DIS 815 Information Systems Research & Development Theories, Paradigms, & Methods

DIS 815

Information Systems Research & Development: Theories, Paradigms, &

Methods

Dr. Stephanie White

Fall 2005

Course Description (From the Graduate Bulletin)

This course will explore the conceptual and paradigmatic foundations of information systems development and research throughout history, from Shannon and Weaver’s mathematical, objectivist perspective and cybernetics, to today’s neo-humanistic, ethnographically-oriented socio-cultural paradigm represented in the works of the proponents of distributed cognition and activity theory. The epistemological and ontological assumptions of these paradigms will be examined. The history and development of various information systems development and research methodologies will be reviewed, with an in-depth look at the issues surrounding each of these methodologies.

Course Objectives

1. Students shall understand information systems research and development issues and the current state of research and practice.

2. Students shall be able to discuss information systems theories, paradigms and methods and the assumptions underlying them.

3. Students shall be able to use the theories, paradigms and methods in their research, and apply them in practice.

4. Students shall develop a reading diary of all readings in information systems research and development.

5. Students shall conduct research in a narrow area of information systems development and write a research paper.

6. Students shall work in teams to develop organization system requirements and information system requirements for a small software project.

Course Overview and Requirements

This course emphasizes the following research topics:

1. Systems thinking and systems science

2. Philosophical foundations of information systems

3. Information theory and cybernetics

4. The requirements process

5. Distributed cognition and activity theory as they relate to requirements development

As this is a seminar, there will be very little lecturing. Students will read the assigned books and articles, recommend additional readings, bring material to class, lead seminar sessions, and share their learning experiences. Students will work together to develop extensive bibliographies on focused information systems topics. At the end of the

semester, students will submit a research paper on a narrowly focused topic within the larger information systems topic. Students will also apply research to a small systems analysis project as students should have some practical experience to understand research in the area.

I. Class Session Requirements

Sessions will normally be divided into several parts. The majority of the class session will be dedicated to discussion of research assignments and student contributions. Each week’s class will proceed as follows.

1.I will lead a discussion of the assigned reading.

2.Each student will bring notes on at least three journal articles related to the topic

and prepare at least five thought-provoking questions for class discussion.

Students shall include in each article reference, the theories, paradigms, and methods discussed, with underlying assumptions and application. Reading notes and discussion questions will be submitted to me via email prior to the class. My email address is Stephanie.White@https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,. Your reading notes and discussion questions are due every week from September 14 through Dec. 21. Each is worth

2 points for a total of 24 points.

3.After the discussion of the assigned reading, the class will discuss their selected

journal articles with their group, and then with the class as a whole.

4.The remainder of the class session will be dedicated to the class project. Students will communicate using the class listserv, “cwp-dis-815-list”.

II Research Paper Requirements

The second major student activity will be conducting research and writing a paper on a narrowly focused information systems topic. Students will write a draft paper, publish it for other students to read, and present their paper in class. Presentations will start on November 29. Students will improve their draft papers based on student and professor comments. Final papers are due Dec. 21. The following advisories are important.

1.All topics must be approved by me. I recommend that you make appointments

with me or see me during my off ice hours to discuss your research progress.

2.Research projects involving human subjects (including questionnaires, interviews,

and focus groups) must have the prior approval of Long Island University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). Please leave enough time to secure this approval because you cannot work with human subjects without IRB approval.

3.You must post your draft paper and any assigned readings on our website by the

Friday before your presentation.

4.All students shall read the paper and come to class with comments and suggestions

for improving the draft.

5. The presenter will have five minutes to summarize his or her paper followed by

twenty-five minutes for answering questions.

6.Final papers will be due December 21.

The final paper should be in publishable form. Please use a 12-point font, double-spaced, with a one-inch margin on all sides. Papers should conform to a style sheet of your choice. (I recommend adopting the style sheet used by the major research journal in your part of the discipline.). Deadlines are important. Any paper that is late will be penalized one grade (an “A” will become a “B+,” a “B+” will become a “B,” etc.). Exceptions will be granted only in cases of emergency.

