Enacting Research Methods in Information Systems: Volume 1
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Enacting Research Methods in Information Systems: Volume 1 Edited by Leslie P. Willcocks, Chris Sauer and Mary C. Lacity Enacting Research Methods in Information Systems: Volume 1 This page intentionally left blank Enacting Research Methods in Information Systems: Volume 1 Edited by Leslie P. Willcocks London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Chris Sauer Oxford University, UK and Mary C. Lacity University of Missouri-St Louis, USA Editors Leslie P. Willcocks Chris Sauer London School of Economics and Oxford University Political Science, London, UK Oxford, UK Mary C. Lacity University of Missouri-St Louis St Louis, Missouri, USA ISBN 978-3-319-29265-6 ISBN 978-3-319-29266-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-29266-3 © Association for Information Technology Trust 2016 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-3-319-29265-6 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland Contents List of Figures and Tables vii Introduction 1 Leslie P. Willcocks, Chris Sauer and Mary C. Lacity Section I Critical Research 1 Information Technology as Disciplinary Technology: Being Critical in Interpretive Research on Information Systems 19 Bill Doolin 2 What Does It Mean to Be ‘Critical’ in IS Research? 40 Carole Brooke 3 Critical Perspectives on Information Systems: An Impression of the Research Landscape 58 Carole Brooke 4 To Reveal Is to Critique: Actor–Network Theory and Critical Information Systems Research 83 Bill Doolin and Alan Lowe 5 The Rationality Framework for a Critical Study of Information Systems 102 Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic, Marius Janson and Ann Brown Section II Grounded Theory Approaches 6 Using Grounded Theory Method in Information Systems: The Researcher as Blank Slate and Other Myths 129 Cathy Urquhart and Walter Fernández 7 On Emergence and Forcing in Information Systems Grounded Theory Studies: The Case of Strauss and Corbin 157 Stefan Seidel and Cathy Urquhart Section III Historical Approaches 8 The Use of History in IS Research: An Opportunity Missed? 213 Frank Land 9 Seizing the Opportunity: Towards a Historiography of Information Systems 235 Nathalie Mitev and François-Xavier De Vaujany v vi Contents 10 History and IS – Broadening Our View and Understanding: Actor–Network Theory as a Methodology 267 William (Bill) Bonner List of Figures and Tables Figures 6.1 Key GTM activities and the continuous role of the literature review 142 7.1 Absolute number of studies leveraging S & C coding procedures in IS top journals 169 9.1 Evolution of supplementarist, integrationist and reorientationist publications in IS historical research (per decade) 248 9.A1 Evolution of IS historical papers per year 262 9.B1 (1) Distribution of supplementarist, integrationist and reorientationist papers and (2) Distribution of supplementarist, integrationist and reorientationist papers in IS journals 263 9.D1 Evolution of IS historical publication (for Google Scholar) 265 10.1 Trails to follow: opening the black boxes used to close the controversy 274 10.2 The 1972 controversy shed light on events before and after it 284 10.3 Actor-networks aligned around MVR Data, exposed in controversy 285 10.4 Trajectories 287 Tables 5.1 The rationality framework 110 5.2 Impacts of the Colruyt Company IS on rationality 117 6.1 Central GTM books 145 6.A1 Examples of GTM use in IS research 155 7.1 Coding procedures in grounded theory 163 7.2 Coding paradigm items 164 7.3 The evolution of the Strauss and Corbin paradigm 166 vii viii List of Figures and Tables 7.4 Number of studies referencing S & C grounded theory by journal 169 7.5 Articles where authors are explicit about the use of the S & C coding paradigm 172 7.6 Characteristics of studies that explicitly use the S & C coding paradigm 175 7.7 Conceptualizing the IT artefact according to Orlikowski and Iacono (2001) 179 7.8 Guidelines for using S & C coding procedures 190 7.A1 Journals reviewed in the literature review 200 7.A2 Overview of search strategy 201 7.A3 Publications by Strauss and Corbin cited in the investigated studies in the context of the research method applied (references to Straussian grounded theory) 202 7.B1 Articles that are explicit about the use of axial coding 202 7.D1 Analytical dimensions 209 9.1 A typology of historical perspectives in organisation studies 238 9.2 Relative distribution of IS historical papers 247 9.3 Distribution of IS historical papers per decade 247 9.4 Classification and examples of historical perspectives in IS research 251 9.A1 Evolution per decade 263 9.C1 Extract of the thematic coding (full list of 54 pages is available upon request) 264 10.1 Identifying and following the agents 279 Introduction Leslie P. Willcocks, Chris Sauer and Mary C. Lacity Overview This series of three volumes on research methodologies follows on from an earlier collection of two volumes we edited entitled Formulating Research Methods in Information Systems. The original plan was to put together from 20 years of contributions to the Journal of Information Technology (JIT) a single volume on research methods and practices. However, as we read our way through the JIT issues starting with the most recent, we were quite startled to discover a very rich vein indeed on this theme going back as far as 1990. It became quite impossible to entertain the idea of omitting so many great papers with so much to say. Instead we decided to produce a more comprehensive text that would be of service to information systems (IS) scholars, PhD researchers and students, both as a reference and also as a re-presentation of valuable work and knowledge that was highly relevant, but, unsystematized and un-themed, would likely be overlooked. Once we made this decision, the task then became to make a judi- cious selection that fulfi lled these aims. Leaving many papers out was never going to be an easy process, but once we focused on the task, we were pleased to discover that we were more or less unanimous on which papers we needed, and how they should be classifi ed. Enacting research methods The three volumes cover critical research, grounded theory, historical, interpretive, action research and design science approaches, as well as gender studies, semiotics and complexity theory applications. Looking through the content of 25 years of publication on research methods, 1 2 Leslie P. Willcocks et al. we are struck by the pluralism on this inherent in the IS fi eld. To some extent, of course, this is not a wholly representative view of the actual methods used in practice, nor of empirical research papers getting into most IS journals. These tend to be positivist and quantitative, rather than qualitative or containing mixed methods approaches. Orlikowski and Baroudi (1991) pointed this out some 25 years ago, and urged greater recognition of what they termed then ‘interpretive’ (see our volume 2) and ‘critical’ (see below) research philosophies. While today positivist research philosophy remains dominant, at least in the more highly ranked IS journals, in more recent years one can observe a ris- ing diversity, aided by the increasing number of papers – and books – published that also demonstrate how to conduct rigorous research in non-positivist, non-quantitative styles, for example Gallers and Currie (2011), Hirschheim et al. (2012), Klein and Myers (1999, 2011), Mingers (2001, 2011), Mingers and Willcocks (2004, 2014). Without a comprehensive, codifi ed pronouncement to this effect, the JIT has, over the years, taken a pluralist perspective on research methods, choosing to focus on the quality, relevance and interest likely to be generated, rather than insisting on, or tacitly preferring, specifi c methods and approaches. This is refl ected in both the two volumes on Formulating Research Methods in IS, and also the present three vol- umes on Enacting Research Methods in IS. Happily Mingers (2011) has thoroughly thought through the issue of pluralist perspectives on IS research and he best hits on, and summarizes, what has turned out to be the JIT’s overall approach, though the papers the journal has published do not endorse critical realism so forcefully as he does. Given our objec- tive of giving an overview of the approach to selecting papers for the present three volumes, and given the pluralist perspective those papers collectively embody, it is useful here to spend