Framing the research: the dark art of asking interesting questions

Córais Faisnéise Bainistíochta
Scoil Ghnó Lochlann Uí Chuinn
An Coláiste Ollscoile, BÁC 4
Éire
Management Information Systems
Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School
University College Dublin
Ireland © UCD 2015
IS Research Seminar
Framing the research: the dark art of asking interesting questions
Dr Niamh O Riordan
Lecturer in Information Systems and Organisation
UCD College of Business,
University College Dublin.

© Niamh O Riordan 2015
Agenda and format
1. Introduction: Framing. Interesting. Questions.
2. The beginner’s guide
3. A dark art?
4. Some key points
5. A more formal view
6. Strategies and tactics
7. The proof of the pudding

1. INTRODUCTION

Framing. Interesting. Questions.
The way you frame the problem shapes everything that follows
Beach, 1997

Interesting
means unexpected— “interesting research piques
your curiosity, it induces a pause for contemplation,
and most importantly, it contradicts how you think
about the world” – Cachon (2012)

Question
a sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information
“To ask the 'right' question is far more important than to receive the
answer. The solution of a problem lies in the understanding of the
problem; the answer is not outside the problem, it is in the problem.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti, The Flight of the Eagle
“Judge a man (sic) by his questions rather than by his answers.” - Voltaire

What’s interesting to you?

2. THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE

A high-quality manuscript is akin to a well-told story about a
phenomenon of interest, why it is important, what compelling gap
exists about the phenomenon that requires research to be conducted,
and why conducting the research will make a meaningful contribution
to existing scholarship.
The elements associated with a solid storyline include a comprehensive
review of the literature to establish the “legal case” for the study, a
theoretical and/or conceptual underpinning that provides a foundation
for the study, a detailed design section that provides the complete
“recipe” regarding the design of the study, the sample, the data
collections approaches, the analysis approaches, and a clear and logical
presentation of the study’s findings.
Equally important is a discussion situated within the existing literature
that helps readers to better understand and assess the study’s
contributions. Finally, a high-quality manuscript will address limitations
and offer implications for practice, theory, and future research
(Ellinger et al., 2013)
The acid tests
We’ll know it when we see it

A research question guides and centers your research. It should be clear and focused, as
well as synthesize multiple sources to present your unique argument
1. Is the research question something I/others care about? Is it arguable?
1. Is the research question a new spin on an old idea, or does it solve a problem?
1. Is it too broad or too narrow?
2. Is the research question researchable within the given time frame and location?
3. What information is needed?
Source: http://twp.duke.edu/uploads/media_items/research-questions.original.pdf
The acid tests

The acid tests

A word of warning
Source: Davis (1971)

3. A DARK ART?
Framing. Interesting. Questions

Framing the research
Using rhetorical devices
Rhetoric (pronounced /ˈrɛtərɪk/) aims to improve the capability
of writers or speakers to inform, persuade, or motivate
particular audiences in specific situations
“Interesting papers do not just happen, they are crafted so that it is
clear to the reader why they are interesting” – Cachon (2012)

To engage a particular audience

About a particular discourse
Discourse
System of thoughts composed of ideas, attitudes, courses of
action, beliefs and practices that systematically constructs the
subjects and the worlds of which it speaks - Iara Lessa

4. SOME KEY POINTS

Some key points
1. The research question is a matter of design

Some key points
2. The research question is tied to the topic

Some key points
3. The research question is tied to method
“May it be a light to you in dark places, when all
other lights go out.”

Some key points
4. The research question is tied to theory
Source: Gregor (2006)

Source: Gregor (2006)

Some key points
5. Answering the question must matter
Authors should argue research implications explicitly and persuasively
(Kilduff, 2007)
What kind of contribution do you hope to make?
• Definitions
• Descriptions
• Roadmaps
• Models
• Theories
(Source: Davis, 1971)

5. A MORE FORMAL VIEW

A more formal view
Cachon (2012)
Interesting means unexpected — interesting research piques your
curiosity, it induces a pause for contemplation, and most importantly, it
contradicts how you think about the world. Interesting research reveals
a new perspective on the familiar. It poses a question that has not
been asked before, or it follows an accepted question with a new
answer, an answer that is orthogonal to those that preceded it.
Confirming what is expected to be true is simply not interesting.
Interesting research raises more questions than it answers. It is
controversial. It invokes responses like “that can’t be true” or “this is
obviously incomplete.” Interesting research should initially leave the
reader a little discontent, unnerved, or motivated to prove it wrong or
at least incomplete. This is why it can be hard to publish interesting
research, and really interesting research is rarely accepted
immediately.

