Using Critical Realism in IS Research: Operationalizing Key Constructs

Why should you bother reading this paper?

CR: a third way of conducting/analysing research (qual/quant/CR)

Critical realism has been increasingly recognized in our dis-
cipline as a promising philosophical tradition to overcome
objectivism-relativism chasms (Mingers 2004; Smith 2010;
Volkoff et al. 2007). It combines a realist ontology with an
interpretive epistemology (Archer et al. 1998); although our
knowledge of the world is socially constructed and fallible,
that world exists, often independent of human beings
(Mingers 2004). Contrary to judgmental relativism, critical
realism therefore holds that some theories approximate reality
better than others, making methodological approaches to
assess knowledge claims meaningful. (Henfridson and Bygstad, MISQ)

Underemne

so far: conceptual discussion, need for more operationalised constructs to guide empirical work

We need to check if this is really true after reading the papers uploaded

So, what do you get?

A list of to-do´`´ s guiding empirical work using CR

based on readings within CR

tested/elaborated based on a rich data set

What is CR?

CR in IS research

How has CR been used within empirical work (in IS)

summary of what we know

from here: what is needed?

list of issues to be demonstrated by the case

Case context

IT in education

case description

Your project

case analyses

demonstrate key constructs