Selection of Research Methods
The choice of a suitable research method should always be based on the research question. Roughly speaking, there are three different types of questions:
- Exploratory questions (“understand,” “explore”): often suitable for qualitative methods (e. g., case studies, interviews, grounded theory).
- Explanatory questions (“verify,” “explain”): typically use quantitative methods (e. g., surveys, experiments, structural equation models).
- Design-oriented questions (“develop,” “design”): are the focus of design science research, often combined with empirical evaluation.
Other criteria for selecting a method include data access, resources (time, budget, software), the experience of the researchers, and the procedures accepted in the respective community. A detailed intorduction can be found here: Research Question and Research Gap in Information Systems
Before you select a method, you need a clearly formulated research question and a well-founded research gap. You can find a detailed introduction here:
Examples from Information Systems
In Information Systems, research methods are typically used in specific application contexts, e. g.:
- Design science + experiments: Development of a prototype (e. g., a decision support system) and subsequent evaluation in a laboratory or online experiment.
- Case study + interviews: Investigation of the introduction of an information system in an organization based on several qualitative interviews and document analyses.
- Survey + structural equation modeling: Quantitative survey of users or companies and evaluation using methods such as SEM (e. g., to analyze acceptance models or success factors).
Such combinations make it clear that the choice of methods and research design are closely linked and should be consciously planned at the beginning of a project.
Extract from the Research Methods
The aim is to bring empirical research and evaluation closer to the reader so that the individual methods can be applied in the reader's own work. The practical application should enable the reader to reach his or her goal by means of concrete topics. Each goal is based on a topic or object to be worked on, which can be worked on with certain research methods.
Research methods describe how the examination of an object is carried out.
"How" is to be understood as a process. And an object - object of research - is analyzed for characteristics.
A selection of research methods is presented to the reader, which should give a basic overview. The research methods are applied in business informatics. If you are looking for a method, you can find it here.
Research methods are divided into quantitative and qualitative methods, which are shown in Table 1. This list does not claim to be complete and is therefore continuously supplemented.
| Literature Research | Experiments
|
|
(Multi) Case Studies |
Surveys |
|
|
|
Coding
|
Card Sorting |
| Descriptive Field Research | Descriptive Field Research |
| Delphi-Methode | Simulation |
| Design Science | Correlation Study |
| Ethnography | |
| Grounded Theory | |
Prototyp-Modelling/-Creation/-Development
|
|
| Qualitative Cross-sectional Analysis | Quantitative Cross-sectional Analysis |
The use of qualitative and qualitative methods is called the mix-method approach. While the use of different qualitative or different quantitative methods is called a multi-method approach.
To simplify matters, an overview of selected methods is given:
Further Useful Methods
Core literature
Wilde, T. and Hess, T. (2007). "Forschungsmethoden der Wirtschaftsinformatik." Wirtschaftsinformatik 49(4): 280-287, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11576-007-0064-z.