III Software Development Project Requirements

Each student shall be a member of a project team. Each team shall work on a small systems analysis project. At a minimum, each team shall create a plan, and perform risk analysis, organization system analysis and information system analysis plus verification of results. Each team shall review the other team’s documents and make suggestions for improvement in writing.

Each student shall keep a project log consisting of (1) systems analysis and verification documents, (2) a list of issues (problems), (3) assignments to resolve the issue (assignee, task), (4) the team decision (issue resolution), (5) rationale for the team decision, and (6) lessons learned.

Grade Determination

Grades will be calculated as follows.

Reading Diary 25%

Class participation 10%

Draft paper and presentation 20%

Final paper 25%

Software project log 20%

Reaching me

We will discuss which office hours would be best for the class as a whole, and I will announce them the second week of the semester. In addition, I will stay after class on Wednesday evenings if you wish to meet with me. I also make appointments at times other than my office hours. My office is Room 206 in Pell Hall. My direct telephone line (with voice mail) is (516) 299-2039. My electronic mail address is: Stephanie.White@https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,. You can also reach me through Palmer School’s general telephone number: (516) 299-2866 or the Computer Science office (516) 299-2293. The Palmer School’s fax number is (516) 299-4168.

We have a class listserv, “cwp-dis-815-list”, and I hope that you will use it for communication with me and among yourselves.

Course Outline and Assignments

I am establishing a WebCT site for the class, titled Information Systems Research & Development. Assigned journal articles will be downloadable from this site. Book chapters are available on e-reserve. Two books can be purchased in the bookstore.

1.Gerald M. Weinberg, An Introduction to General Systems Thinking, John Wiley &

Sons, 1975 or Gerald M. Weinberg, An Introduction to General Systems Thinking, Silver Anniversary Edition, Dorset House Publishing, 2001.

2.J. R. Pierce, An Introduction to Information Theory, Symbols, Signals, and Noise,

Dover Publications, New York, 2nd edition, 1980.

These and the other assigned books can also be ordered through interlibrary loan. Please be sure to order these in advance so that you can read them before the appropriate class session. There will be at least one book on reserve in the C.W. Post library for each assigned book reading which is not on e-reserve or which you cannot download.

Week 1 (9/7): Introduction

1.Review of syllabus, assignments, and schedule for the semester.

2.Overview of Information Systems Development.

I recommend that you obtain a recent text on Systems Analysis and Design or

Software Engineering. If you would like, you can borrow a text from me for the semester.

Recommended text:

A. Dennis and

B. Wixom, Systems Analysis & Design, 2nd edition, John Wiley &

Sons, 2003.

Some alternative texts on software engineering:

S. L. Pfleeger, Software Engineering Theory and Practice, Prentice Hall.

I. Sommerville, Software Engineering, Addison Wesley.

Week 2 (9/14): Overview of Information Systems Research & Development.

The following chapters are available on electronic reserve. The articles are available on our class WebCT site, titled Information Systems Research & Development. If you cannot access this site, I will send you the articles. You have the responsibility of getting the material. You should try to get the material by Thursday, September 8 (the day after the first class) and let me know right away if you have a problem.

Readings for Week 2:

1.R. William Maule, Chapter 1, “Information as Academic Philosophy” in

Information Theory & Research: An Introduction to the Disciplines & Methodologies of Information Studies & Organizational Informatics, Information Associates Press, San Francisco, CA. 1998, pp. 1 - 74.

2.Chapter 2: “Definition and Evolution of Information Systems Development

Methodologies and Data Modeling” in Rudy Hirschheim, Heinz K. Klein, and Kalle Lyytinen, Information Systems Development and Data Modeling, Conceptual and Philosophical Foundations, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1995, pp. 10 - 45.

