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.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
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!
It is easy to point the finger at reviewers but those reviewers are in fact us!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Time to reflect and time to plan
We are approaching the end of 2010. Another year will soon be upon us. For me, early January is holiday time since I live and work in Australia and it is our summer. It gives me a time to reflect on the past year and a chance to think about the year ahead. In terms of research, I wonder what your plans are for 2011?
I want to work on revising some of my papers in progress and under review, to write at least several new papers, apply for some funding, go to a conference or two, take on some new PhD students, and try to help those I am working with where I can. Is this enough? Hmmm, not really. I have done this type of thing now for many years. What I really would like to do is scale up my research.
What about using this blog as a way of developing a research network for instance? Maybe we could decide on a problem, or class of problems and write papers together, explore funding, share knowledge, have exchange visits and try to make a difference on an international level?
Some suggestions for research topics might be:
Improving health and wellbeing in developing countries - the role of the Internet.
Supporting small business owners in developing countries via the Internet - a knowledge network.
New business models via the Internet.
Innovation networks - using blogs and online forums.
Just a few ideas.... what do you think?
I want to work on revising some of my papers in progress and under review, to write at least several new papers, apply for some funding, go to a conference or two, take on some new PhD students, and try to help those I am working with where I can. Is this enough? Hmmm, not really. I have done this type of thing now for many years. What I really would like to do is scale up my research.
What about using this blog as a way of developing a research network for instance? Maybe we could decide on a problem, or class of problems and write papers together, explore funding, share knowledge, have exchange visits and try to make a difference on an international level?
Some suggestions for research topics might be:
Improving health and wellbeing in developing countries - the role of the Internet.
Supporting small business owners in developing countries via the Internet - a knowledge network.
New business models via the Internet.
Innovation networks - using blogs and online forums.
Just a few ideas.... what do you think?
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Has it any value?
This blog is now over one year old. Recently I haven't been posting much that's true. It really is more effort than I anticipated to get people talking about research. Over the year ther has been about 2500 visits to the sites and given that I have visited a few hundred times I can say maybe 2200 people have been. that's 42 a week on average.
The question is, is it worth carrying on? Not many people have contributed over the year except Anna from the UK. Her posts have been interesting. Even my own Phd students do not contribute. I have also noticed that with the lack of interaction and comments it doesn't encourage me to put effort into my writing. It is like writing for the sake of it and it becomes a chore.
So I will read the comments and find out if anyone thinks it has any value? I guess no comment means no value.
Has it any value?
The question is, is it worth carrying on? Not many people have contributed over the year except Anna from the UK. Her posts have been interesting. Even my own Phd students do not contribute. I have also noticed that with the lack of interaction and comments it doesn't encourage me to put effort into my writing. It is like writing for the sake of it and it becomes a chore.
So I will read the comments and find out if anyone thinks it has any value? I guess no comment means no value.
Has it any value?
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
AIM 2011 Information Systems Conference, 25-27 May, 2011
AIM 2011 Information Systems Conference, 25-27 May, 2011
Reunion Island
http://www.aim2011.iae-reunion.fr/
Dates for submission of papers: Two deadlines: 17th October (so people can plan well in advance) and 30th of January, 2011.
The early twenty first century is characterized by economic, environmental and technological dislocations. In this context, the 16th conference of the AIM addresses the question : How Information Systems (IS), their concepts, models, methods, practices and tools, can contribute to a harmonious and balanced development of individuals, organizations and territories?
The 16th conference of the AIM is a place for exchange between practitioners, teachers and researchers from different disciplines: Management Sciences (IS, Marketing, HR, Strategy ...), Computer Science, Economics, Sociology ... It deals with issues related to IS by comparing theoretical and applied works in order to allow a renewal of perspectives, thoughts and actions.
www.CompletePhD.com
Reunion Island
http://www.aim2011.iae-reunion.fr/
Dates for submission of papers: Two deadlines: 17th October (so people can plan well in advance) and 30th of January, 2011.
The early twenty first century is characterized by economic, environmental and technological dislocations. In this context, the 16th conference of the AIM addresses the question : How Information Systems (IS), their concepts, models, methods, practices and tools, can contribute to a harmonious and balanced development of individuals, organizations and territories?
The 16th conference of the AIM is a place for exchange between practitioners, teachers and researchers from different disciplines: Management Sciences (IS, Marketing, HR, Strategy ...), Computer Science, Economics, Sociology ... It deals with issues related to IS by comparing theoretical and applied works in order to allow a renewal of perspectives, thoughts and actions.
www.CompletePhD.com
Monday, October 11, 2010
The research landscape
The research landscape
Why is it that so few people in India publish in leading journals in my discipline of Information Systems? I have noticed in my blog for example that India is one of the leading countries for visitors. However, my discipline is dominated by a few countries when it comes to the leading journals. Clearly, there is a lot of interest in IT and information systems in India, they have a vibrant IT sector and a large university sector. Indians in the USA are doing well in research but what about those in India itself? Why aren't they publishing more in journals? Anyone any ideas?
www.CompletePhD.com
Why is it that so few people in India publish in leading journals in my discipline of Information Systems? I have noticed in my blog for example that India is one of the leading countries for visitors. However, my discipline is dominated by a few countries when it comes to the leading journals. Clearly, there is a lot of interest in IT and information systems in India, they have a vibrant IT sector and a large university sector. Indians in the USA are doing well in research but what about those in India itself? Why aren't they publishing more in journals? Anyone any ideas?
www.CompletePhD.com
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