Frontiers of Business Intelligence and Analytics

Research method and evaluation

The majority of papers analyzed in this literature review applies a Deductive analysis approach (34 hits), followed by Case studies (22 hits) as well as Lab and field experiments (21 hits). Reference modeling also received much attention in the past years. In total, 20 research papers apply this research method. 16 papers introduce a Prototype to validate its approaches. Papers addressing this characteristic mainly develop a software artifact, such as implementing a decision support system for the planning of large energy grids. Thirteen research works apply Simulation methods to generate results. For example, Cakici et al. analyzed the benefits of RFID technology compared to barcode usage for the management of pharmaceutical inventories. They analyze the impact of automatic counting and could show that a continuous review is superior to a periodic review of inventories. 12 out of 75 papers apply a cross-sectional studies, such as identifying the drivers for the likelihood of app installation by conducting a conjoint analysis based on an online survey of smartphone users.

The analysis clearly indicates a research gap in conducting Ethnographies as well as Action research (3 and 2 hits). While the research work of Siegfried et al. also addresses ethnographical aspects (investigating the app installation behavior of German university students), we identified two more research works containing ethnographical aspects. Rock et al. analyzes peer effects of user behavior in Yahoo! Go. Lehrer et al. analyze the cognitive process of mobile phone users when applying location-based services. They develop a theoretical framework for analyzing individual's decision making process. Action research was applied by Chernbumroong et al. to improve nursing and the detection of emergency situations. Schuetz et al. developed a prototype of a data warehouse for the precision dairy farming context. The demonstrated prototype was evaluated in practice. We found no paper that uses Grounded theory as a research method, which reveals a further research gap.

Additionally to the classic research methods, our literature search also provides insights into the practical evaluation of the developed artifacts. This is of great importance because BI & A is a major challenge for the industry. Therefore, we analyzed all papers regarding their explicit evaluation in an industry setting. Surprisingly, solely 11 out of 75 papers completely fulfill this characteristic and either contribute to a commercialized product or implement the presented approach as an information system in a company.