3.K. Lyytinen, “Different Perspectives on Information Systems: Problems and

Solutions”, ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 19, No. 1, March 1987, 42 pages.

4.Jim Gray, “What Next? A Dozen Information-Technology Research Goals”,

Journal of the ACM, Vol. 50, No. 1, January 2003, pp. 41–57.

5.S. White et al., “Systems Engineering of Computer Based Systems”, IEEE

Computer, Vol. 26, No. 11, IEEE Computer Society Press, Nov. 1993, pp. 54 -

65.

Week 3 (9/21): Theoretic and Philosophical Issues Underpinning Research in Information Systems

Readings for Week 3:

1.Chapter 3: “Philosophical Foundations” in Rudy Hirschheim, Heinz K. Klein, and

Kalle Lyytinen, Information Systems Development and Data Modeling, Conceptual and Philosophical Foundations, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1995, pp. 46 - 65.

2.Shaun Pather and Dan Remenyi, “Some of the Philosophical Issues Underpinning

Research in Information Systems: From Positivism to Critical Realism” in Proceedings of SAICSIT 2004, Pages 141 – 146.

3.J. R. Pierce, An Introduction to Information Theory, Symbols, Signals, and Noise,

Dover Publications, New York, 2nd edition, 1980. Read Chapter III – VI: A Mathematical Model, Encoding and Binary Digits, Entropy, Language and Meaning, and Chapter XI, Cybernetics, pp. 45 - 124, and pp. 208 – 228.

4.Interesting brief excerpts from Warren Weaver’s Introduction to Claude

Shannon’s The Mathematical Theory of Communication.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/~jones/cscie129/pages/comm_links.html

5.Bell Laboratories, Bell Labs celebrates 50 years of Information Theory, The

Importance of Information Theory,

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/minds/infotheory/docs/intro.pdf

Week 4 (9/28): Systems Thinking

Readings for Week 4:

1.William Maule, Chapter 2, “Information as Systems Science” Information Theory

& Research: An Introduction to the Disciplines & Methodologies of Information Studies & Organizational Informatics, Information Associates Press, San Francisco, CA. 1998, pp. 75 – 140.

2.Chapters 1 - 4 in Gerald M. Weinberg, An Introduction to General Systems

Thinking, John Wiley & Sons, 1975 or Gerald M. Weinberg, An Introduction to General Systems Thinking, Silver Anniversary Edition, Dorset House Publishing, 2001.

Note: The school is closed on 10/5 and 10/12 for religious holidays.

Week 5 (10/19): Systems Thinking and Industrial Practice

Readings for Week 5:

1.William Maule, Chapter 3, “Information as Industrial Practice” Information

Theory & Research: An Introduction to the Disciplines & Methodologies of Information Studies & Organizational Informatics, Information Associates Press, San Francisco, CA. 1998, pp. 141 - 200.

2.Chapters 5 – 7 in Gerald M. Weinberg, An Introduction to General Systems

Thinking, John Wiley & Sons, 1975 or Gerald M. Weinberg, An Introduction to General Systems Thinking, Silver Anniversary Edition, Dorset House Publishing, 2001.

3.See website: Autonomic Computing, IBM,

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/autonomic/index.html

Week 6 (10/26): The Requirements Process, Research and Practice

Readings for Week 6:

1.S. Robertson and J. Robertson, Mastering the Requirements Process, Addison Wesley, New York, 1999.

(Please be sure to order this book via interlibrary loan so that you can read it prior to this class. There will only be one copy of this book on reserve in the library.)

2.Pamela Zave, “Classification of Research Efforts in Requirements Engineering”,ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 29, No. 4, 1997, pp. 315 – 321.

3. Axel van Lamsweerde, “Requirements Engineering in the Year 00: A Research Perspective”, Proceedings, ICSE 2000, ACM, pp. 5 – 19.

Week 7 (11/2): Requirements Process, cont’d.

