Linking Theory and Practice: Performing a Reality Check on a Model of IS Success

The issue of ‘rigour vs. relevance’ in IS research has generated an intense, heated debate for over a decade. It is possible to identify, however, only a limited number of contributions on how to increase the relevance of IS research without compromising its rigour. Based on a lifecycle view of IS research, we propose the notion of ‘reality checks’ in order to review IS research outcomes in the light of actual industry demands. We assume that five barriers impact the efficient transfer of IS research outcomes; they are lack of awareness, lack of understandability, lack of relevance, lack of timeliness, and lack of applicability. In seeking to understand the effect of these barriers on the transfer of mature IS research into practice, we used focus groups. We chose DeLone and McLean’s IS success model as our stimulus because it is one of the more widely researched areas of IS

Expertise in Debugging Computer Programs: Situation-Based versus Model-Based Problem Solving

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study that investigated expert and novice debugging processes with the aim of assessing the relevance of situation-dependent problem solving to debugging expertise. The method used was verbal protocol analysis. Data was collected from sixteen subjects employed by the same organization. The study first controlled for the variability in individual problem solving by incorporating certain aspects of programmers\u27 debugging processes into the debugging model. The criterion of expertise was the subjects\u27 ability to effectively chunk the program they were required to debug. This method proved effective in explaining much of the variability in debugging performance and provided the basis for the expert-novice classification used in subsequent analysis of the protocol data. Further analysis focused on situational factors in debugging. lt took two forms: (1) a static or content analysis of subjects\u27 problem solving behavior that aggregated data across a protocol: and (2) a dynamic or process analysis of subjects\u27 debugging processes that examined data as closely as possible to its natural state. The results support the notion that experts respond to the data in the task while novices are constrained by preconceived ideas or early hypotheses about the source of error

CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS AND PROGRAM CODING: AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION

Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Types of business-to-business e-marketplaces: The role of a theory-based, domain-specific model

In this study, we seek to further our knowledge of e-marketplaces by exploring empirically the existence of different types of business-to-business e-marketplaces. We used the reference model for electronic markets [Schmid & Lindemann 1998] as the theoretical foundation for a domain-specific model that we used to develop a set of coherent types of e-marketplaces, based on data from 24 German e-marketplaces. Analysis using multi-dimensional scaling identified three types of e-marketplaces that differed on whether they were horizontal or vertical in nature, the services they provide, and whether they erect market barriers. Interestingly, these factors are those that managers can control most readily and that they can therefore vary to produce an e-marketplace tailored to their business. We present a theoretical analysis of our e-marketplace types based in the literature on managerial control. Our theoretical analysis, the three types of e-marketplace we determined, and the domain-specific e-marketplace model we derived to conduct our investigation, provide a foundation for creating a cumulative tradition in e-marketplace research

NIBCO\u27s Big Bang

This case study can be used to demonstrate the tradeoffs between Big Bang versus slower ERP implementation approaches that allow time for organizational learning. Students can identify the technology and organizational risks associated with ERP projects in general, and Big Bang implementations in particular, and then assess how well NIBCO\u27s leaders manage these risks over the life of the project. Specific examples of communications and training initiatives, including ways to achieve employee buy-in, are detailed in the case so that students can better understand change management practices in the context of a major system implementation. The teaching note includes an epilogue, a framework for analyzing the implementation approach, a teaching guide, and supplementary references

