INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH Relevant Theory and Informed Practice IFIP – The International Federation for Information Processing IFIP was founded in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO, following the First World Computer Congress held in Paris the previous year An umbrella organization for societies working in information processing, IFIP’s aim is two-fold: to support information processing within its member countries and to encourage technology transfer to developing nations As its mission statement clearly states, IFIP’s mission is to be the leading, truly international, apolitical organization which encourages and assists in the development, exploitation and application of information technology for the benefit of all people IFIP is a non-profitmaking organization, run almost solely by 2500 volunteers It operates through a number of technical committees, which organize events and publications IFIP’s events range from an international congress to local seminars, but the most important are: The IFIP World Computer Congress, held every second year; Open conferences; Working conferences The flagship event is the IFIP World Computer Congress, at which both invited and contributed papers are presented Contributed papers are rigorously refereed and the rejection rate is high As with the Congress, participation in the open conferences is open to all and papers may be invited or submitted Again, submitted papers are stringently refereed The working conferences are structured differently They are usually run by a working group and attendance is small and by invitation only Their purpose is to create an atmosphere conducive to innovation and development Refereeing is less rigorous and papers are subjected to extensive group discussion Publications arising from IFIP events vary The papers presented at the IFIP World Computer Congress and at open conferences are published as conference proceedings, while the results of the working conferences are often published as collections of selected and edited papers Any national society whose primary activity is in information may apply to become a full member of IFIP, although full membership is restricted to one society per country Full members are entitled to vote at the annual General Assembly, National societies preferring a less committed involvement may apply for associate or corresponding membership Associate members enjoy the same benefits as full members, but without voting rights Corresponding members are not represented in IFIP bodies Affiliated membership is open to non-national societies, and individual and honorary membership schemes are also offered INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH Relevant Theory and Informed Practice IFIP TC8 / WG8.2 Year Retrospective: Relevant Theory and Informed Practice–Looking Forward from a 20-Year Perspective on IS Research July 15–17, 2004, Manchester, United Kingdom Edited by Bonnie Kaplan Yale University, USA Duane P Truex III Florida International University, USA Georgia State University, USA David WasteII University of Manchester, United Kingdom A Trevor Wood-Harper University of Manchester, United Kingdom University of South Australia, Australia Janice I DeGross University of Minnesota, USA KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS NEW YORK, BOSTON, DORDRECHT, LONDON, MOSCOW eBook ISBN: Print ISBN: 1-4020-8095-6 1-4020-8094-8 ©2004 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc Print ©2004 by International Federation for Information Processing Boston All rights reserved No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without written consent from the Publisher Created in the United States of America Visit Springer's eBookstore at: and the Springer Global Website Online at: http://www.ebooks.kluweronline.com http://www.springeronline.com CONTENTS Foreword xi Preface xv Conference Chairs xix Associate Editors xx Reviewers xxi Young Turks, Old Guardsmen, and the Conundrum of the Broken Mold: A Progress Report on Twenty Years of Information Systems Research Bonnie Kaplan, Duane P Truex III, David Wastell, and A Trevor Wood-Harper Part 1: Panoramas Doctor of Philosophy, Heal Thyself Allen S Lee 21 Information Systems in Organizations and Society: Speculating on the Next 25 Years of Research Steve Sawyer and Kevin Crowston 35 Information Systems Research as Design: Identity, Process, and Narrative Richard J Boland, Jr., and Kalle Lyytinen 53 Part 2: Reflections on the IS Discipline Information Systems—A Cyborg Discipline? Magnus Ramage 71 Cores and Definitions: Building the Cognitive Legitimacy of the Information Systems Discipline Across the Atlantic Frantz Rowe, Duane P Truex III, and Lynnette Kvasny 83 Contents vi Truth, Journals, and Politics: The Case of the MIS Quarterly Lucas Introna and Louise Whittaker 103 Debatable Advice and Inconsistent Evidence: Methodology in Information Systems Research Matthew R Jones 121 The Crisis of Relevance and the Relevance of Crisis: Renegotiating Critique in Information Systems Scholarship Teresa Marcon, Mike Chiasson, and Abhijit Gopal 143 10 Whatever Happened to Information Systems Ethics? Caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Frances Bell and Alison Adam 159 11 Supporting Engineering of Information Systems in Emergent Organizations Sandeep Purao and Duane P Truex III 175 Part 3: Critical Interpretive Studies 12 The Choice of Critical Information Systems Research Debra Howcroft and Eileen M Trauth 195 13 The Research Approach and Methodology Used in an Interpretive Study of a Web Information System: Contextualizing Practice Anita Greenhill 213 14 