this IS research

Researchers do not care about philosophy because it adds no value to their experiment. They just go out into the world and do their work. So say some if not many scientists, but Amir Haj-Bolouri disagrees. With him we discuss whether some questions of philosophy such as ontology and epistemology even matter to information systems research, which topics and questions lend themselves to philosophical reasoning, and whether we can disassociate philosophical ideas from the people that proposed them. As usual, the references to readings we mention are listed on http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.

Our top journal is called MIS Quarterly, not Causality Quarterly. Or is it? How should we go about building and testing causal explanations in our research and how do different approaches to causality complement each other? We invited Sunil Mithas, Ling Xue, Nina Huang, and Andrew Burton-Jones as our guests. They recently published an editorial on this topic and we use this opportunity to pick their brains about experiments, econometrics, counterfactual, correlational and configurational views of establishing causality. As usual, the references to readings we mention are listed on http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.

Can we theorize with the best scholars sociology has to offer? Perhaps we are not quite as bad with jargon monoxide as they are. We do pay more attention to technology than they do. On the other hand, our chase of new technology and our publish or perish paradigm are stopping us from even trying to do the big, timeless stuff. So if you are interested in our lengthy rant about jargon, social theory, institutions, sociomateriality and publishing, tune in and enjoy. As usual, the references to readings we mention are listed on http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.

Nick is annoyed with accepting cookies on websites and wonders if the transactional "notice and choice" approach really does anything to benefit the world. So what's the alternative? We asked the expert Kirsten Martin to join our podcast again and chat with us about this. We ask whether there really is a "privacy paradox", how fields such as information systems, engineering, law, and ethics and others approach this topic, and whether we are paternalistic elitists or not. Then Kirsten unplugs Nick's Wi-Fi so he quits interrupting her… As usual, the references to readings we mention are listed on http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.

Did you know you have to search engine-optimize your papers? Makes sense now that you know it, doesn't it. We wish we would have known years ago. We sift through some of the most recent papers on how to write good papers and contrast them with our own experiences. Turns out we all wish we could change the title of our papers in hindsight. As usual, the references to readings we mention are listed on http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.

It's late at night. Only because Jan has been asked to talk about something he knows very little about so we asked someone at the other side of the planet for help – the wonderful Shirley Gregor. With her on the show, it is finally time to talk about design science, clichés and stereotypes. We wonder whether more people write about doing design science than actually do design science, how scholarly design research has to be, and why Izak Benbasat might be the most successful design scientist of all time. As usual, the references to readings we mention are listed on http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.

Journals are really all about their editors. So when journals are bad, it really means editors were bad. But what do we mean by that and what should editors do instead? Of course, as usual we have our own views. So tune in and listen as we share our stories of "the worst things an editor can do." As usual, the references to readings we mention are listed on http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.

This IS research is back for its fourth season. We start off by discussing the journal space for information systems researchers. What are our top journals, what are differences between them and how should authors decide where to submit their work? Tune in to find out. As usual, the references to readings we mention are listed on http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.

Andrew van de Ven passed away but there are other scholars out there that push the idea of engaged scholarship further. One of these is Michael Rosemann from Australia. He joins us to share his thoughts about whether papers or researchers should be relevant, why impact can be an intrinsic motivation, and why our research artifacts should not only be valid and reliable but also beautiful. As usual, the references to all readings we mention are listed on http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.

We venture into unknown territories. We team up with our friends Alex and Philipp from the German podcast "Desk Reject: der PhD Cast", which comes out of the Vienna University of Economics and Business and is run by PhD students Sophie Quach, Dieter Gutschi, Philipp Benedikt Becker, and Alexander Staub. If you understand German – or aspire to learn it – you should follow their podcast. Together, we discuss what makes a great or a good PhD student, whether PhD students need to create a researcher identity for themselves, and how academics can deal with envy. As usual, the references to all readings we mention are listed on http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.