A guide for selecting research design in information systems studies

Abstract

Design is essential in research, yet, many researchers especially, postgraduate students continue to be challenged in selecting the most suitable research design for their studies. The process and decision to select research designs become more cumbersome and challenging when more than one design is required in a study. This challenge persists, primarily because there seem to be no guidelines for selecting the most appropriate design for a study. Consequently, many aspiring researchers sometimes select designs that do not align with the objectives of their studies. Thus, this study was conducted, to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges by gathering information from the postgraduate students. The qualitative methods were applied, to gain insights from researchers’ and students’ experiences (data). The interpretive approach was employed, to analyse the data. This paper reports on the findings.