Abstract
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.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barrett M and Walsham G (1999) Electronic trading and work transformation in the London insurance market. Information Systems Research 10 (1), 1.
Beavers AF (2002) Phenomenology and artificial intelligence. Metaphilosophy 33 (1/2), 70.
Benbasat I and Weber R (1996) Research commentary: rethinking ‘diversity’ in information systems research. Information Systems Research 7 (4), 389.
Berger PL and Luckmann T (1991) The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Penguin, London.
Boland R (1985) Phenomenology: a preferred approach to research on information systems. In Research Methods in Information Systems: I.F.I.P. Colloquium Proceedings (Mumford E, Hirschheim R, Fitzgerald G and Wood-Harper T, Eds), pp 193–201, North-Holland Publishing Co, Amsterdam.
Burrell G and Morgan G (1979) Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis: Elements of the Sociology of Corporate Life. Heinemann Educational, London.
Butler T (1998) Towards a hermeneutic method for interpretive research in information systems. Journal of Information Technology (Routledge, Ltd.) 13 (4), 285.
Calás MB and Smircich L (1999) Past postmodernism? reflections and tentative directions. The Academy of Management Review 24 (4), 649–671.
Capurro R and Pingel C (2002) Ethical issues of online communication research. Ethics and Information Technology 4 (3), 189–194.
Cecez-Kecmanovic D (2011) Doing critical information systems research – arguments for a critical research methodology. European Journal of Information Systems 20 (4), 440–455.
Chua WF (1986) Radical developments in accounting thought. The Accounting Review 61 (4), 601–632.
Ciborra C (2004) Encountering information systems as a phenomenon. In The Social Study of Information and Communication Technology: Innovation, Actors, and Contexts (Avgerou C, Ciborra C and Land F, Eds) Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Czarniawska-Joerges B (2004) Narratives in Social Science Research. SAGE, London.
Doolin B and McLeod L (2005) Towards critical interpretivism in IS research. In Handbook of Critical Information Systems Research: Theory and Application (Howcroft D and Trauth E, Eds), pp 244–271, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, Cheltenham.
Dreyfus HL (1992) What Computers Still Can’t Do: A Critique of Artificial Reason, Revised edn, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Drummond H and Hodgson J (2003) The chimpanzees’ tea party: a new metaphor for project managers. Journal of Information Technology (Routledge, Ltd.) 18 (3), 151–158.
Duff D (2000) Modern Genre Theory. Longman, Harlow, Essex.
Eco U (1993) Unlimited semeiosis and drift: pragmaticism vs pragmatism. In Peirce and Contemporary Thought: Philosophical Inquiries (KL, Ketner, Ed), pp 205–221, Fordham University Press.
Eisenhardt KM (1989) Building theories from case study research. The Academy of Management Review 14 (4), 532–550.
Feyerabend PK (1980) How to be a good empiricist – a plea for tolerance in matters epistemological. In Challenges to Empiricism (Morick H, Ed), pp 164–193, Methuen, London.
Fisher WR (1984) Narration as a human communication paradigm: the case of public moral argument. Communication Monographs 51 (1), 1–22.
Gadamer H-G (1990) Wahrheit und Methode – Grundzüge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik. 6th edn, Mohr Siebeck e.K, Tübingen.
Gergen K (1999) An Invitation to Social Construction 1st edn Sage Publications Ltd, London.
Giddens A (1984) The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Polity, Cambridge.
Goffman E (1975) Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Penguin, Hamondsworth.
Golden-Biddle K and Locke K (1993) Appealing work: an investigation of how ethnographic texts convince. Organization Science 4 (4), 595–616.
Heidegger M (1993) Sein und Zeit 14th edn Max Niemeyer Verlag GmbH & Co KG, Tübingen.
Hevner AR, March ST, Park J and Ram S (2004) Design science in information systems research. Management information systems quarterly 28 (1), 75–106.
Hirschheim R and Newman M (1991) Symbolism and information systems development: myth, metaphor and magic. Information Systems Research 2 (1), 29–62.
Hume D (2004) A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects. New edn, Penguin Classics, London.
Introna LD (1997) Management, Information and Power: A Narrative of the Involved Manager. Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Introna LD and Whittaker L (2002) The phenomenology of information systems evaluation: overcoming the subject/object dualism. In Global and Organizational Discourse about Information Technology (IFIP International Federation for Information Processing) (Wynn EH, Whitley EA, Myers MD and Degross JI, Eds), pp 156–175, Springer, New York.
James W (1907) Pragmatism. Project Gutenberg. [WWW document] http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5116 (accessed 8 June 2010).
Jones S (2001) Understanding micropolis and compunity. In Culture, Technology, Communication: Towards an Intercultural Global Village, SUNY Series in Computer-mediated Communication (Ess C and Sudweeks F, Eds), pp 53–66, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY.
Kaarst-Brown ML and Robey D (1999) More on myth, magic and metaphor. Information Technology & People 12 (2), 192–217.
Kant I (1995) Kritik der reinen Vernunft (Neuauflage. Studienausgabe). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a. M.
Klein HK and Myers MD (1999) A set of principles for conducting and evaluating interpretive field studies in information systems. MIS Quarterly 23 (1), 67–93.
Law J and Singleton V (2000) Performing technology's stories: on social constructivism, performance, and performativity. Technology and Culture 41 (4), 765–775.
Lee AS (1994) Electronic mail as a medium for rich communication: an empirical investigation using hermeneutic interpretation. MIS Quarterly 18 (2), 143–157.
