Exploring the Research Methods Employed for Investigating Current Challenges in E-learning Adoption in Universities: A Short Literature Review (Research Paper Sample)

Exploring the Research Methods Employed for Investigating Current Challenges in E-learning Adoption in Universities: A Short Literature Review
Franklyn CHUKWUNONSO a, , Roliana IBRAHIM b and Ali SELAMAT c[fchukwunonso2@live.utm.my.]
a, b, c Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Abstract. E-learning adoption in universities is a very challenging field of Information Systems that consist of the adoption challenges at two levels – user level and institutional level. Various higher institutions of learning have come to terms with the eminent need for change in order to allow for a successful integration and impact of technology in education. The ability to cope with these changes, right from pre-to-post e-learning adoption, has been a major challenge for management of various higher education institutions (HEIs). This paper aims at revisiting the various Information Systems (IS) approaches previously employed by several studies for investigating the challenges in adopting these e-learning technologies from the user level to the institutional level in Universities, with the aim of identifying the gap between theory and practice in addressing these challenges. The review considered 13 international conference academic papers and 52 journal articles sourced from high ranked international journals in the relevant field of study, validated through a multi-step manual cross-checking based on carefully selected extraction and quality criteria. The results indicate that 37% of the reviewed papers employed the use of quantitative approach while 29% used qualitative method in their study on the current challenges faced in e-learning adoption by universities. This implies that there is a growing interest in the use of qualitative approach for research in the field of IS even though quantitative methods are still slightly dominant in this IS domain. Based on the review findings, there is a need for both practitioners and researchers to appreciate the differences between methodologies and their varying applicability. The study concludes that IS practitioners and researchers should come together to clearly redefine the scope of IS methodologies.
Keywords. Information Systems, Methodology, E-learning, Adoption, University.
Introduction
E-learning has metamorphosed from the traditional online education to social networked learning through an unroutinized developmental process in universities [44]. The implication of this unroutinized metamorphosis is evident in the inability of universities to transform informal initiatives into formal procedures after adopting these new e-learning technologies [63]. According to [44], organizational issues were extensively described by IT-innovation adoption models whereas little attention was paid to methods used in transiting from individual adoption until institutionalization of these e-learning technologies. Thus, there is need to adopt a systematic approach for analyzing the processes employed right from the adoption until the institutionalization of these emerging e-learning innovations in universities. This will help bridge the gap between the adoption and institutionalization of these e-learning technologies as well as enable academic institutions optimize e-learning for achieving organizational and individual goals. There is therefore need to explore the current research methods employed for investigating current challenges in e-learning adoption in universities in order to improve on existing processes rather than explore new methodological alternatives [83].
Methodology is not the same as practice [1]. Working practice is what is actually done in a situation in information systems (IS) development. It is the concrete actions taken. In contrast, a methodology is an abstraction, i.e. an intellectual construct prescribing actions to be taken. An information systems methodology is taken to be a coherent set of guidelines. The guidelines prescribe actions both in terms of what to do and in terms of how to do it. The elements of ‘how’ are often referred to as techniques, that is precise concrete actions to be taken to achieve an end. Techniques are closely related to tools, models, and other kinds of means. Methodologies are basically abstract ideas about actions. Only when a methodology is interpreted and used can it influence the working practice of the actors seeking to apply it [2].
During the last decade the study of information systems methodologies have taken various forms leading to many and quite different theories, ideas and approaches to appreciate methodologies [10][11]. [12] posits that there are quite a variety of methodologies in IS. DeMarco [3] described methodology as a Structured Analysis or Structured Design. This was later elaborated by Durugbo et al. [4] as probably the most well-known and widely used methodology. Using DeMarco’s description, methodology in IS is about describing the existing and future information systems in terms of data items, data-processes, and flow of information within an organization. Jackson’s JSD [5] is a somewhat different methodology from [3] and [4]. Jackson advocates that entities in IS are described as communicating sequential processes. ETHICS, proposed by Mumford [6][7] describes a methodology with a completely different approach from the two mentioned above. It does not prescribe how information systems should be described, but rather provides guidance as to how different interest groups should be involved and how job satisfaction can be achieved for the users.
Such studies are at a meta-level relative to methodologies. They have methodologies as the subject area whereas methodologies have information systems as their subject area. This article addresses the problem at the meta-level in the sense that it contains a survey and a discussion of approaches to appreciate methodologies. The appreciation of approaches are ways of going about learning and understanding the features and the usefulness of methodologies used in IS. They are often in literature denoted as approaches for ‘evaluation of methodologies’, ‘comparison of methodologies’, ‘selection of methodologies’, etc. Thus, the next section reviews the methodologies employed by some selected research works in order to evaluate their findings based on rigorous evaluative practices. Section three discusses the methodology adopted for this study, Section four presents and discusses the results and findings, while Section five concludes the study.
Literature Review
There are limited studies on the processes involved in the institutionalization of emerging e-learning technologies in universities. According to [63], the processes that describe how individual and group-level facilitate or impede organizational routine development is still lacking. This lack of comprehending how educational innovations should be adopted and how they influence processes, organizational structures, and culture was stated by was also reported by [84-86]. Although there is a steady increase in literature, organizational issues with respect to university e-learning adoption and institutionalization processes are still very limited. Few of the published works that looked at it took a partial approach in their study and focused mainly on the factors and practices regarding adoption, implementation and innovation take-up issues of e-learning in higher education institutions.
According to a postal survey reported by [13], majority of the researchers admitted that they do not employ the use of methodologies in their studies and in cases where they do; they are not uniformly or rigorously applied. This is asserted by [14][15] in their findings that most researchers treated IS methodologies as a necessary fiction. They found that majority of the processes used for developing IS researches were improvised and mutually negotiated through a series of milestones, management control planning and research progress. [15] questioned the status of empirical studies while [14] suggested the use of ecological approach to research methodology, similar to the idea of method-in-action proposed by [16]. IS may be narrowly considered as a process of identifying and defining a problem in order to propose, evaluate and implement a solution that results in a technical change [17]. In a broader sense, IS results to a societal change when social and organizational changes occur in the process [18]. Some studies define IS as a new social system aided by information and communication technology (ICT) [20] which employs various approaches in addressing IS-related problems. These approaches may include Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) employed by [21], ETHICS method used by [22], Evolutionary Development by [23], Change Analysis [24], and Multiview approach used by [25]. All these approaches were proposed as methodologies to address the wider scope covered by IS studies. However, [26] posits that there is need to understand what practice is and to investigate the role played by methodologies in IT-related change, if one is to understand the available options when proposing changes in practice.
Different studies however share different opinions of methodology based on their context of study and prior experience of use. Methodologies may vary based on their philosophical context, objectivity and systematic modelling. [27] did a study that mapped different methodologies employed to engineering results they derived. [28] reflected on a multi-methodology approach to business process automation. [29] did a study on method adaptation in Motorola organization. All these studies revealed that at their initial stages of systems development, their research was tailored to a chosen methodology but later deviated as the development process p...