Empirical Research in IS: The Practice of Relevance

Empirical Research in IS
The Practice of Relevance
from MISQ (31:1) 1999
by Izak Benbasat dan Robert W. Zmud

[BENBASATZMUD99] Benbasat, Izak, and Zmud, Robert W. 1999. Empirical Research in Information Systems: The Practice of Relevance. MIS Quarterly, 23(1), pp. 3-16. [T58.6 ISR SC, ISSN 1047-7047]. , March.
Keywords: Relevance, Rigor, Academic Research, Applied Research.
MEMO: Discussion and Suggestion: why most IS academic research today lacks relevance to practive.
Professionals tend to read articles that (p. 5): are shorter; use more exhibits; use everyday language, rather than esoteric or stilted language; have less discussion of a study&39;s methods; have more contextual description; have more prescriptions; (omit on article's rigor).
See also the author's index list.

Table 1. Dimensions of Relevance (p. 13)
Category	Dimensions of Relevance	Description
Article's Content	Interesting	Does Information Systems (IS) research address the problems or challenges that are of concern to IS professionals?
	Applicable	Does IS research produce the knowledge and offer prescription that can be utilized by practitioners?
	Current	Does IS research focus on current, at the time of publication, thechnologies, and business issues?
Article's Style	Accessible	Are IS research articles able to be understood (in terms of tone, style, structure, and semantics) by IS professionals? Are they written in a style that professionals would enjoy reading?

Table 2. Recommendations to Attain Relevance (p. 14)
Recommendations			Dimensions of Relevance Addressed
Topic Selection	1.	Focus on future interestes of key stakeholders.	Interesting
	2.	Identify topics from IS practice.	Interesting
	3.	Identify, as an academic community, the core research issues that can influence practice in the future.	Current
Article's Purpose	4.	Focus on the likely outcome (that can influence practice) rather than on inputs (academic and intellectual challenges) when choosing a research project.	Interesting Applicable
	5.	Develop cumulative, theory-based, context rich bodies of research to be able to make prescriptions and be proactive.	Applicable
	6.	Develop frames of references to organize phenomena and provide contingency approaches to managerial action.	Applicable
	7.	Potray research outputs in ways practitioners can utilize to justify and retionalize IT related decisions.	Applicable
Article's Readability	8.	Use clear, simple, and concise style in the write-up.	Accessible
Editorial Process	9.	Set the goal of publishing manuscript as being both rigorous and relevant.	Interesting Appicable Current Acccessible

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