CMIS Research

Introduction:

Major universities like Texas A&M have two main goals. One is to educate students for the future based on the best current knowledge. The other is to generate new knowledge that can expand the curriculum, help fuel the economy, and help people live better lives.

Faculty at major universities are required to conduct research to advance their careers. Research helps faculty keep on top of current knowledge, so that they can bring cutting edge material into the classroom. Contrary to the popular idea, some of the best teachers are also the best researchers. Doing research is a passion for many professors. Their love of research, as well as their love of teaching, is what draws and keeps them at great universities like Texas A&M.

Benefits of Research for You and Your organization:

The benefits of research for the faculty members and graduate students include career advancement, reputation among their colleagues, and the satisfaction of creating new knowledge and answering pressing questions. What are the benefits for CMIS members?

First, research projects can help you answer questions important for your business. When you participate in research, you can tell the faculty what questions you want answered. Part of the job of the project will be to generate those answers for you. An objective of the project is to generate those answers for you. For instance, assume you have heard about a research project on computer security practices, and you are interested in finding out best practices for risk management in computer security. As you discuss the project the researchers would find out what you are interested in and design the study so that it answers your questions as well as the ones the researchers are interested in. The questions you are interested in are likely to be of interest to the researchers as well, and often may help them extend or even refocus their project.

Second, Second, there is also collateral learning from research projects. While the specific results of the research project are the most immediate benefits for you, there are a number of ways you can learn from research projects. By working with the research team, you will learn about research methods that may be useful to you. Discussions with the researchers are likely to inform you about issues unrelated to the research project, but of interest to you.

Third, Third, there is the satisfaction from the research process itself. Faculty are interested in research because it is intrinsically satisfying and also because it’s fun! Participating in the research process can open up new vistas for you and your organization. And if interesting results emerge that can be shared with the public there may be publicity value for your organization.

Are There Any Kinds of Research Projects That Are Not Appropriate?

A wide variety of different kinds of projects are appropriate.

Some projects will focus mainly on academic questions that are also of interest to the organization. For example, a research project on the factors that enable successful e-commerce initiatives in banking would be of interest to academics and organizations alike. It would generate articles that would describe models for effective e-commerce and sets of best practices for banks undertaking e-commerce.

Some projects will be largely of interest to the organization. One example would be a project to evaluate the effectiveness of an e-commerce site. The organization would benefit from the evaluation and recommendations. The researcher would benefit from getting experience working on the problem and graduate students may also learn from conducting the project.

Some projects will be largely applied. For example, a project might develop an intelligent web site for e-commerce for a company as a learning experience for graduate students.

Applied projects are of interest to faculty because even though they do not result in publications they can help faculty learn about an area and develop more academically oriented projects.

Almost any type of project that is of mutual interest and benefit for CMIS members and faculty associates is appropriate. However, there are exceptions…

What Kinds of Projects Are Appropriate?

There is a list of possible projects in this web site. These have been entered by faculty interested in doing research. If you have a project you would like to explore, enter it into the web site and interested faculty will contact you. Research projects typically are team endeavors in which you and the researchers work together to specify the research questions, how the data will be gathered, and what the products of the project will be. You can participate in the project as much as you desire and your time allows, but at a minimum you would be (or arrange for) a liaison between the researchers and the organization who can help them get data, “open doors” for them, and represent the project to others in your organization.

What Is Involved in a Research Project?

Who Pays for a Research Project?

What Are the Deliverables or Products of a Research Project?

Protections for Participants