Balancing Interpretation and Intervention in Information System Research: The Action Case Approach

Abstract

Understanding how technical artefacts are created and used within organisations is a central aspect of the IS research discipline. The conduct of research in an organisational setting is thus a major issue for the IS community. A research framework for in-context IS reseach is presented and used to position purified and hybrid forms of research method. From the framework, theoretical support for an action case research method is presented. The research framework is then used to describe and explain an IS research project from which a practice - based rationale for an action case method is argued. Catacteristics of the action case method, a hybrid of interpretation and intervention, are described. Learning at three levels of analysis - concrete, general, and meta - is proposed as a way of reflecting on both the content of an IS research project and the IS research methods employed.