1. IN5000

2. Paradigms – Methodologies - Methods
Researchers have different philosophical assumptions (paradigms) about the world: how we are to understand it, and how we are to study it. This has lead to different strategies of inquiry (methodologies) and to different ways of approaching how we gather empirical material and analyze it (methods).
Philosophical assumptions
Methodology
Method
data
Analysis/design
Research questions

3. Philosophical assumptions; why bother?
What is true? (ontology)
What is knowledge? (epistemology)
Orlikowski and Baroudi: Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions

4. Sample questions for discussion
2+2=?
How far is it to the moon?
What is your favourite colour?
Am I a good teacher?
What happens if you pour olive oil into water?
What happens if you pour Coca Cola into water?
How good is the University of Oslo?
Is it cold or hot outside today?
Is it cold or hot in our room?
What is the best movie?
How do you determine if a movie is good?
What is truth?
Can we know the truth?
What can we know?
Why should we know?

5. 3 main paradigms in IS research
Positivist
Assumes the existence of some (measurable) relationships, or truths, both physical and social
Methods aim to test theory or hypothesis
Interpretivist
Assumes people create their own subjective and intersubjective meanings
Rejects «objective» or «factual» account of events: Reality as social construct
Seeking a relativistic, albeit shared, understanding of phenomena
Critical
Aim to critically evaluate and transform the social reality under investigation
Social reality is historically constituted
Anything only exists in a context of the totality of relationships.

6. Example: The IT support unit vs. Management
Positivst example:
There is an objective social reality: The IT unit relates to management in this or that way
We can «discover» these relationships
Interpretive example:
The relationship between the people is produced and reinforced by humans through their action and interaction.
We as researchers can only interpret this (can’t «measure» people’s relations)
Critical example
The relationships are historic, and lead to inequalities and conflicts. The conflicts form the basis for change
Understanding is not enough. Intepreting the IT unit’s and managment’s understanding is not enough either. We need to critically analyze it.

7. The interpretive researcher
How does Management understand the situation?
How does IT understand the situation?
What has caused this relationship, and how do we change it?
What is the relationship between IT and management?
The positivist researcher
The critical researcher

8. Another attempt at example: art
Edward Munch, «Scream», 1893
Francisco Goya: «The Third of May 1808», 1814
William Bliss Baker, «Fallen Monarchs», 1886
«You should not paint the world as it is, but as you see it»

9. Assumptions of positivist research
Social reality is objective, testable and independent of theoretical explanation
The researcher should be objective and unbiased
The researcher should be a detached value-free spectator, only an observer of the objects of study
Theories and hypotheses can be tested independently of an understanding of meanings and intentions
Lawlike relations can be discovered in organizations, and the purpose of research is to increase our predictive understanding of phenomena
Scientific research should have formal propositions, quantifiable measures of variables, and hypothesis testing - cases are of interest only as representative of populations

10. Assumptions of interpretive research
Social reality is socially constructed - The aim is to understand phenomena through the meanings people assign to them. Access to meaning is through social constructions, such as talking.
Focuses on the full complexity of human sense-making as a situation emerges. Not predefined dependent and independent variables.
Interpretive methods of research in IS are "aimed at producing an understanding of the context of the information system, and the process whereby the information system influences and is influenced by the context" (Walsham 1993, p.4-5).
The hermeneutic circle – the ‘logic’ of interpretation is irreducibly circular: parts cannot be understood without the whole, data and concepts cannot be understood without theory and context etc

11. Assumptions of critical research
Similar to interpretive research except that in addition:
A focus on critique – critique of the prevailing social conditions and system of constraints
Consider the complex relationships between human interests, knowledge, power and forms of social control.
Challenge prevailing communities of assumptions
Challenge established social practices
Have an ethically based stance
Some types of critical theory suggest individual emancipation and/or improvements in society

12. Paradigms important for RQ and methodology, methods
Philosophical assumptions (paradigms)
Methodology
Method
data
Analysis/design
Research questions
Case study
Ethnography
Action Research
Experiments …
Observation
Interview
Document analysis
Structured research intstruments …
Notes
Transcripts
Pictures
Result measures …
Positivist
Interpretive
Critical …