Applying Habermas’ Validity Claims as a Standard for Critical Discourse Analysis Wendy Cukier, Robert Bauer, and Catherine Middleton 233 15 Conducting Critical Research in Information Systems: Can ActorNetwork Theory Help? 259 16 Conducting and Evaluating Critical Interpretive Research: Examining Criteria as a Key Component in Building a Research Tradition Marlei Pozzebon 275 17 Making Contributions from Interpretive Case Studies: Examining Processes of Construction and Use Michael Barrett and Geoff Walsham 293 Contents Part 4: vii Action Research 18 Action Research: Time to Take a Turn? Briony J Oates 315 19 The Role of Conventional Research Methods in Information Systems Action Research Matt Germonprez and Lars Mathiassen 335 20 Themes, Iteration, and Recoverability in Action Research Sue Holwell 353 Part 5: Theoretical Perspectives in IS Research 21 The Use of Social Theories in 20 Years of WG 8.2 Empirical Research Donal Flynn and Peggy Gregory 365 22 StructurANTion in Research and Practice: Representing Actor Networks, Their Structurated Orders and Translations Laurence Brooks and Chris Atkinson 389 23 Socio-Technical Structure: An Experiment in Integrative Theory Building Jeremy Rose, Rikard Lindgren, and Ola Henfridsson 411 24 Exposing Best Practices Through Narrative: The ERP Example Erica L Wagner, Robert D Galliers, and Susan V Scott 433 25 Information Systems Research and Development by Activity Analysis and Development: Dead Horse or the Next Wave? Mikko Korpela, Anja Mursu, Abimbola Soriyan, Anne Erola, Heidi Häkkinen, and Marika Toivanen 453 26 Making Sense of Technological Frames: Promise, Progress, and Potential Elizabeth Davidson and David Pai 473 27 Reflection on Development Techniques Using the Psychology Literature: Over Two Decades of Bias and Conceptual Blocks Carl Adams and David E Avison 493 viii Part 6: Contents Systems Development: Methods, Politics, and Users 28 Enterprise System as an Orchestrator of Dynamic Capability Development: A Case Study of the IRAS and TechCo 515 Chee Wee Tan, Eric T K Lim, Shan Ling Pan, and Calvin M L Chan 29 On Transferring a Method into a Usage Situation Brian Lings and Björn Lundell 535 30 From Critical Theory into Information Systems Practice: A Case Study of a Payroll-Personnel System Teresa Waring 555 31 Resistance or Deviance: A High-Tech Workplace During the Bursting of the Dot-Com Bubble Andrea Hoplight Tapia 577 32 The Politics of Knowledge in Using GIS for Land Management in India S K Puri and Sundeep Sahay 597 33 Systems Development in the Wild: User-Led Exploration and Transformation of Organizing Visions Margunn Aanestad, Dixi Louise Henriksen,and Jens Kaaber Pors 615 34 Improvisation in Information Systems Development Jørgen P Bansler and Erling C Havn 631 Part 7: Panels and Position Papers 35 Twenty Years of Applying Grounded Theory in Information Systems: A Coding Method, Useful Theory Generation Method, or an Orthodox Positivist Method of Data Analysis? Tony Bryant, Jim Hughes, Michael D Myers, Eileen Trauth, and Cathy Urquhart 649 36 Building Capacity for E-Government: Contradictions and Synergies in the Dialectics of Action Research David Wastell, Peter Kawalek, Mike Newman, Mike Willetts, and Peter Langmead-Jones 651 37 New Insights into Studying Agency and Information Technology Tony Salvador, Jeremy Rose, Edgar A Whitley, and Melanie Wilson 653 Contents ix 38 Researching and Developing Work Activities in Information Systems: Experiences and the Way Forward Mikko Korpela, Jonathan P Allen, Olav Bertelsen, Yvonne Dittrich, Kari Kuutti, Kristina Lauche, and Anja Mursu 655 39 Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries: Reflections on Information Systems Research in Health Care and the State of Information Systems Nicholas Barber, Patricia Flatley Brennan, Mike Chiasson, Tony Cornford, Elizabeth Davidson, Bonnie Kaplan, and 657 40 The Great Quantitative/Qualitative Debate: The Past, Present, and Future of Positivism and Post-Positivism in Information Systems Michael D Myers, Detmar Straub, John Mingers, and Geoff Walsham 659 41 Challenges for Participatory Action Research in Industry-Funded Information Systems Projects Karin Breu, Christopher J Hemingway, and Joe Peppard 661 42 Theory and Action for Emancipation: Elements of a Critical Realist Approach Melanie Wilson and Anita Greenhill 667 43 Non-Dualism and Information Systems Research Abhijit Jain 675 44 Contextual Dependencies and Gender Strategy Peter M Bednar 681 45 Information Technology and the Good Life Erik Stolterman and Anna Croon Fors 687 46 Embracing Information as Concept and Practice Robert Stephens 693 47 Truth to Tell? Some Observations on the Application of Truth Tests in Published Information Systems Research Brian Webb 699 48 How Stakeholder Analysis can be Mobilized with Actor-Network Theory to Identify Actors A Pouloudi, R Gandecha, C Atkinson, and A Papazafeiropoulou 705 49 Symbolic Processes in ERP Versus Legacy System Usage Martin M T Ng and Michael T K Tan 713 730 Part 7: Panels and Position Papers Figure Different Technological Components in VR Systems 3.2 Dynamics and Structure of Supply The companies studied included three types of suppliers: (1) established VR suppliers, (2) specialist VR suppliers that have knowledge of construction practices, and (3) resellers and model builders In this section I will concentrate on the first two types Both the users and suppliers struggled to make sense of competing technologies at different technological levels and Figure illustrates this The established suppliers are shown as providers of applications for UNIX-based workstations and bespoke hardware, which up until the late 