A Scientific Basis for Rigor and Relevance in Information-Systems Research
Allen Lee
Information Systems Group, LSE
Tuesday 20 June 2006
3.00 - 5.00 p.m.
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The academic discipline of information systems today considers qualitative research to be no less valid than quantitative research. The road to acceptance that qualitative research has travelled offers the following lesson: When quantitative research is scientific, it is scientific not because it uses numerical data and mathematical propositions, but because it follows a particular set of principles of reasoning, where these principles are no less accessible to qualitative research. Three such principles are the logic of modus ponens, the logic of modus tollens, and the avoidance of the fallacy of affirming the consequent. In this essay, I frame different research approaches – positivist research, interpretive research, action research, and design science research – in the forms of modus ponens and modus tollens. Four issues emerge from this framing and call into question how research is now conducted in the discipline of information systems. They are the issue of the fallacy of affirming the consequent, the issue of a common scientific basis, the issue of summative validity and formative validity, and the issue of rigor in relevant research. By recognizing and addressing the four issues, the information-systems discipline would do a better job of achieving rigor and relevance in its research.
Professor Allen S. Lee's articles, book chapters, editorials, and conference presentations have examined the use of research methods in the scientific study of information systems, including interpretive, positivist, qualitative, and case study methods. He has given research presentations in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and throughout the United States. Currently he is professor of information systems and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the School of Business at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is also a visiting professor at LSE. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Cornell University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A native of New York City's Chinatown, Lee graduated from Public School 23 and Junior High School 22 (both in Manhattan), and from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1970. In December 2004, he retired from the MIS Quarterly editorial board after 15 years, during which he served as associate editor, senior editor, and editor-in-chief.
Please note places will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis - registration is not required.
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