It is the turn of each of the following students to write a paper for this class meeting: Mehdi FARASHAHI, Daniel TOMIUK, Sbai Sidi ABDELMOUGHIT, Samir ELHEDHIL, and Abdullah DASCI.

First read your question, below. This will tell you what to look for in the one "theory" reading and the one "application" reading designated for you. Second do the theory reading. Third do application reading.

Remember that you must write your paper as if you were presenting your responses to an audience of other researchers (for instance, other doctoral students, professors, journal readers) who are completely unfamiliar with the topic and who have not read the papers that you have read. This is not a group assignment; each paper is to be completed individually.

When writing your paper, be sure to state the question at the beginning of the paper.

The paper must be submitted no later than Tuesday, May 20, at 10am. Follow the instructions in the syllabus for submitting the paper to AllenLee@Management.McGill.ca. By noon (approximately!), all of the papers will be forwarded to the entire class via the electronic discussion list, Lee-PhD@Management.McGill.ca. All students must read these papers in preparation for class.

1. (Abdullah DASCI.) In the 1993 article by Pinsonneault & Kraemer, "Survey Research Methodology in Management Information Systems: An Assessment," some key characteristics of surveys appear in Table 2 (page 82). For instance, for a survey whose purpose is description, "Questions or hypotheses [must be] clearly stated." Likewise, for a survey who purpose is explanation, the sample size must be "Sufficient to test categories in theoretical framework with statistical power." Of course, focus on those parts of the article that explain the terms in Table 2. Using Table 2 as a guide, assess how well the survey research was conducted in the following article: S.L. Robinson, "Trust and Breach of the Psychological Contract," Administrative Science Quarterly, Volume 41, No. 4, 1996, pp. 574-599. Provide details. Also, if the Robinson article does not reveal any information that you believe you need for the purpose of assessing how well its survey research was performed, be sure to mention this.

2.(Daniel TOMIUK.) In the book Survey Research Methods, Fowler offers many concepts that could be useful in assessing how well a particular instance of survey research was conducted. Examples:

(a) On page 19, regarding sampling: "How well a sample represents a population depends on the sample frame, the sample size, and the specific design of selection procedures."

(b) On page 45, regarding nonresponse: "Failure to collect data from a high percentage of those selected to be in a sample is a major source of survey error."

(c) On page 61, regarding data collection mode: "The choice of data collection mode -- mail, telephone, personal interview, or group administration -- is related directly to the sample frame, research topic, characteristics of the sample, and survey costs."

(d) On page 74, regarding good measures, where the key terms might be "reliable" and "valid": "In surveys, answers are of interest not intrinsically but because of their relationship to something they are supposed to measure. Good questions are reliable, providing consistent measures in comparable situations, and valid; answers correspond to what they are intended to measure."

(e) On page 99, regarding questionnaire design: "Designing a good questionnaire involves selecting the questions needed to meet the research objectives, testing them to make sure they can be asked and answered as planned, then putting them into a form to maximize the ease with which respondents and interviewers can do their jobs."

(f) On page 141, regarding disclosure: "Researchers reporting survey estimates have a scientific obligation to provide a full description of the details of the procedures they used that could affect those estimates."

Of course, selectively read parts of the book for a fuller explanation of these concepts. Using these six concepts as a guide, assess how well the survey research was conducted in the following article: A. Pinsonneault & K.L. Kraemer, "Middle Management Downsizing: An Empirical Investigation of the Impacts of Information Technologies," forthcoming in Management Science. Provide details. Also, if the Pinsonneault & Kraemer article does not reveal any information that you believe you need for the purpose of assessing how well its survey research was performed, be sure to mention this.

3. (Sbai Sidi ABDELMOUGHIT.) In the 1993 article by Pinsonneault & Kraemer, "Survey Research Methodology in Management Information Systems: An Assessment," some key characteristics of surveys appear in Table 2 (page 82). For instance, for a survey whose purpose is description, "Questions or hypotheses [must be] clearly stated." Likewise, for a survey who purpose is explanation, the same size must be "Sufficient to test categories in theoretical framework with statistical power." Of course, focus on those parts of the article that explain the terms in Table 2. Using Table 2 as a guide, assess how well the survey research was conducted in the following article: Patricia A. Wilson, "The Effect of Politics and Power on the Organizational Commitment of Federal Executives," Journal of Management, 1995, Volume 21, Number 1, pp. 101-118.. Provide details. Also, if the Robinson article does not reveal any information that you believe you need for the purpose of assessing how well its survey research was performed, be sure to mention this.

4. (Samir ELHEDHIL, Mehdi FARASHAHI.) In the book Survey Research Methods, Fowler offers many concepts that could be useful in assessing how well a particular instance of survey research was conducted. Examples:

(a) On page 19, regarding sampling: "How well a sample represents a population depends on the sample frame, the sample size, and the specific design of selection procedures."

(b) On page 45, regarding nonresponse: "Failure to collect data from a high percentage of those selected to be in a sample is a major source of survey error."

(c) On page 61, regarding data collection mode: "The choice of data collection mode -- mail, telephone, personal interview, or group administration -- is related directly to the sample frame, research topic, characteristics of the sample, and survey costs."

(d) On page 74, regarding good measures, where the key terms might be "reliable" and "valid": "In surveys, answers are of interest not intrinsically but because of their relationship to something they are supposed to measure. Good questions are reliable, providing consistent measures in comparable situations, and valid; answers correspond to what they are intended to measure."

(e) On page 99, regarding questionnaire design: "Designing a good questionnaire involves selecting the questions needed to meet the research objectives, testing them to make sure they can be asked and answered as planned, then putting them into a form to maximize the ease with which respondents and interviewers can do their jobs."

(f) On page 141, regarding disclosure: "Researchers reporting survey estimates have a scientific obligation to provide a full description of the details of the procedures they used that could affect those estimates."

Of course, selectively read parts of the book for a fuller explanation of these concepts. Using these six concepts as a guide, assess how well the survey research was conducted in the following article: Michael Hartine & O.C. Ferrell, "The Management of Customer-Contract Service Employees: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Marketing, Volume 60, October 1996, pp. 52-70. Provide details. Also, if the Hartine & Ferrell article does not reveal any information that you believe you need for the purpose of assessing how well its survey research was performed, be sure to mention this.