Prof Chrisanthi Avgerou MAR.4.29

This course is compulsory on the MPhil/PhD in Management - Information Systems and Innovation. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Students from related PhD programmes who are interested in learning about research design may be able to join the course with the teacher's permission.

The course introduces students on the MPhil/PhD in Management – Information Systems and Innovation programme to research designs practiced in Information Systems and Digital Innovation and the theoretical foundations of this research field. There are three parts to the course:  

Part one (lectures1-4) discusses the main traditions within the philosophy of science (positivism, realism, constructivism) and relates these traditions to different stances adopted by major contributions in the information systems research field.  

Part two (lectures 5-12) explores principles of research design for different types of research questions. It is intended to enable students to navigate important design considerations involved in adopting specific approaches using different forms of data in their research. Research design is taught in the spirit of methodological pluralism with the assumption that how we do research ultimately depends on the nature of the particular research question and the type of data that are available. We treat research design as following through on a commitment to a carefully articulated methodological approach in the acknowledgement that the choices made in crafting this design bring strengths, weaknesses, and trade-offs.  

Part three (lectures 13-20) addresses the importance of theory in socio-technical research. We examine theories that provide conceptual foundations for most research in Information Systems and Digital Innovation, including theories about the digital object and theories about the way information technology in interaction to the individual and society enables social change. We discuss middle-range theories developed by research in Information Systems and Digital Innovation as examples of theoretical contribution in articles of the field’s journals. With reference to ongoing theoretical debates, students are encouraged to engage with emerging theories in the field.

This course is delivered through seminars across Autumn Term and Winter Term. Teaching hours will be commensurate with a usual full unit taught masters course. This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of each Term. 

In its Ethics Code, LSE upholds a commitment to intellectual freedom. This means we will protect the freedom of expression of our students and staff and the right to engage in healthy debate in the classroom.

• Baskerville, R. L., Myers, M. D., and Y., Y. 2020. "Digital First: The Ontological Reversal and New Challenges for Information Systems Research," MIS Quarterly (44:2), pp. 509-523.
• Berente, N., Seidel, S., and Safadi, H. 2019. “Research Commentary—Data-Driven Computationally-Intensive Theory Development,” Information Systems Research (30:1), pp. 50-64.
• Crotty, M. 2003. The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process. London: Sage. Chapter 1.
• Hevner, A. R., March, S. T., Park, J., and Ram, S. 2004. "Design Science in Information Systems Research," MIS Quarterly (28:1), pp. 75-105.
• Hinings, B., Gegenhuber, T. and Greenwood, R. (2018). Digital innovation and transformation: An institutional perspective. Information and Organization. 28, 52-61.
• Jones, M. R., and Karsten, H. 2008. "Giddens's Structuration Theory and Information Systems Research," MIS Quarterly (32:1), pp. 127-157.
• Leonardi, P. M., Nardi, B. A., and Kallinikos, J. (eds.). 2012. Materiality and Organizing, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
• Markus, M. L., & Rowe, F. 2018. “Is IT changing the world? Conceptions of causality for information systems theorizing,” MIS Quarterly, (42:4), pp. 1255-1280.
• Sarker, S., Chatterjee, S., Xiao, X., and Elbanna, A. 2019. "The Sociotechnical Axis of Cohesion for the IS Discipline: Its Historical Legacy and Its Continued Relevance," MIS Quarterly (43:3), pp. 695-719.
• Volkoff, O., Strong, D. M., and Elmes, M. B. 2007. "Technological Embeddedness and Organizational Change," Organization Science (18:5), pp. 832-848.
• Yoo, Y., Henfridsson, O., and Lyytinen, K.  2010. "The New organizing logic of digital innovation: An agenda for information systems research" Information Systems Research (21:4), pp 724-735.
• Zuboff, S. 1988. In the Age of the Smart Machine. New York: Basic Books.

Essay (100%, 7000 words) in the ST.