IS4800/CS6350 - Empirical Research Methods in Information Science

Spring 2019 Syllabus

Meeting: Mon/Wed 2:50-4:30 PM
Location: Forsyth 236
Credit hours: 4 SH

CS 6350 additional meeting: Mon 4:35-5:35 PM
Location: Forsyth 201
CS 6350 Assignments and Schedule
 
Instructor: Prof. Stephen Intille
Office: 910-177 Huntington
Office hours: Mon 8:30-9:30 and Mon 11-12 (email in advance for security)
Email: ...@neu.edu

Class discussion board: https://piazza.com/northeastern/spring2019/is4800/home

Overview
 
This course provides an introduction to methods for conducting empirical research within the field of information science. These methods help provide objective answers to questions about the usability, effectiveness, and acceptability of systems and their impact on individuals, work groups, organizations and society.

This is a hands-on course, including a significant amount of fieldwork. The first half of the course covers the basics of the scientific method, building bottom-up from a survey of objective measures to the fundamentals of hypothesis testing using relatively simple research designs. The second half of the course alternates between team projects encompassing the design, conduct and presentation of small empirical studies and lectures covering more advanced research designs and statistical methods. Teams are assigned by the instructor and change for each assignment.

Prerequisites
 
IS 3500 and statistics (ECON 2350, MATH 2280, MATH 3081, MGSC 2301, or PSYC 2320).

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Describe the scientific method and its advantages over other methods of inquiry.
• Understand and apply research methods that have been successfully used to evaluate information systems.
• Identify and clearly describe research questions which are answerable using empirical methods and whose answers are important and meaningful.
• Develop and document research models that can provide evidence to help answer one or more research questions, including appropriate measures, testable hypotheses, and statistical tests.
• Conduct fieldwork to collect data using a range of techniques, including: ethnography and other qualitative methods, system measurement, questionnaires, and behavioral measures.
• Characterize collected data using descriptive statistics.
• Provide evidence to confirm or refute hypotheses using inferential statistics.
• Document and present the results from empirical studies.
• Understand and describe the ethical issues in conducting studies involving human subjects.

Required Textbook

Bordens & Abbott, Research Design and Methods, 10th ed, 2018, McGraw Hill. [Amazon]

Additional readings will be provided online (see the schedule).

Course Requirements

This course requires a significant amount of work outside of the classroom. A typical week will consist of:

• Reading approximately 25 pages from the textbook and other assigned readings.
• Working on an individual or team homework assignment, encompassing some amount of field work (data collection), statistical analysis and report writing.
• Describing and discussing homework results in class, both informally and formally through presentation.

At least once during the semester, possibly more, students will give in-class presentations describing a study they have conducted.

Grading

Short quizzes will be given at the start of most class meetings based on the reading for that class or prior classes.

Grades will be based on the following:

• Quizzes (10%).
• Class participation (10%), including in-class presentations.
• Individual homework (20% divided equally among assignments).
• Team projects (20%, consisting of 15% project grade from the instructor and 5% peer evaluation).
• Midterm exam (20%).
• Final exam (20%).

Class Format

A typical 100-minute class will consist of:

• Quiz
• Review of previous week's assignments, including presentation and discussion by randomly selected students.
• Lecture.
• In-class activity.
• Discussion of next week's assignments.

Class Schedule and Assignments

Link to schedule
 
Missed Quizzes or Exams

There are no makeup quizzes, but the lowest quiz grade will be dropped. Normally, failure to take a quiz results in a grade of 0. If the absence is excused due to exceptional circumstances, the student's other coursework will be used to determine a quiz grade. 

There will be no excuses for missing the midterm or final other than a serious health emergency.

Due Dates

Work due on a given day must be submitted by the deadline on the syllabus.  Please check these times carefully.

Late Assignments

Assignments (individual and team) that are turned in late are automatically lowered one grade. Assignments will not be accepted more than one week late.

Class Etiquette

Please keep all cell phones, pagers, and other electronic devices turned off during class. If your activities during class are deemed disruptive, you will be asked to leave. Use of a personal computer or PDA during class is prohibited except for note taking with Instructor permission.University policy dictates that students must seek the instructor’s permission to tape record class lectures.

Students are expected to demonstrate qualities of academic integrity: a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.