I will be chairing a meeting of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Activities Board in Philadelphia. Students will work on a systems analysis project.

Readings for Week 7:

1.M. G. Christel and K. C. Kang, Issues in Requirements Elicitation, Software

Engineering Institute Technical Report CMU/SEI-92-TR-12, ESC-TR-92-012, Carnegie Mellon University, September 1992, 80 pages.

2.Hooks, Ivy F. "Writing Good Requirements". Proceeding of the Third

International Symposium of the INCOSE, Volume 2, 1993,

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/papers/writingreqs.htm

3.W. N. Robinson, S. D. Pawlowski, and V. Volkov, Requirements Interaction

Management, ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 35, No. 2, June 2003, pp. 132–190.

4.Ronald S. Carson et al, “Requirements Completeness”, prepared by the

Requirements Working Group of the International Council on Systems Engineering, presented at INCOSE IS 2004, March 2004,https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,, 15 pages.

Week 8 (11/9): The Study of Context:Activity Theory and Distributed Cognition Readings for Week 8:

1.Readings from Bonnie A. Nardi, ed., Context and Consciousness, Activity Theory

and Human-Computer Interaction, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 1996, Chapters 1 -

5 and 7.

2.James Hollan, Edwin Hutchins, and David Kirsh, “Distributed cognition: toward

a new foundation for human-computer interaction research”, ACM Transactions

on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), Volume 7, Issue 2, ACM, New York, June 2000, pp. 174-196.

Week 9 (11/16): Data Modeling

Readings for Week 9:

1.Chapter 7: “Paradigmatic Analysis of Data Modeling Approaches” in Rudy

Hirschheim, Heinz K. Klein, and Kalle Lyytinen, Information Systems Development and Data Modeling, Conceptual and Philosophical Foundations, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1995, pp. 171 - 233.

2.Read sections on data modeling in a systems analysis and design text or software

engineering text. Create a conceptual data model for your systems analysis project. Week 10 (11/23): Feedback and Control: Cybernetics and System Dynamics Readings for Week 10:

W. R. Ashby, An Introduction to Cybernetics, John Wiley & Sons, 1956, Chapters 1-

6. The book was made available as a downloadable pdf file by Ashby’s estate in

1999, see http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ASHBBOOK.html.

2. Jay W. Forrester, “Designing the Future”, Address given at Universidad de Sevilla,

Sevilla, Spain, December 1998. (See WebCT, Information Systems Research & Development site)

Read a few articles on the following websites:

1. Website: Principia Cybernetica Web, http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/DEFAULT.html.

2. Systems Thinker website: https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/tststockflow.html

3. A Guide to Learning Systems Dynamics

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/road-maps/rm-toc.html

Weeks 11 – 14 (11/30, 12/7, 12/14, and 12/21): Student Selected Topics, Student Papers, and Class Projects

Recommended websites in addition to the above:

(We will make a more comprehensive list during the semester)

Systems Sciences Resources on the Net

(Portland University Systems Science Ph.D. Program)

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/sysc_res.html

Principia Cybernetica Web

http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/DEFAULT.html and particularly

http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/CYBSWHAT.html

International Society for the System Sciences

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/

Systems Thinking Press

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,

Thinking About Organizations as Systems

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/org_thry/org_sytm.htm

Thinking Page

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/

Human Systems Information Analysis Center

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/hsiac/

IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/

Requirements Bibliography

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/adavis/UCCS/index.htm

Writing Better Requirements

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/campaigns/2005/americas/wbr/index.cfm?Campaigncode=005 449-005629

Requirements Specification Resources

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/index.htm

Vicki Sauter’s Information Systems links (University of Missouri)

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/~sauter/analysis/intro/system.htm

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/~sauter/analysis/analysis_links.html

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/~sauter/analysis/independent_current.html

A Survey of Cognitive and Agent Architectures

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,/cogarch0/

International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)

https://www.360docs.net/doc/a68692397.html,