A more formal view
Cachon (2012)
It has been my experience that the main idea of an interesting paper
can be described with the following template: “What was thought to be
X is really Y”. Uninteresting papers are unable to offer a short, simple,
and precise version of the above template.
1. What Was Thought to Be Exogenous Is Really Endogenous
2. What Was Thought to Be Complex Is Really Simple
3. What Was Thought to Be Simple Is Really Complex
4. What Was Expected to Be a Small Effect Is Really a Large Effect
5. What Was Thought to Be a Large Effect Is Really a Small Effect
6. What Was Thought to Be a Large Effect Is Really Much Larger
7. What Was Thought to Be Easy Is Really Hard
8. What Was Assumed to Not Be a Problem Is Really a Problem
9. What Should Improve Performance Really Harms Performance

A more formal view
Cachon (2012)
Interesting x Important = Impact
Although interesting is desirable, and surely necessary, I contend that
it is not sufficient. We want research to also be “important”—important
research is useful, either for the creation of more research or, better
still, for the utility of society. To be useful, research generally must be
broadly applicable, or at least applicable in a domain of significance. Is
that it? We only want interesting and important research? What about
being correct? Shouldn’t a result also be “true”? Strictly speaking,
interesting does not need to be true.

A more formal view
Davis (1971)
• A theorist is considered great, not because his theories are true, but
because they are interesting… Interesting theories are those which
deny certain assumptions of their audience, while noninteresting
theories are those which affirm certain assumptions of their
audience…
• A new theory will be noticed only when it denies an old truth: The
interesting is something which affects the attention. If the defining
characteristic of anything which some audience considers interesting
is that it stands out in their attention in contrast to the routinized
taken-for-granted world of their everyday life, then the defining
characteristic of a theory which some audience considers interesting
is that it stands out in their attention in contrast to the web of
routinely taken-for-granted propositions which make up the
theoretical structure of the everyday life.

A more formal view
Davis (1971)
• All interesting theories constitute an attack on the taken-for-granted
world of their audience. If it does not challenge but merely confirms
one of their taken-for-granted beliefs, they will… declare that the
proposition need not be stated:… “of course”. “That’s obvious”. “It
goes without saying”.
• All of the interesting propositions I examined were found to involve
the radical distinction between seeming and being, between the
subject of phenomenology and the subject of ontology… All of the
interesting propositions I examined were easily translatable into the
form: “What seems to be X is in reality non-X”, or “What is accepted
as X is actually non-X” (Davis, 1971)

A more formal view
Davis (1971)

6. STRATEGIES AND TACTICS
For framing interesting questions

Strategies and tactics
Challenge assumptions
“Assumptions are dangerous things to make, and like all dangerous things
to make -- bombs, for instance, or strawberry shortcake -- if you make
even the tiniest mistake you can find yourself in terrible trouble. Making
assumptions simply means believing things are a certain way with little or
no evidence that shows you are correct, and you can see at once how this
can lead to terrible trouble. For instance, one morning you might wake up
and make the assumption that your bed was in the same place that it
always was, even though you would have no real evidence that this was
so. But when you got out of your bed, you might discover that it had
floated out to sea, and now you would be in terrible trouble all because of
the incorrect assumption that you'd made. You can see that it is better
not to make too many assumptions, particularly in the morning.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Austere Academy

Source: Alevson and Sandberg (2011)

Know thy journal, know thy journal editor
Kilduff (2007):
• We are interested in theory papers
• We don't publish papers targeted at practitioners
• AMR does not publish empirical research
• AMR is not an outlet for synopses of the work of great thinkers
• We want AMR to be the first-choice journal for your very best
conceptual papers. Writing theory is hard work - it is necessary to
offer important and original ideas that are well-structured and that
have been subjected to careful criticism by colleagues to sharpen
clarity, logic, vividness, precision, succinctness, and surprise

Ask and ye shall receive
– What questions have already been asked? Special issues
– What questions have already been answered? Reverse engineering

Seek and ye shall find

“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough”
I use A5 paper, powerpoint presentations and structured abstracts

References
• Alvesson, M., & Sandberg, J. (2011). Generating research questions through problematization.
Academy of Management Review, 36(2), 247-271.
• Alvesson, M., & Sandberg, J. (2013). Has management studies lost its way? Ideas for more
imaginative and innovative research. Journal of Management Studies, 50(1), 128-152.
• Beach, L. R. (1990). Image theory: Decision making in personal and organizational contexts (p.
254). Chichester: Wiley.
• Cachon, G. P. (2012). What Is Interesting in Operations Management?. Manufacturing &
Service Operations Management, 14(2), 166-169.
• Carr, N. G. (2003). IT doesn't matter. Harvard Business Review Review, 38, 24-38.
• Ciborra, C. U. (1997). De profundis? Deconstructing the concept of strategic alignment.
Scandinavian journal of information systems, 9(1), 2.
• Davis, M. S. (1971). That’s interesting. Philosophy of the social sciences, 1(2), 309.
• Gregor, S. (2006). The nature of theory in information systems. MIS Quarterly, 611-642.
• King, A. A., & Baatartogtokh, B. (2015). How Useful is the Theory of Disruptive Innovation?.
MIT Sloan Management Review, 57(1), 77.
• Sandberg, J., & Alvesson, M. (2011). Ways of constructing research questions: gap-spotting or
problematization?. Organization, 18(1), 23-44.

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