PhD in Business AdministrationInformation Systems and Business Analytics
As a multidisciplinary field of study, Information Systems is concerned with the design, development, implementation, and use of information technology to solve organizational problems. This program focuses on research and theory relevant to these concerns. Its purpose is to prepare you to serve as professor and researcher in schools of business or related areas at the university level, or in in research functions at information technology industrial research organizations.
As a PhD. Level degree, the program maintains a strong research-oriented focus. The curriculum also concentrates on development of skills conducive to excellent classroom teaching.
The objectives of the program are to provide you with:
- In-depth knowledge of the field of Information Systems and Business Analytics with emphasis on research contributions in the organizational uses of information technology applications
- Exposure to theories and models relevant to the study of information systems
- The ability to integrate work from a diverse array of reference disciplines into a coherent framework to guide your research program for years to come
- Sound conceptual understanding of a set of research tools (e.g., statistical methods, research designs and methodology, programming, simulation, etc.) and technical knowledge in their applications and limitations
- The skills to conduct scholarly research and communicate results effectively to an academic and practitioner audience
- Skills development in classroom instruction and teaching effectiveness
The PhD. degree in Business Administration at Florida International University is designed to admit individual candidates with bachelor degrees in any discipline. For those candidates not possessing a baccalaureate or master's degree in business, a tutorial program or certain course prerequisites may be required by the student's Area Coordinator.
All students are required to complete a minimum of 16 courses. Those concentrating in Information systems must take four required seminars in Information Systems, two seminar courses in Information Systems on areas related to the research topic, a two-course sequence in advanced statistics, and four courses in research methodology and design of experiment. With the advice and consent of the departmental PhD. committee, students also select other supporting coursework. Successful completion of the first year of study is a prerequisite for enrollment in some of the more advanced courses. In summary:
- 18 credit-hours in doctoral level Information Systems and Business Analytics seminars and related seminar courses
- 18 credit-hours in Research Methods and/or Statistics courses
- 12 credit-hours of doctoral level Information Systems and Business Analytics courses (or directed study)
Substitutions (or waivers) for the six seminar courses may be permitted by the Director of the PhD program in IS. Such substitutions, if any, will be from courses in related areas, such as Accounting, Management, or Finance.
With the advice and consent of the PhD. coordinator, you will select appropriate courses in the Research Method and/or Statistics areas (usually, these will be courses offered by the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics within the college, Statistics Department, Psychology Department, or College of Education). In addition, students may select additional supporting coursework in areas such as economics, statistics, and/or psychology depending on their interests, abilities, and prior training.
Students are required to complete research projects during the summer semesters following your first and second years in the program. A faculty member will serve as an advisor for all research projects in a given summer.
The primary objective of the first summer research project is to enhance your skills in using computer programs and databases for research. To this end, students may replicate one or more prior studies using new data or to engage in some other meaningful empirical project.
The second summer research project, in contrast, requires students to develop an original research hypothesis. This hypothesis should be developed well in advance of the second summer semester so you will have enough time to execute the project during the summer semester.
For both summer projects, students must submit a written paper and make a presentation to the faculty. Ideally, these papers should be of sufficient quality to merit their submission to a high quality journal and/or a national or international conference.
At the end of your coursework, students must pass a comprehensive examination designed to assess your level of preparation for dissertation research. This examination will test the material covered in the departmental PhD courses.
Students must satisfy all university and college dissertation requirements.
The sample program of study below describes the schedule for a typical student. Variations may be allowed for some students, and, of course, the requirements may change at the discretion of the PhD. Committee.
| Year 1 Fall | Year 1 Spring |
| ISM 7345 Seminar on IS and Organizations: Design and Impact |
STA 5206 or STA5126 Design of Experiments |
| QMB 6603 Quantitative Methods in Management |
MAN 7155 Fundamentals of Behavioral Research |
| ISM 7935 The Philosophy of Science, Theory Construction, and Verification |
ISM 7152 Seminar on System Acquisition and Implementation |
| Summer 1 (June) – Qualifying Examination (3.5 GPA and faculty recommendation in favor of continuance) |
|
| GEB 7916: Doctoral Research Project in Business: Defining research objectives, questions, and conceptual context of research. Collect and prepare data for GEB 7910. |
|
| Year 2 Fall | Year 2 Spring |
| GEB 7910 Quantitative Research Methods in Business |
GEB 7930 Seminar on Research in Emerging ICT and their Implications |
| ISM 7406 Decision Support Systems |
ISM 7306 Seminar on Strategy and Information Resource |
| ISM 7126 Seminar on Systems Analysis |
GEB 7931 Seminar on Research in Emerging Organizations |
| Summer 2 (June) –Comprehensive Exam |
|
| Summer MAN 7906 Independent Study for Doctoral Students I Empirical Project 2 |
|
| Year 3 Fall | Year 3 Spring |
| GEB 7981 Dissertation Preparation - Developing and defending dissertation proposal, and Preliminary Data Collection |
GEB 7980 Doctoral Dissertation in Business Administration - Data collection, analysis, and writing |
| Produce first paper | Produce second paper |
| Year 4 Fall | Year 4 Spring |
| GEB 7980 Doctoral Dissertation in Business Administration - Data collection, analysis, and writing. Produce third paper |
GEB 7980 Doctoral Dissertation in Business Administration - Data collection, analysis, and writing |
Admission to the program requires substantive work experience in the proposed research area. It is recommended that candidates meet one of the following two requirements:
1.Four years of teaching experience at an academic institution.
2. Six years of experience in a responsible management position.
The preferred background knowledge areas are:
- Information systems and technologies background in
- Systems Analysis and Design
- Telecommunications
- Database Design
- E-Business
- Programming
- Project management
- General business background in
- Accounting
- Economics
- Marketing
- Organizational Theory
- Probability and Statistics
- Other recommended information systems topics
- Artificial Intelligence
- Security
- Knowledge Management
- Web Services
- knowledge management & knowledge management systems
- Information Systems and Business Analytics strategy, governance, capabilities & business alignment
- Information Systems and Business Analytics project complexity & flexibility
- innovation adoption & evaluation
- deontic process modeling
- virtual worlds & 3-D Web business models
- project management & cooperation theory
- data warehousing, data mining & knowledge discovery in databases
- multivariate statistics
- multicriteria decision analysis of judgments & opinions
- ranking methodologies & index development
- decision-support systems
- distributed development
- agile development
- human-computer interaction
- operations research applications in IT management
- e-commerce technologies
- supply chain management
- knowledge and corporate governance
- healthcare information systems
For more information about the Information Systems and Business Analytics Concentration, please contact:
 |
George Marakas |
