CampaignsInterventions IV

1
MIS 650Project Seminar

• Campaigns/Interventions IV
• Action Research

2
Action Research
Dept. of Information Systems Doctoral Program in
IS ND

• Researchers are often challenged that they
  investigate phenomena but dont actually do
  anything about them, much as media names are
  criticised that they live off others misery.
• Action research attempts to solve immediate
  practical problems while expanding scientific
  knowledge (Avison, 1999).
• Action research is invasive, collaborative,
  iterative, change-oriented
• Action research in IS has a long history, but it
  has been buried under systems analysis.

3
Action Research - Philosophy
Dept. of Information Systems Doctoral Program in
IS ND

The goal of research is to increase knowledge of
the real world. The best way to know the real
world is to experience it. Experience in the
real world often (not always) involves changing
the world in minor and frequently major ways.
Not only can the resultant state of the world be
an improvement (and provide us with a description
of the real world), but the changes that brought
about the resultant state are themselves
indicative of how the world works. Knowing what
happens is not easy, though, since change
involves the researcher.
4
Action Research - Pros and
Cons
Dept. of Information Systems Doctoral Program in
IS ND

• Long-term commitment to change
• Threat of researcher subjectivity
• Too long for graduate students to use
• Possibility of conflict of interest
• Outcomes are always in doubt

• High relevance findings
• High involvement of researcherrich data
• Bridges research-practice gap
• Easier to fund
• There is always something to be learned

ICIS Panel, Dec. 1999
5
IS Action Research - Pundits
Dept. of Information Systems Doctoral Program in
IS ND

• Ned Koch USA
• David Avison UK
• Michael Myers NZ
• Trevor Wood-Harper UK
• Francis Lau Canada
• Special issue on AR in IS in Information,
  Technology People (just out) and MIS Quarterly

6
IS Action Research Issues
Dept. of Information Systems Doctoral Program in
IS ND

• Rigor in research procedures, control
• Subjectivity
• Positivism vs. interpretivism
• Proof or exploration?
• Ethics
• Role of the researcher
• Role of technology

7
Action Research Protocol
Dept. of Information Systems Doctoral Program in
IS ND

Plan
Reflect
Observe
Act
Note the flow of Plans, Acts, Observations,
Reflections over time also constitute data
Plan
Reflect
Observe
Act
Plan
Reflect
Observe
Gabel, Dorothy. An Introduction to Action
Research, 1995. http//www.ply.nau.edu/danmac/
actionrsch.html
Act