Opponents' questions from doctoral defense of Yue Dai

Public Defense of Ms. Yue Dai’s Doctoral

Dissertation

Questions and Observations

Opponent: Dr. Heikki Topi, Bentley University September 13, 2013

University of Eastern Finland

Research Context �  What do you consider to be the most important

scientific disciplines to which your work contributes?

Research Context �  What do you consider to be the most important

scientific disciplines to which your work contributes?

�  What were the key challenges you faced because of the multidisciplinary nature of your research?

Research Context �  What do you consider to be the most important

scientific disciplines to which your work contributes?

�  What were the key challenges you faced because of the multidisciplinary nature of your research?

�  Please discuss the relationship between your work and the rest of the e-leadership project

Goals �  You have specified four goals for your research on

p. 6 and related research questions on p. 7. In Table 1.1 you discuss the mapping between the goals and the research questions. Please elaborate briefly on this table and discuss the mechanism through which each of these goals was addressed.

�  Also, discuss the relationship between “the main questions for this research” on p. 3 and the RQs on p. 7

Table 1.1

Epistemology �  What is your fundamental position regarding what

knowledge is and how it can be acquired?

�  How are these beliefs reflected in your dissertation research?

Design Science Research �  Describe the impact of the classics in design

science research on the research approach and methodology of your work �  Which author(s) has/have had the strongest impact

on your work?

�  How have you adapted the models for the purposes of your research

Hevner et al., 2004 (MISQ)

Nunamaker et al., 1991

Design Science Research �  Describe the impact of the classics in design

science research on the research approach and methodology of your work �  Which author(s) has/have had the strongest impact

on your work?

�  How have you adapted the models for the purposes of your research

�  Did your research produce any methodological innovations that you consider to be a significant contribution?

Validity of Results �  Discuss the reasons why you believe that your

research results are valid?

Validity of Results �  Discuss the reasons why you believe that your

research results are valid?

�  What factors have had a negative impact on the validity of the outcomes of your research?

Validity of Results �  Discuss the reasons why you believe that your

research results are valid?

�  What factors have had a negative impact on the validity of the outcomes of your research?

�  What are the aspects of validity that you consider most important for your work?

Validity of Results �  Discuss the reasons why you believe that your

research results are valid?

�  What factors have had a negative impact on the validity of the outcomes of your research?

�  What are the aspects of validity that you consider most important for your work?

�  Did the use of surveys that had very few respondents create any concerns for you?

Validity of Results �  Discuss the reasons why you believe that your research

results are valid?

�  What factors have had a negative impact on the validity of the outcomes of your research?

�  What are the aspects of validity that you consider most important for your work?

�  Did the use of surveys that had very few respondents create any concerns for you?

�  Please comment on the size of BEECON and its impact on your ability to evaluate your model

Evaluation �  How did you evaluate the quality of the models you

had developed?

Evaluation �  How did you evaluate the quality of the models you

had developed?

�  What mechanisms did you use to ensure that the lessons learned from each model generation were appropriately transferred to the next model?

Evaluation �  How did you evaluate the quality of the models you

had developed?

�  What mechanisms did you use to ensure that the lessons learned from each model generation were appropriately transferred to the next model?

�  Discuss the role of the surveys you conducted in the research process.

Evaluation �  How did you evaluate the quality of the models you had

developed?

�  What mechanisms did you use to ensure that the lessons learned from each model generation were appropriately transferred to the next model?

�  Discuss the role of the surveys you conducted in the research process?

�  Chapter 5 ends with “After creating the evaluation model, an evaluation of the TMCIS will be performed in the next step” (p. 92). Please clarify what you mean by this.

Quality of Data Sources �  What is the impact of the quality of the data on the

usefulness and usability of the proposed models?

Quality of Data Sources �  What is the impact of the quality of the data on the

usefulness and usability of the proposed models?

�  It appears that the models do not incorporate the need to validate the input data. Is this correct? Could it potentially be important?

Usability �  Describe the approach for evaluating the usability

of the models and their implementations (Chapter 5).

Usability �  Describe the approach for evaluating the usability

of the models and their implementations (Chapter 5).

�  Discuss the reasons why you decided to include this dimension in your integrative work.

Contributions to Theory �  What theoretical contributions were you hoping to

achieve before you started your research?

Contributions to Theory �  What theoretical contributions were you hoping to

achieve before you started your research?

�  Where those expectations realized? What did you achieve? What might be doable in the future?

Contributions to Theory �  What theoretical contributions were you hoping to

achieve before you started your research?

�  Where those expectations realized? What did you achieve? What might be doable in the future?

�  What do you expect to be the most lasting impact of your work?

Link Between the Models and Working Systems?

�  Discuss at a detailed level which ones of your models have been implemented in a way that makes it possible to test them in practice.

Link Between the Models and Working Systems?

�  Discuss at a detailed level which ones of your models have been implemented in a way that makes it possible to test them in practice

�  Do you have plans for further implementation work in the future? What would next steps and their expected outcomes be?

Link Between the Models and Working Systems?

�  Discuss at a detailed level which ones of your models have been implemented in a way that makes it possible to test them in practice

�  Do you have plans for further implementation work in the future? What would next steps and their expected outcomes be?

�  How do you expect the models to contribute to the practice of building working systems?

Research Outcomes �  Please review the key contributions of your

dissertation to both theory and practice.

Research Outcomes �  Please review the key contributions of your

dissertation to both theory and practice.

�  How well do you believe you were able to address the three questions you identified on p. 3 of the dissertation or the four formal RQs specified on p. 7?

Relevant Literature? �  Zheng, Z, P Fader, and B Padmanabhan. 2012. “From Business

Intelligence to Competitive Intelligence: Inferring Competitive Measures Using Augmented Site-Centric Data.” Information Systems Research 23 (3) (September 14): 698–720. doi:10.1287/isre.1110.0385.

�  Chen, Hsinchun, Michael Chau, and Daniel Zeng. 2002. “CI Spider: a Tool for Competitive Intelligence on the Web.” Decision Support Systems 34 (1): 1–17.

�  Gupta, Vishal, and Gurpreet S Lehal. 2009. “A Survey of Text Mining Techniques and Applications.” Journal of Emerging Technologies in Web Intelligence 1 (1) (August 1). doi:10.4304/jetwi.1.1.60-76.