...phenomena. realize accept that not all researchers would agree that this characterization of their activities is "valid." Nonetheless, for many, if not most of us, I believe it rings true.

As a young researcher, I focused primarily on research method. I struggled mightily to acquire and master the arcane skills that made for good research design, high-quality data collection, and appropriate data analysis. As a reviewer for journal submissions, I wrought substantial satisfaction from exercising these skills to evaluate the work of my colleagues. Often, I regret to indicate, my methodological evaluations of a paper overshadowed all else. Methodology was concrete. It enabled me to evaluate relatively easily whether any flaws or weaknesses existed in a paper. Moreover, by using methodology as my primary basis for evaluating papers, I avoided having to justify to editors any concerns I had about other aspects of a paper--for instance, the extent of the contribution I believed the paper was making to the information systems discipline.

Subsequently, I came to understand that the ability to build good theory was an equally important but difficult skill to acquire. When I was a graduate student in the early days of the information systems discipline, little was said or written about theory building. Instead, methodological concerns were dominant. Regrettably, I believe, little has changed. While we now pay some attention to how one builds good theory, I suspect that most graduate programs remain impoverished in terms of developing theory-building skills among students. Apparently, we must acquire our theory-building skills by osmosis. Little wonder, therefore, that as a discipline we have a reputation for using and adapting theories developed in other disciplines (although this situation is hardly different from a number of other disciplines). Little wonder, also, that we see few high-quality standalone theory papers in our discipline, in spite of the significant insights that such papers can provide about information systems-related phenomen a.

Somewhat late in my career as a researcher, I began to realize the importance of the first phase of research--describing those phenomena that we perceive in the world that we wish to explain or predict. As a graduate student, I had an inkling that this phase was important. For instance, like many graduate students, I had great difficulty finding a topic for my thesis. Unfortunately, I did not attend to the lesson I should have been learning via this experience about the importance of and difficulties associated with choosing a "good" research problem. Instead, I paid more attention to the pangs of inadequacy I felt as I saw some of my fellow students identify thesis topics with ease. Moreover, I was chastened when some experienced researchers with whom I spoke about my difficulties in choosing a thesis topic remonstrated that interesting research problems existed everywhere!

Today I believe that the choice of research problem--choosing the phenomena we wish to explain or predict--is the most important decision we make as a researcher. We can learn research method. Albeit with greater difficulty, we can also learn theory-building skills. With some tutoring and experience, we can also learn to carve out large numbers of problems that we might research. Unfortunately, teasing out deep, substantive research problems is another matter. It remains a dark art.

Why Is Problem Articulation the Most-Important Activity?

Albert Einstein is reputed to have said that great scholars do not solve problems. Instead, they create them. I will not presume to understand what Einstein meant. I can, however, give my own interpretation of what such a statement might mean.

As researchers, we understand that we ought to devote our scarce resources to solving the most-important problems within our discipline. But what are the...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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