Limassol: Lecturer Dr. Ariana Polyviou from the Department of Management, Entrepreneurship and Digital Business at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) has been awarded an international distinction for her academic contributions.
According to Cyprus News Agency, Dr. Polyviou received the JAIS Best Paper Honorable Mention Award 2024 from the prestigious Journal of the Association for Information Systems (ABS 4*). This recognition was for a paper co-authored with Nancy Pouloudi and Katerina Pramatari from the Athens University of Economics and Business, and Leiser O. Silva from the Bauer College of Business, University of Houston.
The award-winning paper, titled ‘A DNA Helix Analogy for Interdependent Mixed Methods Research: Enabling Cross-Fertilizations and Interim Meta-Inferences,’ explores mixed methods research, which combines qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. This approach offers a more integrated understanding of phenomena, yet poses challenges in design and implementation, especially in concurrent and fully integrated research designs, which are less common in Information Systems research.
The study introduces a novel way to conceptualize mixed methods, suggesting that different research strands, such as qualitative, quantitative, and computational, can unfold concurrently and interact continuously. This interaction enhances validity and provides comprehensive findings. The authors use the DNA double helix analogy to conceptualize interdependent mixed-methods research, where the strands are interlinked and evolve together.
Additionally, the paper presents a flow diagram as a roadmap for implementing this research design, along with a template for capturing interim feedback, contributing to research transparency. The study also includes an illustrative example and guiding principles to aid the application of the proposed design in practice. The approach’s usefulness is validated through interviews with both junior and experienced researchers in mixed-methods research.
Dr. Polyviou has an extensive academic background and is a member of several editorial boards, including the European Journal of Information Systems and the Behaviour and Information Technology. Her research has been published in numerous journals, and she has received the AIS Mid-Career Award 2024, acknowledging her significant contributions to the field of Information Systems.