Towards a hermeneutic method for interpretive research in information systems

Recent studies on information systems (IS) development within organizations have indicated that an interpretivist approach to research on the development process is, perhaps, the most appropriate vehicle for the study of this phenomenon (Kanungo, 1993; Walsham, 1993; Myers, 1995, 1997; Butler and Fitzgerald, 1997a, b; Butler, 1998a, b). However, as Galliers (1985) illustrates, IS researchers may choose from among several interpretive approaches when investigating IS-related phenomena. Boland (1985) was one of the first within the IS field to advocate phenomenological hermeneutics as a valid interpretive approach for research on the phenomenon of information systems development: Visala (1991), Kanungo (1993), Westrup (1994) and Myers (1995) have also recommended that hermeneutic philosophy inform research in this area, while Lee (1993, 1994) has championed the use of hermeneutics in broader research contexts within the field. With some notable exceptions (see Davis et al., 1992 and Lee, 1994) there has been little in the way of guidance or example in the use of the hermeneutic method for research purposes within the IS field: this is also true of research in other disciplines, where the hermeneutic method has been advocated in the study of social phenomena (cf. Guba and Lincoln, 1994).