Doing interpretive research

Interpretive research in information systems (IS) is now a well-established part of the field. However, there is a need for more material on how to carry out such work from inception to publication. I published a paper a decade ago (Walsham, 1995) which addressed the nature of interpretive IS case studies and methods for doing such research. The current paper extends this earlier contribution, with a widened scope of all interpretive research in IS, and through further material on carrying out fieldwork, using theory and analysing data. In addition, new topics are discussed on constructing and justifying a research contribution, and on ethical issues and tensions in the conduct of interpretive work. The primary target audience for the paper is less-experienced IS researchers, but I hope that the paper will also stimulate reflection for the more-experienced IS researcher and be of relevance to interpretive researchers in other social science fields.     

Dialectical hermeneutics: a theoretical framework for the implementation of information systems

Abstract. Despite the proliferation of information technology, the implementation of information systems remains problematic. Many systems fail to live up to expectations and some end up as disasters. Research on implementation has been conducted for the past two decades, but no theoretical framework for IS implementation has been widely accepted. This paper proposes dialectical hermeneutics as a theoretical framework for IS implementation research. Dialectical hermeneutics, as an integrative theoretical framework, combines both interpretive and critical elements, and addresses those social and organizational issues which are critical to the successful implementation of information systems. The case study research method was used to examine the implementation of systems in three organizations.     

Goal Setting and Trust in a Security Management Context

ABSTRACT

Information security can be viewed as the efficient control of uncertainty arising from malicious acts intended to exploit valuable assets and in the context of information systems the valuable assets under consideration are data. A large part of information security approaches is technical in nature with less consideration on people and organizational issues. The research presented in this paper adopts a broader perspective and presents an understanding of information security in terms of a socio-organizational perspective. In doing so, it uses the goal-setting approach to identify any possible weaknesses in security management procedures in relation to trust among the members of information technology groups in communicating efficiently security risk messages. Data for the research were collected through in-depth interviews within three case studies. Interview results suggest that goal setting and trust are interrelated in managing information security. The research contributes to interpretive information systems with the study of goal setting and trust in a security management context.     

Parallel systems in financial information processing

This paper reports on an ongoing investigation into the applicability of parallel systems in the processing of financial information. For the past five years a wide spectrum of issues has been investigated; this paper attempts to draw together this work as a coherent whole, and discusses past, present and planned activity. A number of case studies applying parallel systems to typical financial applications are described and, where appropriate, results presented. The commonality between the case studies is also discussed.     

CASE tools and organizational action

Abstract. CASE research to date has been dominated by positivistic enquiry; particularly tool building, surveys and normative writings. In contrast, there is a growing community of IS researchers developing models of IS practice that highlight the complex relationship between context and process that has to be mastered in order to develop viable information systems. This paper bridges the gap between the two bodies of knowledge by presenting a phenomenological study of CASE tool usage in a large UK manufacturing company over a four year period which shows that organizational context, tool features and usage are inextricably linked. The lessons arising from the work are presented and grounded in interpretive IS theory. The results of the work are clearly in accord with this theory, thus, showing the importance of interpretive CASE research, as a complement to positivist thinking, in bringing to light the human and organizational issues which strongly influence systems development practice     

Too close for comfort? Distance and engagement in interpretive information systems research

In this paper, we seek to explore the implications of the assumptions underlying interpretivism for the preferred relationship between the researcher and the research phenomenon. The growing interest in interpretive information systems research has drawn attention to the need to gain access to the interpretations of social actors. Various data-gathering methods are available to the researcher to achieve such access. These may be seen as located on a spectrum in terms of the degree of engagement between the researcher and the research subject. While engagement is not without its drawbacks from a research perspective, it may be argued that it enables good access to the sorts of data that interpretive researchers are seeking. Most of the research reported in the information systems (IS) field, however, has adopted relatively distant methods by which the researcher avoids intervention in the research context. Some of the characteristics of more engaged forms of research are illustrated through a discussion of a participant observation study of executive information systems development. This research has highlighted a number of issues that can be seen to be common to other data-gathering methods. Reasons for the neglect of engaged data-gathering methods are explored, and it is suggested that consideration of the issues it raises may contribute to more reflexive interpretive IS research practice.     

A disaster for everyone to see: An interpretive analysis of a failed is project

The New Zealand Education Department attempted to implement a centralized payroll system in 1989. The difficulties that the department experienced were broadcast on national radio and television and publicised on the front page of The New Zealand Herald. In the end, the centralized payroll system was scrapped by the government.This paper examines this case study using the critical hermeneutics of Gadamer and Ricoeuer. Critical hermeneutics, as an integrative theoretical framework, combines both framework, combines both interpretive and critical element, and addresses those social and organizational issues, which are key to the successful implementation of information systems. This paper suggests critical hermeneutics as a conceptual foundation for information systems implementation research.     

