Towards a model for IS research methodology selection : the effect of epistemology choice on a consolidated research evaluation tool

Abstract

Information Systems research is, for want of a better word, inadequate. Whilst there is nothing wrong with the quantity of the output or the abilities of the researchers themselves, the irrelevance (to practitioners) of much of the research has rendered if largely incapable of serving and supporting the Information Systems industry, a task that should be considered its primary objective. This dissertation aims to partially address this issue by analysing the role that methodology and epistemology has to play in the production and publishing of Information Systems research. It does this by analysing the different epistemologies (positivism, interpretivism, and critical research) and then estimates the effect their respective selections will have on Information Systems research by measuring their impact on a consolidated measure created in this research.