Introduction to IN 5000 Qualitative Research Methods in Information Systems

1. Introduction to IN 5000 Qualitative ResearchMethods in InformationSystems Johan Saebo & Brian Nicholson HISP group

2. Agenda • Course overview and assignment (Johan) • Intro to qualitative research (Brian) • - overview of the field • - research paradigms

3. https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/IN5000/v19/timeplan/index.htmlhttps://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/IN5000/v19/timeplan/index.html

4. Having passedIN5000 • After you have completed this course, youcan • explain and compare different qualitative research paradigms includingthe • interpretive, critical, and positivistparadigms • explain and compare different qualitative methodologies including case studies, action research, andethnography • explain and compare different methods used in qualitative empirical research in informatics including interviews andobservations • explain and illustrate the relationships between researchquestions, paradigms, methodologies andmethods • position and discuss your own and others’ research with respect tothe • qualitative researchparadigms • make qualified and well-motivated choices of research methodology for your own research and assess others’ choices ofmethodology • perform interviews and observations and analyze the resulting empiricaldata

5. You’ll learn about different types of research How to do it yourself (assignments are central for learning), and how to analyze and write up your findings. • The course has course book (Crang and Cook (2007) & additional Myers (2013) • In addition we will work with a number of articles, both discussing methodological issues and as exemplars of these different types ofstudies. • See course page for literature (syllabus) + detailed teaching plan for readings andassignments.

6. Groupwork(Seminar Jan 29 to introducethis) Ideally 4 members in eachgroup. • Discussions ingroups, • oral presentation inclass • writtenassignments • one feedback to anothergroup – must be accepted in order to take theexam. You’ll receive feedback on your assignments by TA (Johanne Oskarsen and Rebekka Soma). It’s not mandatory to receivefeedback, but it is a great opportunity to learn anddiscuss. You’realsofree to contact Johanne, Rebekka (or Johan) for feedback and questions, butthe feedback sessions in theschedule have at leastbeenblocked for this.

7. Assignments summedup: • Read and present apaper • Ask questions to anotherpaper • Assignment 1: observation w/notes • Assignment 2: interview • Assignment 3:observationwo/notes • Paper discussion (format TBA) • Assignment ResearchProposal • RP1 submit (+feedback) • RP2 submit (+feedback) • RP3submit and presentation

8. Examinformation Graded marks A-F (masterstudents) Passed/non passed on B+A level (PhDstudents) The grades will be based on individual oralexam

11. Qualitativeresearch “Qualitative research methods are designed to help researchers understand people and the social and cultural contexts within which they live. [..] the goal of understanding a phenomenon from the point of view of the participants and its particular social and institutional context is largely lost when textual data are quantified” (Myers livingversion). • Qualitative research involves workingwithqualitativedata • Interviews, • documents, • participant observationdata, • photos,...... • to understand and explain socialphenomena. We study use, design and development of technologyas socialphenomena.

12. QUALITATIVE -‐QUANTITATIVE • Observation • Interview • Texts/documents Audio /video • Small numbers(focused) • In-depth • How, what, howcome • Questionnaires • Experiments • Statistics • Large numbers(broad) • Broad rather thanin-depth • How many? Why(causality)? What isbest? No research approach (quantitative or qualitative) is better than anyother. In choosing a method, everything depends upon what we are trying to find out. Thus, it depends on your research question (Silverman2005).

13. Underlyingassumptions All research is based on some (explicit or implicit) underlying philosophical assumptions about what constitutes valid research andwhich research methods areappropriate. These assumptions are calledparadigms.

14. PHILOSPHICALASSUMPTIONS • All research can be classified into three categories: positivist, interpretive, and critical • Qualitative research can adopt any one of these perspectives • For example, case study research can be positivist, interpretive, or critical • These have different epistemologies: what is (considered to be) knowledge? Ontology - How do I know the world?

15. Qualitative research Influences / guides positivist interpretive critical Underlying philosophical assumptions

16. Assumptions of positivist research • Social reality is objective, testable and independent of theoretical explanation • The researcher should be objective and unbiased • The researcher should be a detached value-free spectator, only an observer of the objects of study • Theories and hypotheses can be tested independently of an understanding of meanings and intentions • Lawlike relations can be discovered in organizations, and the purpose of research is to increase our predictive understanding of phenomena • Scientific research should have formal propositions, quantifiable measures of variables, and hypothesis testing - cases are of interest only as representative of populations

17. Freedom fighter? Terrorist? Ruler? Legend?

19. Assumptions of interpretive research • Social reality is socially constructed - The aim is to understand phenomena through the meanings people assign to them. Access to meaning is through social constructions, such as talking. • Focuses on the full complexity of human sense-making as a situation emerges. Not predefined dependent and independent variables. • Interpretive methods of research in IS are "aimed at producing an understanding of the context of the information system, and the process whereby the information system influences and is influenced by the context" (Walsham 1993, p.4-5). • The hermeneutic circle – the ‘logic’ of interpretation is irreducibly circular: parts cannot be understood without the whole, data and concepts cannot be understood without theory and context etc