1990s was the sole focus of their activity At this time, developments in the PC market led a number of specialist suppliers to recognize the market opportunity and to deliver interactive real-time 3D applications for specific construction process; and also led established VR suppliers to make software available on the PC platform The established VR suppliers have then subsequently developed collaborations with leading CAD, graphics information systems (GIS), and analysis packages to deliver their solutions as visualization plug-ins to standard packages One of the case studies was of a major VR supplier that had about 15years experience developing modeling and visualization software Up until four years previously, everything this company had produced had been designed to run on SGI hardware as that was the only thing that served the needs of the visual simulation community Now today we can take the same techniques that we on the high end and deliver them on common PC hardware which is directly attributable to all of the wonderful advances in processing speed but more importantly graphic Whyte/Dynamics of Use & Supply 731 card architecture and that is being driven by kids! The gaming industry, I mean it’s wonderful! For the generic supplier, the construction users were a small minority group, particularly in terms of their buying capacity They had a set of demanding requirements that did not lie comfortably within the strategic direction of these supplier companies The suppliers were looking to diversify as the market for applications on bespoke hardware was now in decline even for the demanding real-time 3D applications that these suppliers delivered They perceived a need to port their existing applications to new hardware platforms and operating solutions and to widen their customer base The specialist suppliers studied, while using broadly the same set of technologies, not use the term virtual reality in their own marketing literature, preferring terms such as 4D-CAD and interactive design review Generic suppliers and the specialist new entrants also had a very different understanding of the relationship between CAD and VR The company described above had a background in military training applications, particularly flight simulation, and found the engineering, design, and construction firms’ need for data exchange with CAD particularly problematic The interviewee described their experience of the practices of construction users, When they turn on the computer they are turning on their CAD program and CAD programs and virtual reality sometimes don’t mix well, at least from our perspective they don’t because we are into real-time visualization and that’s a whole very focused discipline in 3D visualization In contrast, a specialist supplier argued, “We are not replacing the CAD engineers We need all that source data.” 3.3 Interrelationships between Use and Supply It is only through an analysis of both use and supply that a mismatch in priorities becomes apparent between construction sector users, for whom data exchange with CAD is of critical importance, and the generic VR supply industry, for which such data exchange is peripheral to use This mismatch of priorities poses a challenge to the establishment and continued validity of these applications within construction The construction sector is seen as a difficult sector by generic VR suppliers, and with a more recent increase in United States funding for military urban simulation applications, they may have become even less relevant to these suppliers, even in their urban simulation divisions The analysis has implications for the central concerns of WG 8.2 in research on organizational uses of information systems For example Orlikowski (2000) describes users’ interaction with a technology as recursive, arguing that in recurrent practice, users shape the technology structures that shape their use This work presents a challenge to such a view, arguing that it shows only part of the picture The ability of user organizations to influence adaptation of technologies is constrained by the priorities of other users at the level of the multi-technology product and at the level of underlying technologies Part 7: Panels and Position Papers 732 Virtual reality applications were not easily established within the construction sector The vision of the future held by policy makers and academics in the late 1990s did not come to pass There are questions to be asked about why it didn’t, and about the future of interactive real-time 3D applications in construction Generic VR suppliers and resellers conceived of virtual reality as an entirely separate application creating a sense of presence, but as we have seen for construction industry users, the access to engineering data and connectivity of CAD and VR was a major issues One possible future would be for the technologies underlying VR to be used in plug-ins to major CAD packages Indeed I see evidence that CAD packages are both developing advanced 3D graphics capabilities themselves and partnering with suppliers of VR software These findings raise questions about how policy can or whether it should try to help foster particular visions of the future CONCLUSIONS This paper is part of a shift in the attention of the IS research community back to the IT artifact itself It argues that organizational use of technology is shaped and constrained by structures and dynamics that exist across the boundaries of use and supply The analytic lens proposed examines interrelationships at this interface as a means of deconstructing and examining the evolving IT artifact as it begins to be implemented and used I