Structuring the LR

At first, it was quite difficult to start the LR: too many things to start with. But then after spending a day or two thinking about how to handle this, I come up with some strategies to help me working on it:

1. Decide the topics to be searched for: Stakeholder management, stakeholder, project management, developing countries,ect.

2. Start with Journals in the IS area: MISQ, ISR, JIT, EJIS, etc.

3. After that, open up the search to include journals from different areas. This time search the topics in On-line databases.

4. Develop the LR structure

Starting tomorrow I will be working on the second task....
Hopefully by the end of the week, I will have searched all the available sources...

Very time consuming....

Focus: Research Proposal

The comments on my Ethics Proposal draft that I sent last week was a positive one :) And now I just need to work on the revision and will be able to submit it by the end of this month.

The next focus is to write my research proposal. I thought that it would be simple since I have written 2 conference papers on this. I was wrong. It needs to be as extensive as possible, and that means I really need to put extra efforts on this to make sure that the proposal will be a good product.

2 main parts of the proposal that I really need to work on are the Literature Review (mainly on the Stakeholder management) and the research methodology (GTM). I have done some on these parts, and I guess the next step is to review what I have so far, compared it to what I want them to be, and trying to fill the gaps as much as possible.

I SHOULD REALLY WORK ON MY MEMOS OF PAPERS USING ATLAS.TI.... Next week will be dedicated to work on the Literature review and developing a detail structure of the Research Proposal.

"I Will Remember" by Toto

This is one of my favorite songs since high school... Kind of summarizes the story ;-)

Research Ethics Application Draft

This week is a quite productive week for me having completed the first draft of the ethics application for my research. It was planned to be completed by the end of March, happy that I have almost completed this bit.

Research proposal is the next big task (probably the biggest of all) as I will have to defend my proposal by May this year because my supervisor is planning to travel overseas for 6 months from June-November 2011. The ideal scenario is for me to be also 'away' during that period of time, working on data collection in the field (back in my home country) and be back to campus at around the same time for further data analysis and writings of conference papers (possibly ECIS if not ICIS conference).

Meantime, I have more readings to do:
1. Literature review on research topic, and
2. Research methodology (GTM)

Thank God I have Skype now and be able to talk to my daughter almost every night.

Busy Week

I have been participating in the SR trainings throughout the week and the trainings will only end on Sunday evening... If this new role will need such a great time commitment, then I guess I will have to resign from this role since it will only do harm to my research progress... Have to check this with the people at the hall.

Meantime about progress in my study: I have now a clear list of things that I need to focus on for the next week:
1. Ethics Approval application
2. Research Proposal (need to obtain format from my supervisor)
3. More readings:
a. Theoretical Sensitivity in Stakeholder management-Memoing using Atlas.ti
b. GT research Method and memoing using Atlas.ti
4. Improve the field report I have just submitted

Ethics approval has to be submitted ASAP, while I have to successfully defend my research proposal by May 2011.

I haven't talk to my daughter for 2 days now...

Good News...

This week is I guess the busiest week I have so far since joining the program. Although it is not related directly to my study, so far I 'enjoy' the new dynamic involved as a result of my participation. In particular I really enjoy 'outside office activities' such as group lunch (we had a Ferry cruise lunch yesterday touring the lake for about one hour...), and also a group dinner where everybody brought their food from their respective countries.... Enjoyed the meals from Africa, Australia etc....

I now can comfortably disagree to the saying that 'doing research study is a long and lonely journey..' Not if you can spent time wisely with other people in your community, and more importantly, getting some sort of rewards for your participation (in my case it was a scholarship - talking about synergy :-).

Anyway, this memo is actually written to share a good news about me finding the most CLEAR single paper on how to conduct my research.

I have been reading several books on the research methodology (Grounded Theory) and still (really-really) struggling to outline every little steps involved in each research stages (Entering the field, collecting data -interview, transcribing the interviews, sorting, coding, more coding and eventually, after reaching the saturation stage, writing down the theory).

The steps outlined clearly in this paper can be compared to having a cookbook on your side while cooking, only that I am cooking a different meal.

I can humbly thank God Almighty for every little progress (or sign of progress) that I have... and Thank also to my daughter, the sole source of motivation. Dad Loves you.

Ethics Approval

I went to participate in the ethics application training last Tuesday here at the campus. The training is a mandatory training for students and staff seeking for ethics approval.
The training went very well, I loved the way the lady presented the materials :) She even offered us help to check our applications before submitting them...How nice!

As of yesterday I have created my online application file and will be working on it for the next several weeks...

Meantime, I need to work on what my supervisor told me to do: literature review using Atlas.ti....

Research Proposal almost ready

As I have said before that probably the process of writing my research proposal was going to be a pretty straightforward process. I was right. I have written 2 conference papers on this topic, and I can comfortably say that it's already 70-80% done. This is a great news :)

Now I just need to focus all the energy in preparing myself with skills essential for the field research (and make sure that my supervisor will be happy enough to give me the green light).

Below is probably the list of what I need to do next ( in the next few months):

1. Participate in the Research Interview Training next Tuesday (8 of February 2011)

2. Read more about Research Interview. This is crucial since I am going to use interview as my main data collection method, apart from observation and documentations.

