BRING-YOUR-OWN-DEVICE (BYOD) IN THE UNIVERSITY SECTOR: AN INTERPRETIVE CASE STUDIES APPROACH (20)

This paper presents initial result of on-going research into Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) in the university sector as a means to discuss an inductive interpretive methods in information systems. It discusses the interpretivist view in information systems qualitative research and why it is chosen as the approach for this research. Explaining the ontological stance and subsequent epistemology, it contrasts positivist study and interpretivism. Multiple case studies are presented from the use of interviews and field observations. Following an iterative grounded process, it presents some interpretation of the interview transcriptions and shows how observation field notes can help support the interpretation towards the emergence of a grounded theory. Finally, the paper discusses interpretative theoretical frameworks: Actor Network Theory (ANT), Sociomateriality and Performativity to explore how such frameworks can be operationalised for on-going data collection and analysis

A researcher's dilemma- philosphical and methodological pluralism

In many research textbooks the distinction between qualitative and quantitative research is inadvertently linked with philosophical perspectives. This in essence creates a mutually exclusive relationship between method and philosophy. Initially researchers are led to believe, from these textbooks, that research is neatly divided into mutually exclusive categories, these being quantitative and qualitative research and ‘never the twain shall meet’. This divide is further strengthened with the inference that the relationship extends further; associating deduction with quantitative methods and similarly induction with qualitative methods. What happens in most texts is that qualitative research methods and quantitative research methods are set against each other as polar opposites (Crotty 1998, p19). This paper argues that methodological pluralism is acceptable but what is not acceptable is philosophical pluralism. By naively linking methods and approaches to specific philosophy researchers and students may miss out on potentially innovative or creative data collection methods. Alternatively and more importantly by feeling tied or constrained by their philosophical stance to particular methods and approaches, associated with them by textbooks, they may in fact reduce the credibility, validity, and or significance of the research. There maybe an elective affinity between certain philosophies and methods but this should not necessarily constrain the methods chosen

Street smarts

A pluralistic approach to folk psychology must countenance the evaluative, regulatory, predictive, and explanatory roles played by attributions of intelligence in social practices across cultures. Building off of the work of the psychologist Robert Sternberg and the philosophers Gilbert Ryle and Daniel Dennett, I argue that a relativistic interpretivism best accounts for the many varieties of intelligence that emerge from folk discourse. To be intelligent is to be comparatively good at solving intellectual problems that an interpreter deems worth solving

Interpretivism and norms

This article reconsiders the relationship between interpretivism about belief and normative standards. Interpretivists have traditionally taken beliefs to be fixed in relation to norms of interpretation. However, recent work by philosophers and psychologists reveals that human belief attribution practices are governed by a rich diversity of normative standards. Interpretivists thus face a dilemma: either give up on the idea that belief is constitutively normative or countenance a context-sensitive disjunction of norms that constitute belief. Either way, interpretivists should embrace the intersubjective indeterminacy of belief

The relevance of results in interpretive research in information systems and technology

The rigor and relevance of the results is central to the process of scientific investigation, even in areas where the practice prevails, as is the case of the scientific area of information systems and technology. This issue is also particularly relevant when the underlying epistemological orientation is the interpretivism. Based on a literature review focused on interpretive research in the field of information systems and technology, we find that the generalization of research resulting under the interpretive paradigm are valid and are not exclusive to the positivist orientation. This paper explores the importance of interpretative research in the information systems and technology field. As a result we discuss the different perspectives around the generalization and its interpretation in an interpretative research, supporting the investigator in the grounds of validation of their results.- (undefined

Critical thinking and systems thinking: towards a critical literacy for systems thinking in practice

About the book: In reflective problem solving and thoughtful decision making using critical thinking one considers evidence, the context of judgment, the relevant criteria for making the judgment well, the applicable methods or techniques for forming the judgment, and the applicable theoretical constructs for understanding the problem and the question at hand. In this book, the authors present topical research in the study of critical thinking. Topics discussed include developing critical thinking through probability models; the promotion of critical thinking skills through argument mapping; an instructional model for teacher training in critical thinking; advanced academic literacy and critical thinking and critical thinking and higher education

Introduction: Interpreting British European Policy

Britain has had particular problems reconciling itself to the idea of being a ‘European’ actor and a wholehearted member of the EEC/EU since 1973. Now, potentially, the ‘awkward partner’, is edging towards the exit door of the EU because a membership referendum is an increasingly likely prospect in the coming years. The aim of this special issue is to consider how we can account for the present state of affairs by adopting an interpretivist perspective on British European policy over the past four decades. The article begins with a comprehensive review of the extant literature on Britain and Europe, and an elaboration of the ‘traditions and dilemmas’ framework within which the contributors have studied the empirical material in their articles. It then explains the major themes that connect the articles and suggests how future research might build on the agenda proposed in this special issue

Wither Interpretivism? Re-interpreting interpretation to fit a world of ubiquitous ICT

Interpretivism in IS emerged in the 1980s. While at the time it presented an important alternative to positivism, the world has changed significantly since then, raising questions about its efficacy for IS relevant to the emerging world of ubiquitous IT. Some have suggested it should be abandoned because of its dualist inheritance from positivism. In this paper we explore a less radical approach of replacing the notion of interpretation at the heart of the approach with a non-dualist alternative. We explore how its problematic commitments to dualism, mentalism and individualism might be overcome by re-interpreting ‘interpretation’ using the holistic notions of ‘equipment’, ‘world’ and ‘being-in-the-world’ drawn from recent non-dualist work in IS. Such an ‘evolved’ interpretivism would retain key elements of the received view but repair others, allowing the existing acceptance and knowledge of interpretivism to be leveraged rather than replaced

Helping Business Schools Engage with Real Problems: The Contribution of Critical Realism and Systems Thinking

The world faces major problems, not least climate change and the financial crisis, and business schools have been criticised for their failure to help address these issues and, in the case of the financial meltdown, for being causally implicated in it. In this paper we begin by describing the extent of what has been called the rigour/relevance debate. We then diagnose the nature of the problem in terms of historical, structural and contextual mechanisms that initiated and now sustain an inability of business schools to engage with real-world issues. We then propose a combination of measures, which mutually reinforce each other, that are necessary to break into this vicious circle – critical realism as an underpinning philosophy that supports and embodies the next points; holism and transdisciplinarity; multimethodology (mixed-methods research); and a critical and ethical-committed stance. OR and management science have much to contribute in terms of both powerful analytical methods and problem structuring methods