Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
courses can supply breadth in research preparation, allowing students to be exposed to a
wider range of research approaches than will be required in their current project, thus
preparing them for future research. Whitten and Bell described two courses offered at their
institution to train information technology research students. Courses such as these are
offered at many universities.
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Research methods courses for information systems research students are usually one
of two types. They may focus mainly on practical skills such as library research, thesis
preparation, and oral presentation skills. Alternatively, they may have a broader focus,
introducing students to a range of research methods such as experimentation, survey
research, case study research, and action research.
Other Approaches Tried
A number of other approaches to getting information technology research students
started have been discussed in the literature. The section below provides a brief overview
of them. Ridley (1995) noted the difficulty of starting out in information systems research and
discussed the particular difficulty of selecting and focusing information systems research
projects. She explored the role of doctoral consortiums in this process and was generally
positive about their benefit but suggested that systematic expert review may be of even more
benefit.
It has also been suggested that students should be introduced to information technol-
ogy research at the undergraduate level. Reed, Miller, and Braught (2000) described a
comprehensive effort to introduce a research culture throughout an entire undergraduate
computer science curriculum.
Cunningham (1995) discussed the difficulty of providing an authentic research expe-
rience to undergraduate students and described a successful third-year project (in a
databases course) in which information technology students designed, conducted, and
wrote up bibliometric experiments. The project was designed to give students experience with
the scientific method and to encourage familiarity with the scientific publishing process and
with the information technology professional literature. Clarke (1998) also described an
approach that used an undergraduate class experiment to teach an empirical approach to
designing human computer interaction (HCI). The focus in this approach was on obtaining
empirical skills to help specifically in HCI design rather than on undertaking research that is
more general.
Borstler and Johansson (1998) described a “conference course,” a course designed to
introduce undergraduate students to research and improve their written and oral communi-
cation skills. The course they described was organized as a “real” conference and open to
the public. However, because of time limitations, most of the papers submitted by students
were literature review than research papers. Students did not, thus, necessarily gain practice
with a range of research skills.
RATIONALE FOR THE STRUCTURED GROUP
PROJECT APPROACH
This chapter reports on another approach for getting Honors research students started.
It involves Honors students undertaking a structured group research project in which the
