Theory:
role, generation and choice
Geoff Walsham
Lecture 2 of Course on Interpretive
Research in IS - Oslo University
Contents of Lecture 2
•
•
•
•
•
•
Theory in research design/data collection
Theory in data analysis
Theory as final product
Grounded theory
Theory: generation and choice
Some Dos and Don’ts
Theory in Research Design
and Data Collection
• Theory as a sensitizing device
• Example in Walsham (1995): use of
Pettigrew’s content, context and process
framework to look at IS strategy and
implementation
Research Questions Generated
• What IS strategic approaches had the
organization adopted? (content)
• What was the position of this organization
in its sector and country? (context)
• How had the organization tried to
implement its stated strategy and with what
success? (process)
Example: Structuration Theory
(see Giddens 1984 - also Walsham 1993)
• Three dimensions of meaning, norms and
power
• Produced or reproduced in action
• Emphasis also on unintended consequences
of intentional action
Interview Questions Generated
(e.g. on ERP systems)
• What do you understand this technology is
aimed to do? (meaning)
• Does this technology require you to do your
job in a different way? (norms)
• Who has required you to use this
technology and what are their motives?
(power)
Interview Questions (continued)
• What changes in your work, and that of
others in the organization, has resulted from
the use of this technology? (production).
• What has stayed the same? (reproduction)
• Did any unexpected things occur in the use
of the technology? And what happened as a
consequence? (unintended consequences)
Theory in Data Analysis
• Data collection followed by data analysis is
too linear a model
• Theory can be valuable prior to data
collection, during data collection and after
data collection
• If, for example, you have used a theory to
inform data collection, then it can also be
used for data analysis
An Example of Data Analysis Knowledge Management Systems
(Walsham 2004)
• Data on use of contact recording systems by
salespeople in a pharmaceutical company
• Recorded details of their visits to doctors on
database - available to others - ‘sharing’
knowledge
Two Acts of Tacit Knowing
(Polanyi 1969)
‘Both the way we endow our own utterances
with meaning and our attribution of
meaning to the utterances of others are acts
of tacit knowing. This represents sensegiving and sense-reading within the
structure of tacit knowing.’
Applied to the Pharmaceutical
Example
• Understanding of interaction with doctors
(cognitive; sense-reading - person A)
• Putting the experience into words
(performative; sense-giving - person A)
• Interpreting the result (cognitive; sensereading - person B)
Difference Between The
First and Third of These
(Polanyi 1969)
‘We may say that the observed meaning of an
experience differs structurally from one
conveyed in (words) … the first meaning is
immediately experienced while the second
is only present in thought.’
Theory as Final Product
• Theory can be the output of the work
• Popular with the top journals and
examiners!
• But ‘new’ does not have to be completely
new - can be addition, reinterpretation etc
A Model of Basic Communication
(Walsham 2004)
Action and
reflection
[Person A]
Re-presentation
through voice,
data, text,
diagrams etc.
[Person A]
‘Reading’ of
representation
[Person B]
Action and
reflection
[Person B]
A Sociological Complement
(Walsham 2004)
• What are the reasons for particular representations (or deliberate
misrepresentations) made by human actors?
• What is represented and for whom?
• Who requires particular representations, and
for what purpose?
• What incentives (or disincentives) are
provided for specific representations?
Grounded Theory
• Due originally to Glaser and Strauss (1967)
• Welcome emphasis on learning from the
data rather than imposing a prior theoretical
view
• I like the above emphasis but find the
specific approach (and its later variants) too
programmatic for my taste
• I prefer a balanced picture of learning from
prior theory + learning from the data
Some Don’ts of
Theory Generation and Choice
• Don’t fix on one theory and then read
nothing else
• Don’t leave theory generation until the end
of your study
• Don’t dismiss a theory’s value until you
have read about it in depth
Some Dos of
Theory Generation and Choice
• Do listen to what others find valuable
• Do read widely on different theories
• Do choose theories which ‘speak’ to you
(not because they are the current fashion)