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copy is to be distributed to each member of the class at a designated
location by 9:00 a.m. on the class day). Each student will read all
assignments before the class on which it is due. There will be no
guizzes or examinations.

Later pages of this syllabus illustrate the daily plan for this
course. This schedule is intentionally incomplete.  Depending on the
interests and knowledge levels in the class, modifications to this
schedule will be made. Additional readings and exercises may be
included and the seguence of topics may be altered.  Finally, the
time, date and location for some class meetings may be changed to
accommodate visitors. It is therefore important that you bring this
syllabus to each class meeting to record any additions or changes.

Your first reading assignment presents a model of the research
process in the context of the Management Information Systems Field.
This model is a useful framework on which to "hang" the materials
covered in this course. These materials will deal with (l) the
research process and its elements, (2) the MIS Field System, and (3)
the environment.  Particular attention will be focused on defining the
boundary between the MIS Field System and its environment. This model
will be discussed during the second class meeting. This paper also
presents a Comparative Analysis of Research Methodologies. This
framework will be used to guide the discussion of many of the readings
in the course. The framework will be discussed during the second
class meeting, and will be evaluated and modified, as necessary,
throughout the semester.

A term paper may be reguired in this course. That decision will
be made by consensus of the class members by mid-term. If a term
paper is reguired it will be focused on elements of the research
process and the literature addressing these elements. The purpose of
reguiring a term paper is to facilitate the student's ability to focus
on a particular aspect of the research process that is still not well
understood.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completing this course the student will understand the
research process and the literature, tools and technigues associated
with each phase of the process form library research through objective
specification, topic analysis, hypothesis formulation, selection of
research strategies and experimental design, data collection and
analysis, to the preparation of publishable research reports. . The
student will also be able to identify and evaluate the major contin-
gencies which influence the process or phases within the overall
process; (e.g., operating paradigms, scientific versus socio-technical
methods, empirical versus theoretical, theory building versus testing,
nomothetic versus idiographic, causal versus correlational, gtce;).
Finally, the student will be introduced to some of the frontiers of
knowledge in MIS and will begin to develop the ability to critically
evaluate articles in the learned journals of this field.

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