argue that this allows us to better understand the IT artifact at a range of different technological levels This has implications for the type of research methods used in empirical work Using this approach, it is important that the researcher explores both structures of dynamics of use and supply However, information systems are complex, and there are multiple boundaries between users and producers Suppliers of multi-technology applications act as users of application programming interfaces as well as suppliers of applications to a range of industrial sectors and processes (where their users may have conflicting requirements) End-user organizations struggle to make sense of the different but often overlapping configurations of underlying technologies supplied to them in multi-technology packages When engaged in such research, it is important to be clear about the unit of analysis and to this end I articulate different parts of the information system In the study of virtual reality in the construction sector, I look primarily at the users and producers of virtual reality applications, but am able to articulate the impact of technological change at a range of different levels The analytic approach proposed would benefit from further theoretical and empirical work It builds on work in the innovation studies tradition that has looked at complex product systems, and there would be merit in comparing and contrasting emerging patterns of development of information systems with historical patterns observed for other technological systems REFERENCES Benbasat, I., and Zmud, R W “The Identity Crisis Within the IS Discipline: Defining and Communicating the Discipline’s Core Properties,” MIS Quarterly (27:2), 2003, pp 183-194 Whyte/Dynamics of Use & Supply 733 Bloomfield, B “Power, Machines and Social Relations: Delegating to Information Technology in the National Health Service,” Organization (2:3/4), 1995, pp 489-518 Brooks, L “Structuration Theory and New Technology: Analyzing Organizationally Situated Computer-Aided Design,” Information Systems Journal (7), 1997, pp 133-151 Caelli, K.; Ray, L.; and Mill, J “‘Clear as Mud’: Toward Greater Clarity in Generic Qualitative Research,” International Journal of Qualitative Methods (2:2), 2003 Callon, M “Society in the Making: The Study of Technology as a Tool for Sociological Analysis,” in T P Pinch (Ed.), The Social Construction of Technological Systems, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1987, pp 85-103 Campbell-Kelly, M “Not Only Microsoft: The Maturing of the Personal Computer Software Industry, 1982-1995,” Business History Review (75), 2001, pp 103-145 Cornfield, K G “Information Systems and New Technologies: Taking Shape in Use,” Working Paper Series 122, Department of Information Systems, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2003 DeSanctis, G., and Poole, M S “Capturing the Complexity in Advanced Technology Use: Adaptive Structuration Theory,” Organization Science (5:2), 1994, pp 121-147 DTI UK Business Potential for Virtual Reality, London: Department of Trade and Industry, 2000 Gann, D Building Innovation: Complex Constructs in a Changing World, London: Thomas Telford, 2000 Gann, D M., and Salter, A J “Innovation in Project-Based, Service-Enhanced Firms: The Construction of Complex Products and Systems,” Research Policy (29:7/8), 2000, pp 955-972 Hung, S.-C “The Taiwanese System of Innovation in the Information Industry,” International Journal of Technology Management (26:7), 2003, pp 788-800 Latour, B Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society, Boston: Harvard University Press, 1987 Lee, S Y T “Bundling Strategy in Base-Supplemental Goods Markets: The Case of Microsoft,” European Journal of Information Systems (9:4), 2000, pp 217-225 Lundvall, B.-Å (Ed.) National Systems of Innovation, London: Pinter, 1992 Lundvall, B.-Å Product Innovation, Markets and Hierarchies, Copenhagen: DRUID, 2003 Monteiro, L., and Hanseth, O “Social Shaping of Information Infrastructure: On Being Specific About the Technology,” in W J Orlikowski, G Walsham, M R Jones, and J I DeGross (Eds.), Information Technology and Changes in Organizational Work, London: Chapman &Hall, 1996, pp 325-348 Mowery, D C (Ed.) The International Computer Software Industry: A Comparative Study of Industry Evolution and Structure, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996 Mowery, D C., and Langlois, R N “Spinning Off and Spinning On: The Federal Government Role in the Development of the US Computer Software Industry,” Research Policy (25:6), 1996, pp 947-966 Mumford, E.; Hirschheim,R.; Fitzgerald, G.; and Wood-Harper, A T (Eds.) Research Methods in Information Systems Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1985 Mutch, A “Actors and Networks or Agents and Structures: Towards a Realist View of Information Systems,” Organization (9:3), 2002, pp 477-496 Orlikowski, W J “The Duality of Technology: Rethinking the Concept of Technology in Organizations,” Organization Science (3:3), 1992, pp 398-427 Orlikowski, W J “Using Technology and Constituting Structures,” Organization Science (11:4), 2000, pp 404-428 Orlikowski, W J., and Iacono, C S “Desperately Seeking the ‘IT’ in IT Research—A Call to Theorizing the IT Artifact,” Information Systems Research (12:2), 2001, pp 121-134 Paul, R J Is Information Systems an Intellectual Subject?,” European Journal of Information Systems (11:2), 2002, pp 174-177 734 Part 7: Panels and Position Papers Pries, F., and Janszen, F ”Innovation in the Construction Industry, the Dominant Role of the Environment,“ Construction Management and Economics (13:1), 1995, pp 43-51 Sohal, A “A