Large research project anyone?

At the start of the year I invited people to get involved in a large research project. I wanted a large team (hundreds) to tackle a large project. I floated the idea of offering help and collaborating with groups needing advice. These could be villages in developing countries as an example, or groups anywhere. We have expertise that we do not always put to use and so I thought it might be a way of collaborating, using this knowledge and solving real issues and problems. Is anyone interested?

People Matter

I had wanted to do a PhD for a long time. Bill Black, my supervisor from my Masters, really put the idea into my head when we met a couple of years after doing my Master of Science in computing. I was coming back to Oldham on the train and we bumped into one another. He said, "why don't you take a Masters?" The fees were high but I thought maybe my College could partly sponsor me. As it turned out I came to Australia and enrolled in one here. Geoff Roy became my suprvisor and I was lucky to have such a good mentor. Since then I have collaborated with a large number of people and each one in some way has motivated me. So people matter a lot in research as they give you energy,ideas and make opportunties for you.

Call for Papers

Journal of Systems and Information Technology



Special Issue on Technology, Information Systems and Collaboration: Social Media and Beyond



Special Issue Editor: Helene Delerue




The use of social media is becoming increasingly important. This leads to several research issues: Why do some companies use social media whilst others do not? How are firms using social media? What are the consequences of using social media?
Few scholarly studies have considered how social media may benefit firms and the majority have focused on social media as marketing tools. Nevertheless, social media can have cognitive, strategic, and managerial consequences. Other key issues are: How can we measure the effect of social media on firm and social media effectiveness? How can firms monitor social media? What are the challenges and opportunities of social media in collaborative projects?



The special issue aims to foster information system research in understanding, illustrating, and explaining the business use and consequences of social media.



Target topics that are relevant to this special issue of JoSIT include but are not limited to:


- Social media - and beyond- and business social network;
- Social media - and beyond- effectiveness;
- Social media - and beyond- and innovation;
- Social media - and beyond- and human resources management

- Current approach to and practices of using social media -and beyond- for firm growth

- Social media development among industries
- Information security and social media



Publication Guidelines:
All papers will undergo a blind refereeing process by at least two referees.



Timeline: Submission deadline: 30st Nov 2011

Reviews returned: Jan 15th, 2012

Resubmission of papers: March 1st
Final decision: April 10th, 2012

Publication: 2012



All submissions must be original works which have not appeared elsewhere and which are not being considered for publication with another journal. As the reviewing process will be conducted anonymously, please do not include your name(s) on the submission.

People are encouraged to send their papers in by email to:


Helene Delerue

vidot-delerue.helene@uqam.ca

Taking ownership of your PHD

The most important thing about taking a doctorate is taking ownership of it. Students often feel, especially at the start, that it isn't their project but rather owned by the supervisor or the university. It is important for the candidate to take ownership as early as possible, if not right from the start. Some supervisors may create a dependency culture which inhibits the student from making decisions. Over supervision can also lead to a dependency culture and like most relationships the more one partner does the less the other may do!

The student has to gain a research voice and this will show through in the final thesis but without taking ownership early on they writing may lack confidence. Even worse when they have completed they may lack the confidence to fly solo.

PhD doctorate by publication

It is possible in many universities to complete a doctorate by publications. This usually entails writing a number of academic papers plus tying them together with maybe 80 pages of dicussion and explanation. It seems the preferred method in countries such as Finland for example. In fact I have examined a couple from there and thought they were well constructed.

The problem in many universities is that there are few precise guidelines for the standard and number of publications expected. When left without strong, clear guidelines it can often come down to the wishes of individuals.

To me, there seems to be two models commonly put forward based upon different rationales. One is the validation model where the publications are expected to be very high quality and serve as a form of validation for the quality of the research conducted over time. Because the expectation is of a very high standard, such as A and A+ papers, it is usually reserved for academics who have not completed a doctorate but have conducted research and written papers. For the examiner of such theses it seems a relatively simple task since the work has been heavily peer reviewed.

The second model is more student centered. It takes the view that the person taking a doctorate is going to get into the research and publishing game when they have completed and therefore publishing during their doctorate and making use of these papers for the examination is the way to go. So the emphasis is on skills development and writing papers as a way of developing the key skills. In this model, good papers are needed but it is unrealistic to expect A and A+ from every student, rather a conference paper (peer reviewed) in the first year, and say 3 journal papers of perhaps C, B and perhaps A would be fine. The examiner has to read the papers as well as the thesis text and come to some conclusion about their quality as a whole.