3. Work on more literature review, and this time USING ATLAS.ti I bought the software for more than 100 dollars, and I'm having trouble installing it on my Windows 7 laptop machine :P Should have used my Linux OS and Open Office if my supervisor didn't request me to use these Windows ONLY software of Endnote and Atlas.ti

4. Still need to master the Classic Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM). 4. Write another conference paper on GTM.I have prepared draft for this paper, looking good but I need more inputs from my supervisor. Will submit this to the Pacific Asian Conference on Information Systems (PACIS) in Brisbane this July. The deadline is on the 7th of March), which is still OK.

5. Another paper for a local conference back home. Has no academic weight but still a good event for networking with local fellows. This conference is going to be held in early July. Hmmmmm... If I have to attend these 2 conferences, I could spent all my allocated research fund a lot sooner... (Prioritizing... maybe I need to submit the GTM paper to a different conference. The QualIT 2011 conference would be one good conference - I presented my first paper there last year :) Very encouraging society there.

Looks like I have a lot of work to do in the next few months.... Still procrastinating though.. arrrgghhh.. Not to mention that since this week I will be taking a new role as a Senior Residence (SR)... Cool one but that means I have to manage my time very carefully.

At the same time as always: I miss my baby girl! Promise you that there will be NO MORE studies after this one!

Basic Sosial Process (BSP)

The main objective of doing Grounded Theory research is to produce theory from collected data. One of the main tools for data collection is interview method. For theory building purpose, the researcher needs to be able to conceptualize data obtained. In order words, data is only treated as indicators and pointing to certain concepts. Once the core concept is identified, then the process involved around the core concept can be determined, and the theory grounded very much closely to data, has been developed.
The next task is to read inputs from available literature to test and identify more categories and indicators to further solidify the theory.

My biggest task is to develop a theory from ICT project implementation cases in a Least Developed Country (LDC). Big job, but also very rewarding since, my thesis will not be producing merely another DESCRIPTIVE Theory...

I wonder how much time will it take to complete the whole cycles...

First thing first:
1. Work hard to obtain the ethics approval. Planned to be submitted in March
2. The Research proposal. Planned to be completed in February...
3. The 'Nod' from my supervisor to proceed to data collection stage. Hopefully I can start this process by May or June 2011...

I can see a blur light shining at the end of the tunnel (could be just my hallucination)... I just need to work hard, and work harder.... God I miss my daughter...

ICT for Development

Information and telecommunication technologies (ICT) are often seen as useful tools for nation building. This perception of usefulness becomes more prominent when considering the many needs of underprivileged nations. ICT implementation projects in developing countries provide the hope of being able to leapfrogging their technological and economic development.

However, ICT for development projects often face significant barriers, which combine to retard, reduce or even derail the delivery of expected benefits. This paper delineates an exploratory study that is concerned with significant ICT deployments to least developed countries (LDC).

This paper presents a view of contextual issues faced by ICT projects in My Country, one of the least developed countries in the world and also one of the newest nations. We set the scene for an empirical research designed to explore (and build from) contextual tensions among key project stakeholders. Our objective is to develop a theoretical understanding of project management in extreme conditions of disparity of both power and knowledge as a consequence of heterogeneity of project stakeholders.

This study endeavors to contribute to the fulfillment of hope in least developed countries, and to the delivery of concrete outcomes from the good intentions and financial commitment of donor organizations.

GTM - Memo

One of the hardest things in my study is to keep teaching myself into a habit of writing down everything that I do and think of: Readings (papers, books), ideas, writings (yes! write down ideas about the things I'm writing about... weird but true). So from now on, I will write down everything that I need/want/must write in this blog..... (hope that this is not too late :( God help me! ).

Will be reading this postings again in a couple of years time...

Grounded Theory is the study of a concept!

Great Man....

First day at the gym ;)

I managed to convinced myself to visit the uni gym today after spending a fortune for a year long membership last week. The only reason I'm doing this is because I want to spend some time away from my readings and writings few times a week beside the regular lake side walk I've been doing ... and it works! There is no way you can think of your study when your body is struggling with heavy loads... ;) This place is pretty cool too, they have about everything that you need. Money well spent I guess...

My very first post

Just completed one of the few things that I should have done weeks back :) now it's time to focus more on my study. Still need to complete my thesis proposal and also to obtain the ethics approval for my research.

The proposal writing should be pretty straightforward since I have written 2 conference papers on this bit alone :))
The funny thing is when I was filling the ethics approval application form, there was a question on the location of the research: Local or overseas. I checked the 'overseas' option, and comes the next question: "Will the research be conducted in a politically stable country?" ... This is quite a difficult question since only few years back my country was in total chaos. But everything is back to normal now...

Hope that I will be able to start collecting data for my research in the next few months time. Really need to work hard to make sure that I will be given the permission... I have all the reasons to be successful (and so far I'm doing better than just 'OK'...)

It's 4th of February 2011. Time flies! Feels like it was only yesterday when I was playing with my little baby girl for 5 weeks back home.... Miss her already so very much :(