Transforming information systems development through computer-aided systems engineering (CASE): lessons from practice

In dealing with the challenges posed by the ongoing problem of developing and integrating an evermore complex and diverse range of information systems in a timely manner, practitioners continue to grapple with important issues such as increasing developer productivity and bringing quality improvements to the process and product of systems development. Many organizations have adopted computer‐aided systems engineering (CASE) tools with such outcomes in mind. With few exceptions, previous research into the phenomenon of CASE adoption and use has been survey based in the main, and has resulted in some confusion over the benefits to be derived from the use of CASE tools within the systems development process. This paper extends previous work as part of an interpretive, case‐based research strategy to examine the adoption and use of integrated CASE (I‐CASE) in a single organization. Such an approach facilitates a deeper understanding of the impact that CASE exerts on the process and product of systems development. Based on the experience of practitioners in the organization studied, a set of recommendations is presented. The findings of this study also lend support to the view that an I‐CASE development platform does indeed have the potential to exert a positive impact on the development process and its product.     

Workarounds in the use of IS in healthcare: A case study of an electronic medication administration system

Healthcare information systems such as an Electronic Medication Administration System (EMAS) have the potential to enhance productivity, lower costs, and reduce medication errors. However, various issues have arisen from the use of these systems. A key issue relates to workarounds as a result of a misfit between the new information system (IS) implementation and existing work processes. However, there is a lack of understanding and studies on healthcare IS workarounds and their outcomes. This paper applies the theoretical perspectives of accommodation to misfit and IS evolution to understand the phenomenon through an in-depth case study of an EMAS implemented in a large public hospital. Based on the findings, it develops a process framework to explain how the benefits, issues, and workarounds inter-relate and determine the impacts of the system. The findings have implications for research and practice on workarounds in the use of healthcare IS.     

Interpretive accounts and fairy tales: a critical polemic against the empiricist bias in interpretive IS research

In 1995, Geoff Walsham wrote one of the most important and most widely cited papers on interpretivism in information systems (IS). Walsham's paper, along with his further work, represents a cornerstone of the discourse surrounding interpretive research. It has set the tone for further publications in the area and has more recently been followed up by a detailed practical account of how to undertake interpretive research by the same author. Using Walsham's position as a starting point, the present paper questions some basic assumptions of interpretivism. Drawing on the philosophical background of interpretivism in hermeneutics and phenomenology, the paper questions the status of empirical research in the interpretivist tradition. Using quality criteria of different research streams related to interpretivism, the paper compares the role of empirical data in different types of research accounts with fairy tales, noting that interpretive IS research shares at least as many quality features with fairy tales as with positivist narratives. The paper concludes by discussing which consequences this position has for interpretive and other research in IS.     

Successfully completing case study research: combining rigour, relevance and pragmatism

The organizational and social issues associated with the development, implementation and use of computer-based information systems have increasingly attracted the attention of information systems researchers. Interest in qualitative research methods such as action research, case study research and ethnography, which focus on understanding social phenomena in their natural setting, has consequently grown. Case study research is the most widely used qualitative research method in information systems research, and is well suited to understanding the interactions between information technology-related innovations and organizational contexts. Although case study research is useful as a means of studying information systems development and use in the field, there can be practical difficulties associated with attempting to undertake case studies as a rigorous and effective method of research. This paper addresses a number of these difficulties and offers some practical guidelines for successfully completing case study research. The paper focuses on the pragmatics of conducting case study research, and draws from the discussion at a panel session conducted by the authors at the 8th Australasian Conference on Information Systems, September 1997 (ACIS 97), from the authors' practical experiences, and from the case study research literature.     

Human error and information systems failure: the case of the London ambulance service computer-aided despatch system project

Human error and systems failure have been two constructs that have become linked in many contexts. In this paper we particularly focus on the issue of failure in relation to that group of software systems known as information systems. We first review the extant theoretical and empirical work on this topic. Then we discuss one particular well-known case — that of the London ambulance service computer-aided despatch system (L ) project — and use it as a particularly cogent example of the features of information systems failure. We maintain that the tendency to analyse information systems failure solely from a technological standpoint is limiting, that the nature of information systems failure is multi-faceted, and hence cannot be adequately understood purely in terms of the immediate problems of systems construction. Our purpose is also to use the generic material on IS failure and the specific details of this particular case study to critique the issues of safety, criticality, human error and risk in relation to systems not currently well considered in relation to these areas.     

Ski hill injuries and ghost charts: Socio-technical issues in achieving e-Health interoperability across jurisdictions

This paper looks at the challenges associated with consolidating and leveraging patient information recorded at various points in a distributed, multi-jurisdictional health care system. We draw on insights from two ethnographic case studies to illuminate varied issues related to interoperability of information management systems. Our first case study is an investigation of duplicate medical charts which exist in several ambulatory care clinics located on the same campus at an acute care hospital. The second case study is an ongoing exploratory project intended to develop an understanding of information collection, storage and handover procedures in the pre-hospital care chain, a health care domain that includes varied actors and organizations with different information needs. Whereas findings from our case studies show that achievement of interoperability will be difficult, our analysis suggests ways to begin to overcome these challenges.     

