Foto Andreas Drechsler ©Andreas Drechsler

Research Colloquium Business Informatics

Research Colloquium Business Informatics

01. Dec

As part of the Information Systems and Data Science Research Colloquium,Andreas Drechsler, Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington's School of Information Management, New Zealand, will present on "Scoping around and Reflecting on Boundary Conditions in Information Systems Research: the Case of Research on Small and Medium Organisations" on December 01.12.2022 starting at 4:15 pm. The lecture will take place in hybrid form.

Abstract

This talk proposes an approach to carefully scope an IS research project around and continuously reflect on suitable boundary conditions depending on the project’s topic and goals, and illustrates the approach for research in the context of small and medium organisations (SMOs). SMOs are a suitable illustrative example for the importance of boundary conditions as SMOs are of a fundamentally different nature compared to large organisations, yet IS research often implicitly assumes the latter as their context. Insufficient attention to boundary conditions may lead to IS research drawing on unsuitable theories, or making unreflected or too wide claims for accuracy or applicability. The approach builds on the extant boundary condition literature but makes the existing recommendations and guidelines more actionable for IS research throughout the entire research lifecycle. The approach also integrates extant thinking around boundary conditions for explanatory research with similar considerations from the design-oriented research literature.

Other researchers can use the approach to explicitly scope their research around suitable boundary conditions at the beginning and reflect on them throughout their project.

The approach also enables researchers to carefully take into account the boundary conditions (or the lack thereof) of any theory they draw on and to include or exclude certain classes of their units of analysis or design contexts of interest (e.g., organisations or individuals) more clearly from their sample.

Ultimately, researchers should thus be able to produce research outcomes that can make stronger validity or fitness claims for more clearly delineated classes of their chosen unit of analysis or design contexts.

Date and time: 01.12.2022 um 16:15 Uhr

Location: C6.321
 

Access data via Zoom: 

leuphana.zoom.us/j/92701177112

Meeting-ID: 92701177112
Passwort: ReCoISDS