A Paradigmatic Analysis Contrasting Information Systems Development Approaches and Methodologies

Juhani Iivari, Rudy Hirschheim and Heinz K. Klein
Additional contact information
Juhani Iivari: Department of Information Processing Science, University of Oulu, FIN-90570 Oulu, Finland
Rudy Hirschheim: College of Business Administration, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204-6283
Heinz K. Klein: School of Management, State University of New York Binghamton, Binghamton, New York

Information Systems Research, 1998, vol. 9, issue 2, 164-193

Abstract: This paper analyses the fundamental philosophical assumptions of five “contrasting” information systems development (ISD) approaches: the interactionist approach, the speech act-based approach, the soft systems methodology approach, the trade unionist approach, and the professional work practice approach. These five approaches are selected for analysis because they illustrate alternative philosophical assumptions from the dominant “orthodoxy” identified in the research literature. The paper also proposes a distinction between “approach” and “methodology.” The analysis of the five approaches is organized around four basic questions: What is the assumed nature of an information system (ontology)? What is human knowledge and how can it be obtained (epistemology)? What are the preferred research methods for continuing the improvement of each approach (research methodology)? and what are the implied values of information system research (ethics)? Each of these questions is explored from the internal perspective of the particular ISD approach. The paper addresses these questions through a conceptual structure which is based on a paradigmatic framework for analyzing ISD approaches.

Keywords: Paradigms; Paradigmatic Analysis; Information Systems Development; Information Systems Development Methodologies and Approaches; Assumption Analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orisre:v:9:y:1998:i:2:p:164-193

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