If academics are confused about the model they are adopting then they will be torn in terms of the expectations of a doctorate or phd by publishing and confuse the student too.

www.CompletePhD.com

Twitter

You can now follow what I am thinking about in relation to research and all matters Craig Standing on Twitter - see right column.

Follow @standingcraig

What is your mission in research?

When I started out in research I wanted to complete my PhD. Of course I wanted to make a contribution to knowledge in the area of my doctorate. When I had completed my thesis I wanted to write papers on various topics and write a book or two. When they were all accomplished I sat back back and wondered why I was doing research. Sure each project has an aim that you hope will have beneficial outcomes for practice and also make a contribution to knowledge. But even beyond that, is the desire to help people develop their research experiences and become full or part-time researchers. Really, this is now the main reason I do research so that in some way it can help others develop their profile and skill set. The experiences I have only have meaning if I can pass them on in some way to others. Hence, Phd students are a key part of the mission and so are other members of staff.


www.CompletePhD.com

How good was that?

The AIM Conference on Reunion Island was the best conference that I have ever attended. The people were warm and friendly and the presentations excellent. My congratulations go to the team at IAE on a brilliant job.

Maybe the best conference ever?

The French Association of Information Systems (AIM) Conference is turning out to be a marvellous conference. Great location, well organised, brilliant food and good presentations!

Congratulations to all involved!

www.CompletePhD.com

The comments have dried up!

As an encouragement to post a comment I am offering a copy of my book "How to Complete a PhD" to the most thought provoking comment during the month of May.

At the cutting edge

I have just been out today to talk with someone at a very innovative company. It reminded me about how much time it takes to get research published and that by the time it is published it is often superseded by what is happening in practice. This is a major issue especially in fast moving areas. What can be done about it?

Air on the G String

Doing research and writing research papers is similar to playing jazz. You have to adhere to certain musical conventions but innovate on top of them. The conventions in research are rigor and theory and academic writing. That alone is not enough as we need to innovate around this. Jacques Loussier made his name by innovating and improvising around Bach pieces - enjoy and innovate!

Writing holiday

Do people think that writing retreats are effective? Everyone complains about not having the time to write and I have heard of people organising trips away from the office to a location where interruptions are minimised. Because it is a group thing it seems to create a supportive motivating force to get on with a thesis or paper or book chapter. From what I have heard the results seem to come through.

Has anyone been on a writing retreat and was it effective?

I fell in love with an air hostess

I may not be travelling to as many conferences in the future. The reason is that I tend to fall in love with an air hostess each time and I am heart broken by the time I have to get off the plane.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUlwclCaFJY

www.CompletePhD.com

When the paper is done

Sometimes, when the paper is done, my mind turns to a Greek Island
Perhaps Skiathos, swimming naked in the Aegean, generous moussaka
Asurtiko bonding with thoughts of the day's faces
A novel that I carry everywhere
Not knowing what day it is
No phone
No internet
Just blue

The road ahead

This year is taking shape. I have a Research centre proposal to write next then I have a trip to Canberra in early April. I will be presenting a research paper at an invited seminar in Brisbane in May and then not long after I will be travelling to Reunion Island for an international conference. August involves anothes trip to Canberra, September possibly a trip to Greece and then December ACIS in Sydney and then a keynote presentation in Melbourne. In between these trips I hope to work on a few research papers.

Research Development Course

I conduct a research development course on developing the research skills, knowledge and profile of academics. Many academics would like to improve their research skills and knowledge and would like to know how to create a plan for their development. They may take advantage of conference attendance and reviews of their work and although this is valuable it tends to be a slow process of personal research development. I have developed a course that provides a fast track approach to obtaining better quality research outcomes both for the individual and their university. Universities employ academics who spend considerable time and effort on research. When this is quantified it amounts to millions of dollars per year. The course is designed to deliver more value from that research investment by enabling researchers to be more productive and deliver higher quality outcomes. These higher quality outcomes raise the status of academics and the status of their universities resulting in competitive advantage.

The course includes:
1) Strategies for developing better quality research papers

There is a worldwide trend to put more emphasis on publishing higher quality research papers. This involves publishing in higher ranked conferences, turning conference papers into journal papers, turning research work into journal papers with an impact factor, or publishing in highly ranked international journals.

Professor Standing will cover the key factors in developing quality research papers and how to develop the skills and knowledge to publish in quality research journals.

2) Obtaining research funding

Universities are increasingly requiring academics to finance their research through external funding. There are many differences to writing a research funding application compared to a research paper. Professor Standing will explain with examples how to develop a good research application. In addition he will explore how to develop external research partners from industry and the community.