Longitudinal Study of Planning and Implementation of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies,” International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (10:1), 1997, pp 281-295 Steinmueller, W E “The U.S Software Industry: An Analysis and Interpretive History,” in D C Mowery (Ed.), The International Computer Software Industry, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995 Swann, G M P., and Watts, T P “Visualization Needs Vision: The Pre-Paradigmatic Character of Virtual Reality,” in S Woolgar (Ed.), Virtual Society? Technology, Cyberbole, Reality, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000 Watts, T.; Swann, G M P.; and Pandit, N R “Virtual Reality and Innovation Potential,” Business Strategy Review (9:3), 1998, pp 45-54 Whyte, J K “Innovation and Users: Virtual Reality in the Construction Sector,” Construction Management and Economics Special Issue on Innovation in Construction (21:6),2003,pp 565-572 Yetton, P W.; Johnston, K D.; and Craig., J F “Computer-Aided Architects: A Case Study of IT and Strategic Change,” Sloan Management Review (35:4), 1994, pp 57-67 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jennifer Whyte is a research fellow at the Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London She works within the Innovation Studies Centre and has particular interest in the development of digital tools and technologies for design and their uses within organizations Her research is conducted in collaboration with leading firms in the UK and USA She has published widely in journals and a book, with ongoing work looking at virtual prototyping in engineering practice Jennifer can be reached at j.whyte@imperial.ac.uk 51 APPLYING ADAPTIVE STRUCTURATION THEORY TO THE STUDY OF CONTEXT-AWARE APPLICATIONS Carl Magnus Olsson Viktoria Institute Nancy L Russo Northern Illinois University Abstract Adaptive structuration theory (AST) has been used for a number of years in the information systems discipline to study the use of new technologies in organizations In this paper it is applied to a relatively new technology, context-aware applications AST provides a useful lens for examining the impact of a particular context-aware application, CABdriver Used in conjunction with the repertory grid technique and lead users in an action research study, a research approach for exploring the ways in which the technology impacts individuals within small groups is presented Keywords: Action research, adaptive structuration theory, context-aware applications, lead users, repertory grid technique INTRODUCTION Whereas some strides, particularly in the diversity of research approaches, have been made since the 1984 Manchester Colloquium (Mumford et al 1985), some things have not changed It is still true that “The rate at which information technology is being introduced in our institutions exceeds our capacity to generate knowledge about its effects and meanings” (Espejo 1985, p 269) For example, the contexts for which we develop information systems have changed considerably over the past 20 years Mobile and ubiquitous information environments place the interaction between the user and the technology into a much broader environment, requiring us to address systems that are Part 7: Panels and Position Papers 736 integrated into everyday activities through mobile phones, PDAs, and other handheld devices, as well as wearable computing devices (Lyytinen and Yoo 2002) This paper addresses the evaluation of a particular aspect of ubiquitous information environments Context-aware applications (CAAs) typically use location-based data and other contextual information to trigger predefined behavior (Schmidt et al 1998) First generation CAAs included the notification agent, the meeting reminder agent, and callforwarding applications (Dey et al 2001) Active badge systems (Weiser 1991) which can track wearers through particular locations, and global positioning systems that use databases of local information to provide details such as restaurant locations are other examples of CAAs In the same sense that DeSanctis and Poole (1994, p 126) argue that “advanced information technologies have greater potential than traditional business computer systems to influence the social aspects of work,” advanced CAAs have an even greater potential to influence the social aspects of everyday life As Lyytinen and Yoo (2002) suggest, there are unique challenges posed by this type of system, in terms of design, use, and impact In this environment, the technical and social aspects cannot be separated easily There is a need for new ways of thinking about design, use, and impact, and new research approaches to study this type of system As Galliers (1985, p 281) reflected after the 1984 Colloquium, and is just as true today, we are faced with “an urgent need to develop our understanding of appropriate approaches to research in the IS field in a variety of different circumstances and with a variety of different objectives in mind.” This paper is part of a larger action research study exploring impact and methods for studying CAAs To allow for a more targeted exploration of a proposed research approach for CAAs, a particular CAA is used CABdriver (Context-Aware Backseat Driver) is a handheld interactive in-car concept currently in its first implemented version The research approach we are taking is one that integrates the technical and social aspects of evaluating the use of a CAA Although there are a number of approaches that fit this criterion, the approach selected for this analysis is adaptive structuration theory (AST) Lead users and repertory grids are integrated with the