Actively engaging in verbal exchanges of ideas and concepts will be a major component of learning in this course. This will be stimulated by readings, class discussions and presentations, and assignments/projects. Therefore everyone will be expected to actively and positively listen to others and to communicate their ideas during class. Some students are less comfortable speaking in class than others, but open discussion of ideas and even disagreement is essential.  Therefore, all students are expected to read course materials prior to class and will be called upon at times even if they do not raise their hands. Participation does not result from talking a lot, but as a result of critical thinking and articulation of ideas.

Please do not eat anything during the class other than a drink or small, non-fragrant snack (e.g., fruit, granola bar). Out of respect for your potentially hungry classmates and instructor, please eat lunch/dinner before or after the class.

Writing/Presentation Professionalism

Assignments that involve writing and presentation will be judged on clarity of presentation and professionalism of presentation, as well as intellectual content. Students who are having difficulty with writing will be referred to the Northeastern University Writing Center (http://www.northeastern.edu/english/writing-center/). Sloppy grammar, typos, and lack of clarity in writing or presentation assignments will impact the grades received for such assignments. Professionalism in written communication is expected throughout the course.

Missing Class

This class takes place only twice per week, and much of the learning will occur through discussion. Attendance is expected. Students who must miss class for any reason should notify the instructor in advance.

Academic Honesty

Individual homework assignments must be each student's own work. Team projects must be the work of the students in the team. Plagiarism or cheating will result in official University disciplinary review.

All students are expected and encouraged to discuss the topics raised by this course with each other. Ideas incorporated from an outside source or another student must be documented appropriately in write-ups or presentations. Students must abide by the NU Code of Student Conduct (http://www.northeastern.edu/osccr/code-of-student-conduct/) and Academic Integrity Policy (http://www.northeastern.edu/osccr/academic-integrity-policy/). Acts of academic dishonesty will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR).

Academic honesty is fundamental to the learning process and there is absolutely no tolerance for academic dishonesty. As a reminder,

• Students are expected to present as their own only that which is clearly their own work in tests and in any material submitted for credit. Students may not assist others in presenting work that is not their own.
• Purchasing term papers from commercial firms or individuals is a serious violation of University policy. Offenders are subject to disciplinary action (Office of Judicial Affairs). (Undergraduate and Graduate Student Handbook, 2000-2001, p.108)
• Any member of the academic community who witnesses an act of academic dishonesty should report it to the appropriate faculty member or department chair (or equivalent). The charge will be investigated and if sufficient evidence is presented the case will be referred to the Northeastern University Student Judicial Hearing Board.
• Plagiarizing includes: representing someone else’s work as your own, insufficient acknowledgement, and receiving or giving unauthorized help on choosing a topic, analyzing data, or drawing conclusions. Using the same paper or portions of a paper for two courses without explicit permission from professors of both courses is also unacceptable.

Any student found cheating on assignments or handing in an assignment that raises concerns about potential cheating will receive a zero on that assignment and be reported to the administration of the student's college and OSCCR.  A second offense will result in a failing grade for the course. If the student is on a team and the assignment is a team assignment, then all students on the team will receive a zero and be reported to the administration of each student's college and OSCCR.

Students with questions about what is acceptable or unacceptable collaboration on assignments should ask the instructor.
 
Accommodation

Students who have a disability are encouraged to seek accommodations though the University Disability Resource Center. Please speak privately with the instructor about your needs for accommodations and strategies to support your success. This information will be kept confidential.

Title IX

Title IX makes it clear that violence and harassment based on sex and gender are Civil Rights offenses subject to the same kinds of accountability and the same kinds of support applied to offenses against other protected categories such as race, national origin, etc. If you or someone you know has been harassed or assaulted, you can find the appropriate resources here: http://www.northeastern.edu/oidi/titleix/.

Course Evaluations

The instructor may distribute optional mid-term and final course evaluations, to be returned anonymously. Responses to the questions help to improve this course during the current semester and for future students.

All students are also strongly encouraged to use the TRACE (Teacher Rating and Course Evaluation) system near the end of the course to evaluate this course. A reminder about TRACE should arrive via email about two weeks before the end of the course.

Course Acknowledgements

IS 4800/CS 6350 has been taught for many years by Prof. Timothy Bickmore. This semester, the course will primarily following Prof. Bickmore’s design and materials. The course structure, as well as many of the lecture slides, will be based on Prof. Bickmore’s prior work teaching the course.