Research Methodology

研究方法

Predictions can be made on the basis of the previously observed and explainedrealities and their inter-relationships. "Positivism has a long and rich historicaltradition. It is so embedded in our society that knowledge claims not grounded inpositivist thought are simply dismissed as ascientific and therefore invalid"(Hirschheim, 1985, p.33). This view is indirectly supported by Alavi and Carlson(1992) who, in a review of 902 IS research articles, found that all the empiricalstudies were positivist in approach. Positivism has also had a particularly successfulassociation with the physical and natural sciences.

There has, however, been much debate on the issue of whether or not thispositivist paradigm is entirely suitable for the social sciences (Hirschheim, 1985),many authors calling for a more pluralistic attitude towards IS researchmethodologies (see e.g. Kuhn, 1970; Bjørn-Andersen, 1985; Remenyi and Williams,1996). While we shall not elaborate on this debate further, it is germane to our studysince it is also the case that Information Systems, dealing as it does with theinteraction of people and technology, is considered to be of the social sciencesrather than the physical sciences (Hirschheim, 1985). Indeed, some of the difficultiesexperienced in IS research, such as the apparent inconsistency of results, may beattributed to the inappropriateness of the positivist paradigm for the domain.Likewise, some variables or constituent parts of reality might have been previouslythought unmeasurable under the positivist paradigm - and hence went unresearched(after Galliers, 1991).

3.2.2 Interpretivism

Interpretivists contend that only through the subjective interpretation of andintervention in reality can that reality be fully understood. The study of phenomena intheir natural environment is key to the interpretivist philosophy, together with theacknowledgement that scientists cannot avoid affecting those phenomena theystudy. They admit that there may be many interpretations of reality, but maintain thatthese interpretations are in themselves a part of the scientific knowledge they arepursuing. Interpretivism has a tradition that is no less glorious than that of positivism,nor is it shorter.

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