DSM0720 - RESEARCH AND EVALUATION METHODS IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Module Identifier	DSM0720
Module Title	RESEARCH AND EVALUATION METHODS IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Academic Year	2002/2003
Co-ordinator	Mrs Christine J Urquhart
Semester	Available all semesters
Assessment	Semester Assessment	Report NVivo report	25%
	Semester Assessment	Report SPSS report	25%
	Semester Assessment	Critical appraisal report	50%

Learning outcomes

At the end of this module student should be able to :

distinguish research and evaluation methods in information ststems and identify the complexities and challenges involved in social research

describe several research designs including citation analysis and meta analysis, and be able to decide on the appropriateness of each to answer specific research questions.

identify different approaches to evaluation and relate these to planning evaluation projects

explain the principles of research design

outline the principles of data collection in practice

explain why the consideration of ethics is important

explain key terms in quantitative data analysis

analyse quantitative data using SPSS to enter data, define variables, run parametric (including t-tests and ANNOVA) and non-parametric tests (including Chi-square analysis of frequency data), print and interpret results tables

prepare and enter data into a qualitative data analysis software package, code and memo, and demonstrate various methods of analysing the data for later display and discussion

apply the study of research and evaluation methods to the critical appraisal, or review, of information system research articles

Brief description

This module is intended to give you a flavour of doing research, as well as helping you critique other people’s research, and providing you with some guidelines that should help you in designing a project of your own. The module will introduce the concepts and practice of research and evaluation, including the use of data analysis software - to see how the results on the pages of a research article, or research report might have been obtained.

Reading Lists

Books
** Essential Reading
Brace, Nicola, Kemp, Richard and Rosemary Snelgar. (2000) SPSS for psychologists: a guide to data analysis using SPSS for Windows. Basingstoke : Palgrave Publishers Ltd
Brynman, Alan. (2001) Social research methods. Oxford : Oxford University Press
Hart, Chris. (1998) Doing a literature review. London: Sage Publications
** Recommended Text
Clegg, Frances. (1982) Simple statistics : a course book for the social sciences p 31 -31. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Hinton, Perry, R.. (1995) Satisitcs explaines : a guide for social science students p 6 -22. London: Routledge
Howell, David. (1997) Stastistical methods for psychology p 1-8. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Group
Sapsford, Roger. (1999) Survey Research p 49-100. London: Sage Publications

Web Page/Sites
** Recommended Consultation
SPSS Compamy home page. http://www.spss.com/