approach to provide early assessment of participants’ perceptions of the evolving application concept CABdriver Development of the CABdriver concept was initiated in January 2003, as a joint project with Saab, Mecel, and Vodafone This first implementation of the CABdriver concept is a handheld game which uses contextual information to influence the game, thereby spawning social interaction between the player and the driver directly related to the changing context The game is affected by points of interest (i.e., gas stations, tourist attractions, parking lots), traffic messages (i.e., accidents, road conditions, animal warnings), speed limit, actual car speed, fuel consumption, and driver work-load (a combination of anti-spin control and electronic stability program activity, braking, hard acceleration, navigation system indicating a turn is close-by, and recent use of the turn signal) Olsson & Russo/Applying AST to CAA 737 In this paper, as well as in the broader research project, CABdriver is used as a tangible example of a context aware application which can be used to explore the applicability of a particular evaluation approach This approach is described in the following section RESEARCH APPROACH Traditionally, IS research has focused on assessing the impact of deployed technology, primarily within organizational settings However, the contexts for which we develop information systems today increasingly consist of mobile and ubiquitous information environments, putting the interaction between the user and the technology into a much broader perspective Rather than waiting for this area to develop independently from IS, IS researchers should establish an active role in identifying the methods and approaches used to study the technology itself and its impact (Lyytinen and Yoo 2002; Orlikowski and Iacono 2001) We are responding to this by exploring how an adaptation of action research (Baskerville and Wood-Harper 1996; Susman and Evered 1978), AST (DeSanctis and Poole 1994), repertory grids (Kelly 1955; Tan and Hunter 2002), and lead users (Von Hippel 1988) can help assess the impact of a CAA Table contains a summary of the characteristics of the research approach elements The representative features of action research that have so far come into play are (1) the collaborative initiative CABdriver, (2) highly involved researchers, and (3) the use of theory as a guide As the larger study progresses, more detailed comments on the action research approach can be provided Out of several possible theoretical lenses, we are using AST (DeSanctis and Poole 1994) as it provides us with a rich description of the appropriation of technology and the impact this has AST focuses not only on the social impact, but also on how technology itself affects this Table Summary Research Approach Elements Characteristics Selected References Action research Involved researchers Collaborative Using theory as a guide Continuous reevaluation of theory Continuous reevaluation of application Susman and Evered (1978) Baskerville and WoodHarper (1996) AST Social and technical aspects Appropriation process Impact of technology Predictive and explanatory DeSanctis and Poole (1994) Repertory grids Qualitative and quantitative aspects Capturing cognition Kelly (1955) Tan and Hunter (2002) Lead users Early assessment of application Von Hippel (1988) 738 Part 7: Panels and Position Papers Our use of AST differs somewhat from the traditional use of AST First, our twomonth evaluation of the everyday use of CABdriver is not as long as traditional AST studies Because we are evaluating a technology at an early stage, the amount of time spent on evaluation must be controlled Second, this first implementation of the CABdriver concept is designed to directly influence one user, rather than the common case of multiple users of groupware systems Still, the game is not a solitary game as it has been designed to be virtually impossible to play without interacting with and influencing the driver Analysis of appropriation at this microlevel is something DeSanctis and Poole (1994, p 133) identify as a logical starting-point “since it is in specific instances of discourse that the formation of new social structures begins.” Third, AST has previously been used primarily in organizational settings, rather than in an everyday situation as is the case with CABdriver Fourth, we are bringing the technology to the user and group, rather than studying an already existing technology This means that we, as researchers and participants in the development, have strong structural features we hope to see, which thus forces us to take extra care to not overlook results that not conform to our expectations In an effort to minimize researcher influence, we have incorporated the repertory grid technique (Kelly 1955; Tan and Hunter 2002) from personal construct theory (Kelly 1955) to assist in eliciting participants’ personal constructs (also known as cognitive maps, technological frames, or mental models) related to AST In addition, lead users (Von Hippel 1988) are included in the approach as they enable the CAA to be tested for design flaws prior to the main evaluation, something which is particularly vulnerable to neglect when researchers are involved in the development of the application THE CABdriver SETTING Our initial strategy for evaluating CABdriver included three data collection points At each point, we intended to individually interview each participant using repertory grids complemented by neutral probing questions (Reynolds and Gutman 1988) However, when applying this strategy to the lead user evaluation of CABdriver, it became evident that