<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">19<sup>th</sup> Americas Conference on Information Systems
(AMCIS 2013)</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Chicago Illinois, USA</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">15-17 August 2013</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Mini-Track: </span></b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Paradigmatic Diversity in IS Studies
and its Implications for Research Quality</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Track</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">: <a href="http://amcis2013.aisnet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=80&Itemid=58" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Research Methods</span></a><b> </b></span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Description</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">:</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">The
IS community has become more receptive to multiple research approaches after
such seminal works as Allen Lee’s (1999) essay on integrating positivist
and interpretive approaches and Minger’s (2001) emphasis on the value of the
plurality of paradigms. While all IS researchers share the intent to
conduct high quality research, what exactly constitutes high quality research
is not without controversy. Determining research quality can vary greatly
based on the ontological and epistemological assumptions of the perspective
(Burrell and Morgan 1979) and IS research best practices and standards are
still being debated (Straub and Ang 2011). This increased diversity and lack of
shared perspectives on quality represents a risk to the IS field.
Research that represents a contribution to the IS field is subject to the risk
of inappropriate rejection (essentially a type II error) if reviewers apply an
inappropriate standard to determine the quality of the research.
The IS field which is still struggling for identify, risks not publishing
research contributions or missing out if the research is published under a
different discipline. </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif""> </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">The
need to examine and debate what constitutes research quality and best practice,
particularly across approaches, motivates this mini-track. This
mini-track intends to foster discussion related to difficult and controversial
issues related to determining research quality. We encourage authors to submit
conceptual or empirical research related to a wide variety of related
issues. These issues can be conceptual in nature such as how to integrate
interpretivist and positivist approaches or detailed methodological discussions
such as the recent exploration into the appropriateness of formative and
reflective constructs in quantitative modeling. We encourage any
submission that fosters discussion and understandings of research quality, best
practices and appropriate use of methods.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">General
Examples of Relevant Topics</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">:</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Assessment of
research rigor in IS.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">The evolution
of evaluative criteria in different IS research paradigms.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Level of
consensus on research quality standards across different IS paradigms.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Agreement and
disagreement of best practice in different circumstances</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Authors’
responsibilities for providing guidance on how to judge research quality.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Ontological
positioning and its implications for reviewing and publishing IS research.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Important Dates</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">:<br>
<br>
January 4, 2013: Paper submissions open on Bepress</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">February
22, 2013: Deadline for paper submissions at 11:59 p.m. CST</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">April
17, 2013: Notification of paper acceptance</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">May
9, 2013: Camera-ready copy due</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Instructions
for authors can be found at AMCIS website: <a href="http://amcis2013.aisnet.org" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">http://amcis2013.aisnet.org</span></a>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mini-Track
Chair</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">: </span><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Dr. Kerry W. Ward, University of
Nebraska at Omaha, Nebraska, USA. </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Email:
<a href="mailto:kwward@unomaha.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">kwward@unomaha.edu</span></a>
</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style><b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Mini-Track
Co-chair</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">: Ruba Aljafari, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Nebraska,
USA</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">Email: <a href="mailto:raljafari@unomaha.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">raljafari@unomaha.edu</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">References</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif"">:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br><span style="font-family:"Times","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style><font><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Burrell, G., & Morgan, G. (1979). <i>Sociological
paradigms and organizational analysis</i>: Heinmann Publishing.</span></font></p><font>
</font><p class="MsoNormal" style><font><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Lee, A. (1991). Integrating positivist
and interpretive approaches to organizational research. <i>Organization
Science, 2</i>(4), 342-365.</span></font></p><font>
</font><p class="MsoNormal" style><font><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mingers, J. (2001). Combining IS
research methods: towards a pluralist methodology. <i>Information Systems
Research, 12</i>(3), 240-259.</span></font></p><font>
</font><p class="MsoNormal" style><font><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Straub, D., & Ang, S. (2011). Rigor
and relevance in IS research: redefining the debate and a call for future
research <i>MIS Quarterly, 35</i>(1).</span></font></p>
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif""></span></b><span style="font-family:"Times","serif""></span><br><span style="font-family:"Times","serif""><a href="mailto:raljafari@unomaha.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue"></span></a></span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>