1. Descriptive Research (I)
Week 8 Lecture 1
Thursday, May. 6, 2004

2. ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
Agenda
Quantitative Design issues
Correlation Research
Survey Research
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

3. Quantitative design issues
The language of variables and hypotheses
Quantitative researchers redefine concepts of interest into the language of variables
Attributes: the values or the categories of a variable
Examples:
Male, married, number of years married
SSL, SET, PKI, security technology
Types of variables
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

4. Quantitative design Issues
The language of variables and hypotheses
An expected but unconfirmed relationship between two or more variables
Where do hypotheses come from
Theory, direct observation,guess, intuition
Two different ways of stating a hypothesis
Looking for difference between variables
Looking for relationship between variables
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

5. Refinement of hypothesis
Problem or general hypothesis
You expect some children to read better than others because they come from homes in which there are positive values and attitudes to education.
Research hypothesis
Reading ability in nine-year-old children is related to parental attitudes towards education
Operational hypothesis
There is a significant relationship between reading ability for nine-year-old children as measured by standardized reading test X and parental attitudes to education as measured by attitude test Y
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

6. What is descriptive research
Identify the characteristics of an observed phenomenon
Explore possible correlations among two or more phenomena
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

7. Correlational Research
Examines the extent to which differences in one characteristic or variable are related to differences in one or more other characteristics or variables.
Gather data about two characteristics for a particular group of people or other appropriate units of study.
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

8. Example of correlational research
Scattergram: dynamic relationship between age and reading level
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

9. ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
Interpretation
Describe the homogeneity or heterogeneity of the two variables
Describe the degree to which the two variables are intercorrelated
Interpret these data and give them meaning.
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

10. Cautions about interpreting correlational results
Correlation does not, in and of itself indicate causation
One variable correlates meaningfully with another only when a common causal bond links the phenomena of both variables in a logical relationship
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

11. ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
Survey research
General features
Large-scale probability sampling
A study on snipping behavior of online auction took 368 eBay bidders as respondents
Systematic Procedures: Interviews and questionnaires
Answers are numerically coded and analyzed with the aid of statistical software
Used extensively for both descriptive and explanatory purposes
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

12. Research questions appropriate for a survey
Developed within the positivist approach to social science
Self-reported beliefs or behaviors.
Ask many things, measure many variables and test several hypotheses in a single survey
Behavior
Attitudes/beliefs/opinions
Expectations
Self-classification
Knowledge
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

13. Steps in conduction a survey
Step 1 Questionnaire design
Develop hypotheses
Decide on type of survey (mail, interview, telephone)
Write survey questions
Decide on response categories
Design layout
Step 2 Pilot test
Plan how to record data
Pilot test survey instrument
Step 3 Sampling
Decide on target population
Get sampling frame
Decide on sample size
Select sample
Step 4 Data collection
Locate respondents
Conduct interviews (distribute questionnaire)
Carefully record data
Step 5 Data analysis
Enter data into computers
Recheck all data
Perform statistical analysis on data
Step 6 Writing up
Describe methods and findings in research report
Present findings to others for critique and evaluation
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

14. ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
Types of surveys
Self-administrated Questionnaires
Hand delivered
Mail survey
Web survey
Face-to-face and Telephone interviews
Structured interview
The researcher asks a standard set of questions and nothing more
Semi-structured interview
The researcher may follow the standard questions with one or more individually tailored questions to get clarification or probe a person’s reasoning
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

15. Questionnaire item styles
Open-ended question
Respondents answer in their own words
Closed-ended question
Respondents choose a response from those provided
Examples
What drives you to bid in the last minutes in a second-price auction? (OPEN)
Which one of the factors listed below drives you to bid in the last minutes? (CLOSE)
() Checking around if there are other auctions offering the same item
() Don’t want other bidders get benefit from my expertise of the auction item
() Avoid bidding war
() Other _____________(please explain)
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

16. ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
Open vs. closed
Open-ended question
Great freedom for respondent to answer
Responses may be ambiguous
Coding is time-consuming and costly which usually results in some degree of error
Entail more work from respondents
Closed-ended question
Require less effort and less facility with words
Difficult to develop good closed questions
Recommendation for designing closed-end question: use open questions in preliminary interviews or pretests
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

17. ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
Ranking and scaling
Rank-ordering questions
Rating scale questions
Respondents are asked to indicate the degree of their agreement or disagreement with a statement
Rank-order the most important things you want in the job you make your life’s work? (1 indicates the most important one 4 the least important one)
______
Making a lot of money
Being creative
Being free from supervision
Having opportunities for advancement
What’s your overall reaction to the present Bear Lake bus system 1 2 3 4 5
Very satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

18. Using language effectively
Are the items unambiguous, easily read and sufficiently brief
Avoid indefinite words such as “usually”, “seldom”, “many”, “few”, “here”, “there”
Avoid false premises
How often do you use Internet? (bad example) ()
Seldom or never
Often
Very often
The post office is open too many hours. Do you want it to open four hours later or close four hours earlier each day? (bad example) ()
Open four hours later
Close four hours early
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

19. Using language effectively(II)
Avoid double-barreled question – two separate ideas are presented together as a unit
The system is easy to use and helpful
Avoid overlapping or unbalanced response categories.
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

20. Questionnaire design issues
Length of survey or questionnaire
Question order or sequence
Opening, middle and ending questions
Group questions on the same topic together.
Order effect
Format and Layout
Noresponse
The percentage of people who have and have not consented to participate
Those who agreed or refused to be interviewed
Those who have or have not returned questionnaire
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

21. ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
Question order effect
Question Order Effects
Question 1
“Do you think that the United States should let communist newspaper reporters from other countries come in here and send back to their papers the news as they see it?
Question 2
“Do you think a Communist country like Russia should let American newspaper reporters come in and send back to America the news as they see it?”
PERCENTAGE SAYING YES
Heard first
Yes to #1
(Communist Report)
Yes to #2
(American Reporter)
54%
75%
64%
82%
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

22. Analyzing one variable
Univariate frequency distribution
Degree of satisfaction
Frequency
Percent
Cumulative percent
Very satisfied 1 23
16.4 2 71
50.7
67.1 3 19
13.6
80.7 4 14
10.0
90.7 5 11
7.9
98.6
Very disatisfied 6
1.4
100.0
Total
140
100
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

23. Being critique on survey results
The items to include when reporting survey research
The sampling frame used
The date on which the survey was conducted
The population that the sample represents
The size of the sample for which information was collected
The sampling methods
The exact wording of the questions asked
The method of the survey
The organizations that sponsored the survey
The response rate
Any missing information or “don’t know” responses when results on specific questions are reported
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney

24. ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
Summary
Quantitative design issues
Language of variables and hypotheses
Correlational research
Scattergram and it’s interpretation
Survey research
Steps
Different types of survey
Design of questionnaire
Preliminary analysis of survey data
Thursday, May. 6, 2004
ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals
School of IT, The University of Sydney