20. Assumptions of critical research • Similar to interpretive research except that in addition: • A focus on critique – critique of the prevailing social conditions and system of constraints • Consider the complex relationships between human interests, knowledge, power and forms of social control. • Challenge prevailing communities of assumptions • Challenge established social practices • Have an ethically based stance • Some types of critical theory suggest individual emancipation and/or improvements in society

21. METHODOLOGIES While paradigms are philosophical assumptions about the world, methodologies are strategies ofinquiry. Could be positivist, interpretive or critical Methodologies discussed in thiscourse: Describingtheworld Changing theworld • Casestudy • Ethnography • Groundedtheory • ActionResearch • Design research

22. CaseStudy • A case study is an empirical inquirythat: • investigates a contemporary instanceor • event within its real-lifecontext • can be positivist, interpretive, orcritical • In ISresearch: • the study of information systemsin • organisations (not just technicalissues) • Basicmethods: • interview, observation, document analysis

23. Ethnography • Social and culturalanthropology • Explicit interest in understanding social practices and interactions in diverse communities as they unfold in everyday life. • It seeks descriptions of what people doratherthan what they say theydo • Ethnographers immerse themselves in the world / lives of the people theystudy • Understanding the informants’ point ofview • Basic methods: participantobservation, • interview • Field notes are essential inethnography

24. GroundedTheory • ”Grounded theory is a methodology that seeks to construct theory about issues of importance in peoples’ lives” (Mills et al. 2006:26). • Building theory fromdata. • Enter the field with as few pre-determined ideas about what to find there aspossible • Avoidhypotheses • Sensitivity to the data, but not tabularasa • Techniques of groundedtheory: • Special emphasis on continuous interplay between data collection andanalysis • Asking questions aimed at exploring properties, connections, similarities and dissimilarities. • Developing gradually more abstract ideas from the data

25. ActionResearch • Collaboration with a group of people experiencing aproblem • Researchers help to find what the problem is and implement possiblesolutions • An iterativecycle: • diagnosing a problem, action planning, action taking, implementing, and evaluatingoutcomes. • Evaluation may lead to a new diagnosis, cycle is repeated. • Contribution to practical concerns inparallell • with theorybuilding • Vision: researchers have a vision on how the reality should be – not valuefree • Action research can be both positivist, interpretive, andcritical • (Myers livingversion) Susman 1983 in Baskerville et al.2002

26. DesignResearch • User centereddesign • Participatory design • Research throughdesign • Methods: • Design workshops, user experiments,..

27. METHODS • While paradigms are philosophical assumptions about the world and methodologies are strategies for gaining knowledge about it, methods are techniques for generatingdata. • Observation: passive and participant (naturally occurring settings) • Document analysis: e.g., screen dumps, newspapers, letters, agreements,brochures • Interviews:structured, semi-structured,open- ended (not naturally occurringsettings) • Video and audio-tapes can be studied over and over and betranscribed • Note taking: Describe what you observe/encounter/hear/smell/engage in. Remember: date, time, place, persons present (roles, occupation,affiliation). • Design workshops. (Crang & Cook 2007, Blomberg et al. 1993, Silverman2005)

29. Researcher’sreflexivity • Do we see the same regardless of who we are and where we comefrom? • Positivist paradigm: We will see thesame if we use proper methods for data collection andanalysis. • Interpretive and critical paradigms: Knowledge about how people make sense of and experience the world can only be accessed through representations (e.g.,language). • Your previous experiences willinfluence • how you interpret what youencounter. • How you appear to the informants will influence how they relate to you as a researcher.

30. Conducting fieldwork + analyzing field material • What are people doing? What are they tryingto accomplish? • How, exactly, do they do this? What specific means and/or strategies do theyuse? • How do members talk about, characterize, and understand what is goingon? • Which assumptions are theymaking? • What do I see going on here? What did I learn from thesenotes? (Emerson et al.1995:146)

31. How itconnects Researchers have different philosophical assumptions (paradigms) about the world: how we are to understand it, and how we are to study it. This has lead to different strategies of inquiry (methodologies) and to different ways of approaching how we gather empirical material and analyze it(methods). paradigms methodologies methods Philosophicalassumptions Methodology Method Analysis/design data Researchquestions

32. Groupdiscussion • Identify and describe the threeparadigms • Get to know each others’ academicbackground: • Do you have a special affiliation with one of the paradigms? • Are you particularly familiar, or interested in, one ofthem?