the strategy was too demanding for the participants, as each grid corresponding to particular constructs of the AST framework required close to one hour to complete Based on this experience, the main evaluation of CABdriver instead uses two data collection points—one midway through and one after the evaluation period Particular emphasis is put on the midway evaluation as the participants at that time have used the application long enough to have in-depth questions and experiences they can discuss with the researchers in order to better understand and further evaluate the application Individual repertory grids capture how the task and environment are perceived by the participants while the appropriation part of AST is captured using qualitative (group) interviews (Patton2002; Wolcott2001) Post-evaluation, participants are asked to answer an in-depth open-ended questionnaire based on the results from the midway interview sessions Through this two step process, initial results outlining the appropriation process and impact of CABdriver from a two month evaluation can be analyzed Furthermore, participants are queried about their experiences from being subjected to the research approach Together with the researchers’ experiences, this enables the approach to be reevaluated for future improvement Olsson & Russo/Applying AST to CAA 739 Table Lead User Assessments Using Repertory Grids Core Assumptions Insights from the CABdriver Case IS researchers need to take an Action Too early in the study to discuss active stance in the emerging research area of context-aware applications AST can provide a rich descripAST The rich description of AST provides tion of important aspects to explanatory help rather than evaluate for emerging predictive technologies The repertory grid technique can Repertory grids present participants Repertory reduce the influence of preconwith a valuable record of the intergrids ceptions from strongly involved view session, enabling reconsiresearchers deration and further explanation on issues often taken for granted Repertory grids present researchers with an effective lens for approaching recorded interview sessions Lead users can effectively test an Applying new or adapted research Lead application concept for design approaches to lead users prior to the users oversights prior to the main main evaluation is an effective way evaluation to test the intended evaluation strategy As this paper focuses on the time prior to the main evaluation, this work does not capture the experiences from the two month evaluation of CABdriver, only the assessments made from applying the approach to lead users of the application The contribution of action research is, therefore, difficult to discuss at this stage, and we remain neutral to this particular method The structured approach provided by AST appears to be useful as a guideline, but will be difficult to follow strictly This implies that the explanatory powers of AST are likely more useful than any predictive powers Unfortunately, it will be impossible to analyze conversations between participants (as is common in AST) due to the difficulties of continuously recording families for two months without imposing too much on their privacy and the everyday situation Instead, repertory grids in combination with open-ended, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires based on the constructs of AST appear to be a useful substitute As indicated by Table 2, lead user assessments of CABdriver using repertory grids provided two unexpected benefits aside from acting as a tool to capture cognition: (1) during the interviews, participants found creating grids a great support for reflecting, comparing, and discussing issues they otherwise seldom considered, and (2) using the grids as an initial filter for how to approach the recorded sessions was highly effective and likely reduced the amount of researcher bias Finally, although the role of lead users was originally defined as testing the application for conceptual design flaws, the lead users also provided a valuable assessment of the data collection strategy, in our case resulting in a redesign 740 Part 7: Panels and Position Papers CONCLUSION In this paper we have presented and briefly discussed the results from applying an adaptation of AST to an action research study, using the repertory grid technique and lead users At this point (i.e., prior to the main evaluation of our CAA), we remain neutral to action research and AST as more data is needed to make a qualified discussion of their impact on the study However, we strongly recommend using repertory grids and lead users to simultaneously assess evolving applications and research methods The overall project of studying CABdriver is still in the early stages In order to continue the task of establishing an active role for IS researchers in the emerging mobile and ubiquitous information environments, additional implementations, theories, and evaluation approaches will be examined for suitability of use in this area REFERENCES Baskerville, R L., and Wood-Harper, A T “A Critical Perspective on Action Research as a Method for Information Systems Research,” Journal of Information Technology (11), 1996, pp 235-246 DeSanctis, G., and Poole, M S “Capturing the Complexity in Advanced Technology Use: Adaptive Structuration Theory,” Organization Science (5:2), 1994, pp 121-147 Dey, A K.; Abowd, G D.; and Salber, D “A Conceptual Framework and a Toolkit for Supporting the Rapid Prototyping of Context-Aware Applications,” Human-Computer Interaction (15), 2001, pp 97-166 Espejo, P “Comment,” in E Mumford R Hirschheim, G Fitzgerald, and A T