3) Developing your research profile
Many academics would like to take their research profiles to the next level but are unsure as to how to go about doing this. Professor Craig Standing explains a multitude of approaches and tips on improving an academic’s research profile.
4) Developing a research plan

A key factor in progressing as a researcher is developing a sound research plan. Professor Craig Standing explains the features of a good research plan and how an academic can evaluate their work and progress.
This course is run over three days and is interactive and enjoyable! It is applicable to academics from any discipline as the focus is on improving research capacity and skills rather than discipline specific content.

For an academic the outcomes of the course are increased knowledge and awareness of the attributes of high quality research outcomes including journal papers and research funding. Participants will also make a start on developing a research plan for themselves. For a university the outcomes will lead to improved research performance.

Craig Standing is Professor in Strategic Information Management at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. He studied at Lancaster University and the University of Manchester in the UK and the University of Western Australia. He has qualifications in management, science and the humanities. Craig is the author of over 150 research papers and has published in many of the top ten journals Information Systems journals and has presented at many international conferences. His papers have been published in highly ranked journals such as Information & Management, Decision Support Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Electronic Commerce and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. He has obtained millions of dollars in research funding including prestigious Australian Research Council Awards.

He has authored several books on information systems which have been adopted by many university courses in information systems. Professor Standing has supervised numerous doctoral students and has won awards from the postgraduate association at his university for the quality of his supervision. As Editor of the Journal of Systems and Information Technology (Emerald Publishers) Craig is at the forefront of knowledge on information systems research and research methods. Craig remains an active researcher and is leading international research projects in collaboration with universities in Finland, Spain, Taiwan and Macau.

Research Projects and Research Reviews

I am available to manage research projects anywhere in the world. If you need research carrying out on business/organisational issues then please contact me so we can discuss options. These projects could also be in the university sector and include for example research reviews of a department, faculty or university. I can also advise at the research group or research centre level, present research seminars on how to publish research papers and attract research funding. I have more details if you are interested.

c.standing@ecu.edu.au

PhD Scholarship starting March 2011

I have a PhD scholarship funded by the Australian Research Council. This means $27,222 per year for three years is available to someone who wants to take a PhD on the following topic. For Australian residents there is also funding to cover the fees. For international students fees are in the range of $22,000 per annum.

The topic is knowledge management in telehealth. Please email me directly for surther information.

c.standing@ecu.edu.au

www.CompletePhD.com

How to complete a PhD

The best way to complete a PhD on time is to do some work on it five days a week, 46 weeks a year.

www.CompletePhD.com

Is research sexy?

By sexy I mean is it exciting, fulfilling, and just really hot? Hmmm, not sure. Many years ago when I was completing a PhD I went to a conference in Switzerland. It is one of my favourite countries: mountains, lakes, snow and trains. At the conference there was another PhD student who presented a paper. After, one of the keynote presenters asked him a question. "Are you excited by your your research"? The student said "yes, why?" "Well, why don't you show it in your voice", the keynote said, "you seem bored."

It amazes me sometimes what boring topics some people choose to research when they could study something leading edge.

www.CompletePhD.com

Switching off from research

One of the problems related to being involved in research is switching off from it. Because research is so open ended you can spend all your time thinking about it, looking for ways to get funding, thinking about how you can improve a paper. You can easily become a bore!

Yes, there is life outside of research, so I am told. How do up manage the life/research balance? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sex, statistics and presentations

I was gathering some articles for a research project the other day and came across an article in a highly ranked journal about women and sex tourism. It seems that some women, like some men have done for years, go on holiday primarilly for sex. They go to places such as the Carribean and Kenya where men, often young men, are poor and will do anything to earn a little money. The research, I must say a scholarly piece of work, was really quite informative, having interviewed some of the women and the men involved.

It made me think about research, well actually it made me think about sex first. But then it made me wonder how we determine what is valuable research? I think the article is valuable research; tourism is an important part of the global economy and especially to the poorer nations. In addition, there are many social and health issues related to this topic. Good on these researchers for taking this topic on. I wonder what their colleagues thought about it and whether it was easy to get funding?

Have you ever wanted to take on a topic but refrained because of what your colleagues might think?

www.CompletePhD.com

Should we reject everything?

In the top information systems journals it has been said that reviewers reject everything. Why is that? Well, I guess they have an idealized version of a top paper and nothing lives up to it. Or maybe, they think they will be judged as being a soft reviewer if they accept it. What it results in is virtually everything gets rejected and it might take a supportive associate editor in the end to overturn the reviewers. Hence, submitting papers to leading journals can hardly be a called a pleasurable experience because it invariably ends in rejection sometimes after several rounds of review.

It is easy to point the finger at reviewers but those reviewers are in fact us!