of these decisions has important consequences for the obtained results. Recommendations that have been made in the methodological literature are discussed. Analyses of 3 existing empirical data sets are used to illustrate how questionable decisions in conducting factor analyses can yield problematic results

The fact that objects in the world appear in different ways depending on the scale of observation has important implications if one aims at describing them. It shows that the notion of scale is of utmost importance when processing unknown measurement data by automatic methods. In their seminal

architecture by creating a d e scriptive framework from disciplines quite independent of information systems, then by analogy specifies information systems architecture based upon the neutral, objective framework. Also, some preliminary conclusions about the implications of the resultant descriptive framework

of conceptual tools that are directly useful in guiding the implementation and evaluation of work redesign projects. In the paragraphs to follow, we examine several existing theoretical approaches to work redesign, with a special eye toward the measurability of the concepts employed and the action implications

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Donald Gillies is one of the pioneers in the philosophical analysis of artificial intelligence (AI). In his recent book, Gillies (1996) not only makes a new and rapidly developing field of science accessible to philosophers; he also introduces

This paper describes the characteristics and. circumstances defining nine decision cases in an effort to provide kethodologibal assistance for practitioners. Each case is exasined according to its objectives ' (single or.multiple), resource level (limited or unlimited).'time frame (a priori or evaluative), and the nature of desired decisions. In cases 1, 2.and 3, the decision,4aker considers activity-designs. The complexity of cases 4, '5, and,6 mandates mom detailed analysis. Here the notions of tasks and program- packages (sets of tasks) are introduced. In cases 7, 8, and 9, the term activity is used to connote the sale overall meaning as program-package. These distinctions are necessitated by analytic complexities arising out of a need to derive an optimal. decision-variable for each case. Decisions made by the decision-maker are at the level of activity design for gases 1 and 2,

This article examines several methodological issues associated with combining qualitative and quantitative methods by comparing the increasing interest in this topic with the earlier renewal of interest in qualitative research during the 1980s. The first section argues for the value of Kuhn’s

People often have trouble performing 2 relatively simple tasks concurrently. The causes of this interference and its implications for the nature of attentional limitations have been controversial for 40 years, but recent experimental findings are beginning to provide some answers. Studies

from classical physics, and that this has serious implications for the scientific ideal that many economists have in their minds. Second, the paper attempts to draw some connections between the new ideas and existing approaches in economic methodology.