Structured Tools and Condiitonal Logic: an Empirical Investigation

An important outcome of recent work on the psychology of programming has been the recognition that we have a poor understanding of how various programming practices-indenting, commenting, naming, etc.-facilitate or inhibit the programming process. After a fairly extensive series of studies, many results obtained are contradictory and counterintuitive. The major probem seems to be that we have poor theoretical bases to drive the empirical research. In particular, we have little knowledge of the psychological constructs that programmers bring to bear when they perform various programming tasks, and we have little knowledge of what is natural for programmers. This research tested the propositon that the effectiveness of a programming practice is a function of the extent to which it provides a close cognitive fit with a programmers\u27 problem solving strategy when he or she performs a programming task. The proposition was tested in the context of two psychological processes that appear to be used by programmers when they design and code conditional logic: (a) taxonomizing-identifying the conditions that evoke particular actions; and (b) sequencing-converting the taxa to a linear sequence of program code. Three structured tools-structured English, decision tables, and decision trees-were investigated in a laboratory setting to determine how they facilitated these two processes. It was hypothesized that decision tables and decision trees would facilitate the taxonomising process because they allow conditions and actions to be easily identified, and that structurd English would facilitate the sequencing process because it provides a linear representation of logic that can be mapped easily into programming code. To test the hypotheses, 124 volunteer information systems and computer science students undertook three experiments. In the first experiment they were given a narrative description of some conditional logic and asked to represent the logic using one of the three types of structured tools. In the second experiment they were given conditional logic already represented via one of the tools and asked to convert it into COBOL code. In the third experiment they were given a narrative description of some conditional logic and asked to convert it into COBOL code after having first represented the logic using one of the three types of structured tools. Their perfomance was assessed in terms of the number of syntactic errors they made, the number of semantic errors they made, and the time taken to perform the experimental tasks. In general, the results confirmed the propostions investigated. When the taxonomizing task had to be undertaken, decision trees outperformed strutured English, although surprisingly structured English outperformed decision tables. When the sequencing task had to be undertaken, structured English outperformed decision tables, but decision trees evoked the same level of performance as structured English. Across all tasks, decision tables evoked relatively poor levels of perfomance. On the other hand, decision trees evoked high levels of performance across all tasks. It appears that the graphical tree structure allows taxon information to be represented poignantly. At the same time it appears relatively easy to trace a branch to its leaf node to perform the sequencing task. The superiority of decision trees seems to confirm the desirablity of graphically revealing the structure inherent in processes rather than using symbolic languages. Moreover, the results suggest that the syntax of current programming languages may be unnecessarily restrictive. Perhaps programming languages should provide decision trees as part of their syntax instead of providing only unidimensional, linear syntax to represent conditional logic

Analysis of Current Grounded Theory Method Practices

Use of the grounded theory research method (GTM) is increasing across many fields of inquiry. Understanding the GTM and how to apply it is therefore a key task for researchers examining the possibility of using these methods in their research. Since its introduction by Glaser and Strauss in 1967, GTM has evolved into two major streams, and there has been a continual debate about the choice between them and their applicability. Examination of the extant literature reveals significant problems in applying the GTM. In this paper, we take a first step in the quest for identifying the current GTM practices and providing more effective procedures for conducting GTM research. To achieve our goal we started by analysing and identifying a number of difficulties encountered by researchers who have used GTM. We then examined and presented the ways in which they have resolved and addressed the problems

Understanding the Role of IS and Application Domain Knowledge on Conceptual Schema Problem Solving: A Verbal Protocol Study

One of the most neglected areas of information systems research is the role of the domain to which researchers apply IS methods, tools, and techniques; that is, the application domain. For example, little prior information systems (IS) or related research has examined how IS and application domain knowledge (ISDK and ADK, respectively) influence how individuals solve conceptual schema problem-solving tasks. In this research, we investigate the effects of both ISDK and ADK on two types of conceptual schema problem-solving tasks: schema based and inferential. We used verbal protocol analysis to explore the roles that ISDK and ADK play in the problem-solving processes participants use when addressing these tasks. We found that, for the two types of conceptual schema problem-solving tasks, ADK and ISDK have similar effects on problem-solving processes. That is, we found that, for schema-based problem-solving tasks, participants used focused (depth-first) processes when the application domain was familiar as did participants with greater IS domain knowledge. We also found that, for inferential problem-solving tasks, participants used exploratory (breadth-first) processes when the application domain was familiar as did participants with greater IS domain knowledge. We then show how cognitive psychology literature on problem solving can help explain the effects of ISDK and ADK and, thus, provide the theoretical foundation for analyzing the roles of each type of knowledge in the process of IS problem solving