MIXING METHODS, EPISTEMOLOGIES & DATA SOURCES 1 IS8004 – Seminar 10

Did You Read this Article??!! 2 Davison, R.M. and Martinsons, M.G. Methodological Practice and Policy for Organisationally and Socially Relevant IS Research: An Inclusive-Exclusive Perspective, Journal of Information Technology, 26, 4, You may also find it valuable to read: Venkatesh, V., Brown, S. and Bala, H. (2013) Bridging the Qualitative-Quantitative Divide: Guidelines for Conducting Mixed Methods Research in Information Systems, MISQ, 37, 1,

Discussion Points 3 In the following slides there are four arguments Each one needs to be thought about in the context of the article You need to bring some opinions to the class and be ready to argue – for or against the proposition Some of you will be asked to argue for, and some against

Argument 1 4 Research that is constrained to a single methodology will be impoverished in terms of the improvements it can stimulate or effect on social and organisational reality.  Similarly, research that is based on a single source of data will also be impoverished in its ability to reflect the natural richness of social and organisational contexts.

Argument 2 5 Research will make a more significant scholarly and organisational contribution when it incorporates different methods from a diversity of epistemological perspectives.

Argument 3 6 PhD students need to be encouraged to undertake and need to develop the skills to undertake methodologically pluralist research, across all three epistemological traditions: positivist, interpretivist and critical.

Argument 4 7 In order to change the status quo, we must change our values with respect to the research that we conduct. A key aspect of this change will be changing who we are.