Heinz K. Klein Michael D. Myers

1. A Set of Principles for Conducting and Evaluating Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems Heinz K. Klein Michael D. Myers

2. Standards, not rules • For interpretive(and hermeneutic)field studies • Principles are not a pre-defined set of criteria • Improvement over status quo • Hope to ignite some debate • Bring on the principles!

3. The seven principles 1/3 • The Fundamental Principle of the Hermeneutic Circle • Iterating between fragments and the whole • Meaning must be found within context • The Principle of Contextualization • Reflect on social and historical background of the resreach setting

4. The seven principles 2/3 • The Principle of Interaction Between the Research and the Subjects • How the researcher impacts the data • The Principle of Abstraction and Generalization • Relate principles #1 and #2 to general concepts • The Principle of Dialogical Reasoning • Contratictions between theory and data

5. The seven principles 3/3 • The Principle of Multiple Interpretations • One incident, 100 different stories • The Principle of Suspicion • There may be biases and distortion

6. Conclusion • No longer a need to justify by (inaproperiate) positivist criteria • Raise the standard • Considering applying these principles to your research • The principles are a visible target • Bring on the debate