How to Teach Empirical Research Methods in Information Systems? Report from a SCIS/IRIS 2019 Workshop

Abstract

Research methods are part and parcel of good research. Despite this, we often teach research methods in an ad hoc manner and do not reflect on relevant pedagogical aspects. This situation is changing due to the introduction of dedicated research methods courses as part of a transferable skills agenda in many universities. To address pedagogical aspects of teaching methods in IS, we organized a workshop during the 10th Scandinavian Conference on Information Systems (SCIS/IRIS). Our goal was to create a community of practice among supervisors and teachers of research methods in IS. In this paper, we present our findings from the workshop presentations and discussions. Three main themes emerge from our workshop: 1) Coping with student motivational aspects of learning research methods at micro and macro levels, 2) Challenges related to course design for different institutional contexts, and 3) The challenging interplay between IS theory and empirical data when teaching research methods. We discuss these themes and their relation to the field of IS. We propose some future research topics for the community.