who successfully completed (completers or persistent students) the same e-learning courses. Additionally, results of this study show that the academic locus of control appears to have no impact on students decision to drop from e-learning courses. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

http://www.water-msc.org/en/knowledge_base/dropouts_and_persistence.pdf

Comparing dropouts and persistence in e-learning courses

Introduction The novice researcher, such as the graduate student, can be overwhelmed by the intricacies of the research methods employed in conducting a scholarly inquiry (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005). As both a consumer and producer of research, it is essential to have a firm grasp on just what is entailed in producing legitimate, valid results and conclusions. The very large and growing number of diverse research approaches in current practice exacerbates this problem (Mertler & Vannatta, 2001). The goal of this review is to provide the novice researcher with a starting point in becoming a more informed consumer and producer of research in the form of a lexicon of terms and an analysis of the underlying constructs that apply to scholarly enquiry, regardless of the specific methods employed. Scholarly research is, to a very great extent, characterized by the type of study conducted and, by extension, the specific methods employed in conducting that type of study (Creswell, 2005, p. 61). Novice researchers, however, often mistakenly think that, since studies are known by how they are conducted, the research process starts with deciding upon just what type of study to conduct. On the contrary, the type of study one conducts is based upon three related issues: the problem driving the study, the body of knowledge, and the nature of the data available to the researcher. As discussed elsewhere, scholarly research starts with the identification of a tightly focused, literature supported problem (Ellis & Levy, 2008). The research-worthy problem serves as the point of departure for the research. The nature of the research problem and the domain from which it is drawn serves as a limiting factor on the type of research that can be conducted. Nunamaker, Chen, and Purdin (1991) noted that "It is clear that some research domains are sufficiently narrow that they allow the use of only limited methodologies" (p. 91). The problem also serves as the guidance system for the study in that the research is, in essence, an attempt to, in some manner, develop at least a partial solution to the research problem. The best design cannot provide meaning to research and answer the question 'Why was the study conducted,' if there is not the anchor of a clearly identified research problem. The body of knowledge serves as the foundation upon which the study is built (Levy & Ellis, 2006). The literature also serves to channel the research, in that it indicates the type of study or studies that are appropriate based upon the nature of the problem driving the study. Likewise, the literature provides clear guidance on the specific methods to be followed in conducting a study of a given type. Although originality is of great value in scholarly work, it is usually not rewarded when applied to the research methods. Ignoring the wisdom contained in the existing body of knowledge can cause the novice researcher, at the least, a great deal of added work establishing the validity of the study. From an entirely practical perspective, the nature of the data available to the researcher serves as a final filter in determining the type of study to conduct. The type of data available should be considered a necessary, but certainly not sufficient, consideration for selecting research methods. The data should never supersede the necessity of a research-worthy problem serving as the anchor and the existing body of knowledge serving as the foundation for the research. The absence of the ability to gather the necessary data can, however, certainly make a study based upon research methods directly driven by a well-conceived problem and supported by current literature completely futile. Every solid research study must use data in order to validate the proposed theory. As a result, novice researchers should understand the centrality of access to data for their study success. Access to data refers to the ability of the researcher to actually collect the desired data for the study. …

/pdf/towards-a-guide-for-novice-researchers-on-research-1fpk1m6ugy.pdf

Towards a guide for novice researchers on research methodology: Review and proposed methods

Understanding the type of research methods that may best fit a given research agenda can be daunting task for novice researchers. In many instances, the problem can seem to be overwhelming in that the novice does not possess the basic familiarity with the fundamental terms and concepts of some of the more commonly used approaches to make an informed decision. This paper provides the novice researcher with a basic set of concepts and terms associated with conducting design and development studies, one of the foundational research approaches in the informing sciences. A six phase design and development framework adopted from prior system development methodology literature is presented. Additionally, examples to help the novice researcher better grasp the proposed framework are discussed.

/pdf/a-guide-for-novice-researchers-design-and-development-5fhynao1pw.pdf

A guide for novice researchers: Design and development research methods

Financial institutions all over the world are providing banking services via information systems, such as: automated teller machines (ATMs), Internet banking, and telephone banking, in an effort to remain competitive as well as enhancing customer service. However, the acceptance of such banking information systems (BIS) in developing countries remains open. The classical Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been well validated over hundreds of studies in the past two decades. This study contributed to the extensive body of research of technology acceptance by attempting to validate the integration of trust and computer self-efficacy (CSE) constructs into the classical TAM model. Moreover, the key uniqueness of this work is in the context of BIS in a developing country, namely Jamaica. Based on structural equations modeling using data of 374 customers from three banks in Jamaica, this study results indicated that the classic TAM provided a better fit than the extended TAM with Trust and CSE. However, the results also indicated that trust is indeed a significant construct impacting both perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use. Additionally, test for gender differences indicated that across all study participants, only trust was found to be significantly different between male and female bank customers. Conclusions and recommendations for future research are also provided.

Integrating Trust and Computer Self-Efficacy with TAM: AnEmpirical Assessment of CustomersÃ¢ÂÂ Acceptance of BankingInformation Systems (BIS) in Jamaica

Yair Levy

Papers

A systems approach to conduct an effective literature review in support of information systems research

Comparing dropouts and persistence in e-learning courses

Towards a guide for novice researchers on research methodology: Review and proposed methods

A guide for novice researchers: Design and development research methods

Integrating Trust and Computer Self-Efficacy with TAM: AnEmpirical Assessment of CustomersÃ¢ÂÂ Acceptance of BankingInformation Systems (BIS) in Jamaica