Lee AS (2004) Thinking about social theory and philosophy for information systems. In Social Theory and Philosophy for Information Systems (Mingers J and Willcocks L, Eds), pp 1–26, Wiley, Chichester.
Marcon T and Gopal A (2008) Irony, critique and ethnomethodology in the study of computer work: irreconcilable tensions? Information Systems Journal 18 (2), 165–184.
McBride N (2008) Using performance ethnography to explore the human aspects of software quality. Information Technology & People 21 (1), 91–111.
Moore MS (1999) Causation and responsibility. In Responsibility: Volume 16, Part 2 (Social Philosophy & Policy) (Paul EF, Miller FDM and Paul J, Eds) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Moran D (1999) Introduction to Phenomenology, 1st edn Routledge, London.
Morick H (1980) Introduction: the critique of contemporary empiricism. In Challenges to Empiricism (Morick H, Ed), pp 1–25, Methuen, London.
Myers MD and Avison DE (Eds) (2002) Qualitative Research in Information Systems: A Reader. Sage Publications Ltd, London.
Myers MD and Klein HK (2011) A set of principles for conducting critical research in information systems. MIS Quarterly 35 (1), 17–36.
Myers MD and Walsham G (1998) Exemplifying interpretive research in information systems: an overview. Journal of Information Technology 13 (4), 233–234.
Nandhakumar J and Baskerville R (2011) Moderating a discourse on the moderating effects in the study of top management support. European Journal of Information Systems 20 (6), 691–692.
Päivärinta T (2001) The concept of genre within the critical approach to information systems development. Information and Organization 11 (3), 207–234.
Quine WVO (1980) Two dogmas of empiricism. In Challenges to Empiricism (Morick H, Ed), pp 46–70, Methuen, London.
Rathswohl EJ (1991) Applying don ihde's phenomenology of instrumentation as a framework for designing research in information science. In Information Systems Research: Contemporary Approaches & Emergent Traditions (Nissen H-E, Klein HF and Firschheim R, Eds), pp 421–438, North Holland, Amsterdam.
Ricoeur P (1995) De l’interprétation. Seuil, Paris.
Rowe F (2011) Towards a greater diversity in writing styles, argumentative strategies and genre of papers. European Journal of Information Systems 20 (5), 12–14.
Schultze U (2000) A confessional account of an ethnography about knowledge work. MIS Quarterly 24 (1), 3–41.
Schultze U and Leidner DE (2002) Studying knowledge management in information systems research: discourses and theoretical assumptions. MIS Quarterly 26 (3), 213–242.
Stahl BC (2008) The ethical nature of critical research in information systems. Information Systems Journal 18 (2), 137–163.
Straub D and Ang S (2011) Rigor and relevance in IS research: redefining the debate and a call for future research. MIS Quarterly 35 (1), iii–xii.
Stutts NB and Barker RT (1999) The use of narrative paradigm theory in assessing audience value conflict in image advertising. Management Communication Quarterly 13 (2), 209–244.
Talja S, Tuominen K and Savolainen R (2005) Isms’ in information science: constructivism, collectivism and constructionism. Journal of Documentation 61 (1), 79–101.
Thomas WI (2002) On the definition of the situation. In Self, Symbols, and Society: Classic Readings in Social Psychology (Rousseau N, Ed), pp 103–115, Rowman & Littlefield, Boston.
Trauth EM and Jessup LM (2000) Understanding computer-mediated discussions: positivist and interpretive analyses of group support system use. MIS Quarterly 24 (1), 43–79.
Tsoukas H (1991) The missing link: a transformational view of metaphors in organizational science. Academy of Management Review 16 (3), 566–585.
Tyson L (2006) Critical Theory Today. CRC Press, Routledge, New York.
van der Blonk H (2003) Writing case studies in information systems research. Journal of Information Technology 18 (1), 45–52.
Wagner E (2002) Rhetoric of enrollment and acts of resistance: information technology as text. In Global and Organizational Discourse About Information Technology (IFIP International Federation for Information Processing) (Wynn EH, Whitley EA, Myers MD and DeGross JI, Eds), pp 419–435, Springer, Dordrecht.
Walsham G (1993) Interpreting Information Systems in Organizations. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.
Walsham G (1995a) Interpretive case studies in IS research: nature and method. European Journal of Information Systems 4 (2), 74–81.
Walsham G (1995b) The emergence of interpretivism in IS research. Information Systems Research 6 (4), 376–394.
Walsham G (2001) Making a World of Difference: IT in a Global Context New edn John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.
Walsham G (2002) Cross-cultural software production and use: a structurational analysis. MIS Quarterly 26 (4), 359–380.
Walsham G (2006) Doing interpretive research. European Journal of Information Systems 15 (3), 320–330.
Walsham G and Sahay S (1999) GIS for district-level administration in India: problems and opportunities. MIS Quarterly 23 (1), 39–65.
Weber R (2004) The rhetoric of positivism versus interpretivism: a personal view. MIS Quarterly 28 (1), iii–xii.
Weick KE (1989) Theory construction as disciplined imagination. The Academy of Management Review 14 (4), 516–531.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This paper contributes to the Contrarian Series and is followed by Walsham's response.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stahl, B. Interpretive accounts and fairy tales: a critical polemic against the empiricist bias in interpretive IS research. Eur J Inf Syst 23, 1–11 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2012.58
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2012.58