The document discusses different research paradigms including positivism, interpretivism, and critical research, emphasizing their influence on research questions, strategy, and data collection methods. It outlines the characteristics of positivist research, including the scientific method cycle, and highlights the interpretative and critical approaches which focus on understanding social contexts and challenging power dynamics respectively. Key concepts such as ontology and epistemology are explained, underlining the importance of these paradigms in evaluating research results.

1. IT3010 / TDT39
Research Methodology
Week 7: Research paradigms
Name, title of the presentation

2. The research paradigm affects all our choices
Figure 3.1 in: B. J. Oates, Researching Information Systems and Computing. London: Sage Publications, 2006.

3. Main philosophical paradigms
• Positivism
• Interpretivism
• Critical research
• Fundamental world views that will affect research
questions, strategy, data collection and analysis
methods.
• Need to know the paradigm in order to properly
evaluate a research result.

4. Two properties
• Ontology: Fundamental beliefs about the empirical
world we conduct research on.
• Epistemology: A high level outline of the reasoning
process by which researcher perform their logical and
empirical research.

5. Positivist research (scientific method)
• Two basic assumptions:
– Ontologically: Our world is ordered and regular, not random. There
exist universal laws that can be studied and understood.
– Epistemologically: We can investigate the world objectively through
experiments.
• The scientific method seeks to find all the regular laws
or patterns in our universe.
– Mainly through experiments that are design to refute hypotheses.
– Refuting hypotheses is much more economical than proving them
(example of the black swan).

6. Scientific method: Principles
• Reductionism: breaking complex things down into
smaller things that are more easily studied.
• Repeatability: in order to eliminate luck, bias, faulty
design and equipment, etc.
• Refutation: either by showing that an experiment is
not repeatable, or by showing evidence that refutes
the hypotheses.

7. The scientific method cycle
• Formulate theory about some observed aspect of the
world.
• Derive hypothesis.
• Test hypothesis objectively.
• Observe results.
• Confirm or refute hypothesis.
• Accept, modify or reject theory.

8. Strategies and methods
common in scientific method
• Main strategies:
– Experiments.
– Surveys.
• Main data generation methods:
– Structured interviews and questionnaires.
– Structured observations.
• Often quantitative data collection and measurement.

9. Main philosophical paradigms
• Positivism
• Interpretivism
• Critical research
• Fundamental world views that will affect research
questions, strategy, data collection and analysis
methods.
• Need to know the paradigm in order to properly
evaluate a research result.

10. Interpretive research in IS
• Concerned with understanding the social context of an
information system.
• No proving or refuting of hypotheses.
• Tries to explain connections among different
contextual parameters, e.g. influences, power,
attitudes…

11. Interpretive research in IS
• Multiple subjective realities: There is no one truth.
• Dynamic, socially constructed meaning: Meaning
passes several "payers" of interpretation.
• Researcher reflexivity: Researchers are not neutral.
• Study of people in their natural social settings:
Artificial settings are not interesting for real
understanding.
• Qualitative data analysis: words, metaphors,
images, stories.
• Multiple interpretations: researchers offer more than
one explanation.

12. Critical research
• "Concerned with identifying power relations, conflicts
and contradictions, and empowering people to
eliminate them as sources of alienation and
domination." Oates, (2012).
• Common themes:
– Emancipation: freeing people from power relations.
– Critique of tradition: do not accept the status quo, but question and
challenge it.
– Non-performative intent: reject managerial benefit as the only
output.
– Critique of technological determinism: challenge the view that
everyone has to adapt to the technology.
– Reflexivity: question the existence of objective knowledge.

13. The research paradigm affects all our choices
Figure 3.1 in: B. J. Oates, Researching Information Systems and Computing. London: Sage Publications, 2006.

14. The research paradigm affects all our choices
Positivism
Figure 3.1 in: B. J. Oates, Researching Information Systems and Computing. London: Sage Publications, 2006.

15. The research paradigm affects all our choices
Interpretivism
Figure 3.1 in: B. J. Oates, Researching Information Systems and Computing. London: Sage Publications, 2006.

16. The research paradigm affects all our choices
Critical research
Figure 3.1 in: B. J. Oates, Researching Information Systems and Computing. London: Sage Publications, 2006.

17. Next week
• Book chapter 10. Case studies.
• Intro assignment 3.
• Group 7 presents paper 7.