Complete thesis - Murdoch University

• IS research is positivist if there was evidence of formal propositions, quantifiable measuresof variables, hypothesis testing, and the drawing of inferences about a phenomenonfrom the sample to a stated population (Orlikowski and Baroudi, 1991)• interpretivist research is based on hermeneutics and phenomenology (Boland, 1985), sothat access to reality is only through social constructions such as language, consciousnessand shared meanings. It focuses on the complexity of human sense making withina specific context rather than through predefined dependent and independent variables• critical research focuses on the oppositions, conflicts and contradictions in contemporarysociety, and makes the assumption that social reality is both historically constituted andconstrained by various forms of social, cultural and political domination (Habermas,1972).The view, held by Galliers (1985) Checkland and Holwell (1998) and others, that IS is a sociotechnicaldiscipline, identifies a dualism that adds another level of tension to the debate,centred about the perceived validity of qualitative versus quantitative research within IS.The research strategies adopted by advocates of each philosophical stance are argued on thebasis of alignment with an epistemological view that lies behind the methodology and governswhat methods are considered appropriate. However, purists contend that some alignments aremore valid than others. So, for example, a QPR approach (quantitative, positivist research)stresses empirical data gathering or data exploration, while the positivist philosophy dealswith problem-solving and the testing of the theories derived to test these understandings(Straub et al, 2005).However, the socio-technologists argue the misplacement of the scientific ethos in IS research– it should be undertaken with consideration of the context of the system and the individualswho action it, and ultimately have relevance within that context. In IS, this research hasgenerally been undertaken from a social constructivist and interpretivist stance that arguesfor• an acknowledgement that a problem can only be studied in its context to be fullyunderstood• the need to be satisfied with an emergent research design which includes flexibility forthe scope of the problem to unfold• the acceptance of the human as a plausible research-gathering instrument and of qualitativemethods of data gathering as most appropriate181