Chaos theory as a model for interpreting information systems in organizations

Abstract.  Chaos theory concerns the qualitative study of unstable aperiodic behaviour in deterministic non-linear dynamical systems. Concepts from chaos theory have recently been applied as a model for interpreting organizational change and understanding organizational behaviour. This paper applies these concepts to the study of information systems in organizations. Key concepts from chaos theory are identified and used to develop an interpretive framework. The importance of understanding the initial conditions when an information systems strategy is developed or an information system is implemented is highlighted. The idea of strange attractors, patterns of behaviours of information systems, organizations and actors, which are repeated is developed, and the effect of internal and external events and choices is considered. These chaos theory concepts are applied to a case study of information systems strategy implementation in the UK probation service. It is concluded that concepts from chaos theory offer valuable support in developing a coherent and meaningful story concerning interactions between information systems and their host organizations.     

Automating the simulation of complex discrete-time control systems:a mathematical framework, algorithms, and a software package

With the rapid proliferation of complex control systems, such as adaptive control systems, a need has arisen to automate as much as possible of the time-consuming preparatory work needed to simulate such systems. This burden currently falls on the user. The smaller the user time required and the more effortless the process, the greater, the authors believe, will be the eventual widespread acceptability of these control systems. This paper is aimed at bridging this gap between the theoretical specification of a complex discrete-time control system as described in a typical research paper and the obtaining of a first simulation. It provides a graph theoretical formulation of the issues involved, discrete algorithms to execute these tasks, and finally describes ISIM, an interpretive simulator which incorporates these features. These algorithms automate the simulation process, as seen by the user. The net result is a package which essentially requires only that the user type in a control system more or less verbatim from a technical paper to obtain a simulation output     

Information and meaning: foundations for an intersubjective account

Abstract. Information is fundamental to the discipline of information systems, yet there is little agreement about even this basic concept. Traditionally, information has been seen as 'processed data,' while more recently soft, interpretive approaches have taken information to be 'data plus meaning.' This paper provides a coherent and consistent analysis of data, information, meaning and their interrelations. It is particularly concerned with the semantic and pragmatic dimensions of information, and integrates the work of Maturana and Habermas into a framework provided by Dretske's theory of semantic information. The results show that meaning is generated from the information carried by signs. Information is objective, but inaccessible to humans, who exist exclusively in a world of meaning. Meaning is intersubjective — that is, based on shared agreement and understanding — rather than purely subjective. Information, and information processing systems, exist within the wider context of meaning or sense-making and the IS discipline needs take account of this.     

Information systems strategy formation and implementation: The case of a central government agency

This paper describes an interpretive case study of the processes of strategy formation and implementation for three computer-based information systems developed by a central government agency in a Third World country and aimed at the monitoring and control of development projects in the country. Technical implementation of the first two systems was achieved, but there was little emphasis on organizational implementation and the systems were largely ineffective in use; the third system may suffer a similar fate. The systems reflected symbolic concern of the political centre for development activities at the local level, and can be considered to have reproduced the dominance of the centre, at the cost of system effectiveness. The theoretical framework for the case study was based on structuration theory, which was used both to guide field research and as a method of analysis of the field data. The theory provides a subtle way of linking social action and social structure in connection with computer-based IS, in terms of aspects of meaning, power relations, and values.     

The use of focus groups in complex and pressurised IS studies and evaluation using Klein & Myers principles for interpretive research

Studies of information systems (IS) often involve many complexities, uncertainties and restrictions. As a result, researchers have to adopt innovative research approaches or tailor and extend existing ones. This paper describes and evaluates an innovative focus group approach used to study three IS development teams, which had to cope with the application of a broad, polymorphous framework, untested in practice, seeking to elicit potentially highly sensitive opinions and judgements in a highly pressurised, time‐restricted environment. This paper makes two significant contributions. To conduct this evaluation, the researchers operationalised the Klein & Myers seven principles for interpretive study for the first time, creating a set of questions that other IS researchers can now use to evaluate their own interpretive studies. The paper also applies these to the design of the focus groups and develops a set of recommendations for future IS researchers to consider based on lessons learned in this study.     

基于颜色Petri网的不确定库存模型性能仿真

供应链中由于信息传递过程中出现的信息膨胀引起牛鞭效应造成各种成本的急剧增长,为使目标函数费用最小,基于颜色Petri网建立了不同需求预测方法及库存策略的CPN模型。在订单数量等变量随机产生以及订货点等因素不确定的情况下,通过实验仿真数据确定了存储、订货及缺货费用与各种不确定变量的关系,从而确定了最优的库存策略。通过对比实验证明了该方法的有效性及正确性。