Wood-Harper (Eds.), Research Methods in Information Systems, Amsterdam: North Holland, 1985, pp 267269 Galliers, R D “In Search of a Paradigm for Information Systems Research,” in E Mumford R Hirschheim, G Fitzgerald, and A T Wood-Harper (Eds.), Research Methods in Information Systems, Amsterdam: North Holland, 1985, pp 281-297 Kelly, G The Psychology of Personal Constructs,Volumes and 2, London: Routledge, 1955 Lyytinen, K., and Yoo, Y “Research Commentary: The Next Wave of Nomadic Computing,” Information Systems Research (13:4), 2002, pp 377-388 Mumford, E., Hirschheim, R., Fitzgerald, G., and Wood-Harper, A T Research Methods in Information Systems, Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1985 Orlikowski, W J., and Iacono, C S “Research Commentary: Desperately Seeking the ‘IT’ in IT Research: A Call to Theorizing the IT Artifact,” Information Systems Research (12:2), 2001, pp 121-134 Patton, M Q Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods ed.), London: Sage Publications, 2002 Reynolds, T J., and Gutman, J “Laddering Theory, Method, Analysis, and Interpretation,” Journal of Advertising Research, February-March 1988, pp 11-31 Schmidt, A.; Beigl, M.; and Gellersen, H-W “There Is More to Context Than Location,” Computers and Graphics (23), 1999, pp 893-901 Susman, G., and Evered, R “An Assessment of the Scientific Merits of Action Research,” Administrative Science Quarterly (23), December 1978, pp 582-603 Olsson & Russo/Applying AST to CAA 741 Tan, F B., and Hunter, M G “The Repertory Grid Technique: A Method For The Study of Cognition In Information Systems,” MIS Quarterly (26:1), 2002, pp 39-57 Von Hippel, E The Sources of Innovation, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988 Weiser, M “The Computer for the 21st Century,” Scientific American, September 1991, pp 94104 Wolcott, H F Writing Up Qualitative Research, London: Sage Publications, 2001 ABOUT THE AUTHORS Carl Magnus Olsson is a Ph.D student at the Department of Informatics at Gothenburg University, Sweden He conducts his research in the Telematics Group of the Viktoria Institute in Sweden and spends part of his time as a guest researcher at the Operations Management and Information Systems Department at the College of Business ofNorthern Illinois University, USA His research is situated within ubiquitous information environments and investigates how contextaware applications may be evaluated and the impact these applications have on an individual and small group level Prior to taking his position at the Viktoria Institute in September 2002, he worked at a computer consultancy company focusing on governmental agencies in Sweden and multinational engineering and telecommunications companies He can be reached at cmo@viktoria.se Nancy L Russo received her Ph.D in Management Information Systems from Georgia State University in 1993 Since 1991, she has been a member of the Operations Management and Information Systems Department at Northern Illinois University During 1998, she was a visiting professor in the Department of Accounting, Finance and Information Systems at University College Cork, Ireland Dr Russo is currently the Chair of the OMIS Department In addition to on-going studies of the use and customization of system development methods in evolving contexts, her research has addressed web application development, the impact of enterprise-wide software adoption on the IS function, IT innovation, research methods, and IS education issues Her work has appeared in Information Systems Journal, Journal of Information Technology, Information Technology & People, Communications of the ACM, and other publications Dr Russo serves as secretary of the International Federation of Information Processing Working Group 8.2 on Information Systems and Organizations She can be reached at nrusso@niu.edu This page intentionally left blank INDEX OF CONTRIBUTORS Aanestad, Margunn Adam, Alison Adams, Carl Allen, Jonathan P Atkinson, Chris Avison, David E Bansler, Jørgen P Barber, Nicholas Barrett, Michael Bauer, Robert Bednar, Peter M Bell, Frances Bertelsen, Olav Boland, Richard J Jr Brennan, Patricia Flatley Breu, Karin Brooks, Laurence Bryant, Tony 615 159 493 655 389, 705 493 631 657 293 233 681 159 655 53 657 661 389 649 Chan, Calvin M L Chiasson, Mike Cornford, Tony Crowston, Kevin Cukier, Wendy 515 143, 657 657 35 233 Davidson, Elizabeth Dittrich, Yvonne 471, 657 655 Erola, Anne 453 Flynn, Donal Fors, Anna Croon 365 687 Galliers, Robert D Gandecha, R Germonprez, Matt Gopal, Abhijit Greenhill, Anita Gregory, Peggy 433 705 335 143 213, 667 365 Häkkinen, Heidi Havn, Erling C Hemingway, Christopher J Henfridsson, Ola Henriksen, Dixi Louise Holwell, Sue Howcroft, Debra Hughes, Jim 45 631 661 411 615 353 195 649 Introna, Lucas 103 Jain, Abhijit Jones, Matthew R 675 121 Kaplan, Bonnie Kawalek, Peter Ela Korpela, Mikko Kuutti, Kari Kvasny, Lynette Langmead-Jones, Peter Lauche, Kristina Lee, Allen S Lim, Eric T K Lindgren, Rikard 1,65 651 259, 657 453, 655 655 83 651 655 21 515 411 744 Lings, Brian Lundell, Björn Lyytinen, Kalle Marcon, Teresa Mathiassen, Lars Middleton, Catherine Mingers, John Mursu, Anja Myers, Michael D Index of Contributors 535 535 53 143 335 233 659 453, 655 649, 659 Newman, Mike Ng, Martin M T 651 713 Oates, Briony J Olsson, Carl Magnus 315 735 Pai, David Pan, Shan Ling Papazafeiropoulou, A Peppard, Joe Pors, Jens Kaaber Pouloudi, A Pozzebon, Marlei Purao, Sandeep Puri, S K 471 515 705 661 615 705 275 175 597 Sahay, Sundeep Salvador, Tony Sawyer, Steve Scott, Susan V Soriyan, Abimbola Stephens, Robert Stolterman, Erik Straub, Detmar Tan, Chee Wee Tan, Michael T K Tapia, Andrea Hoplight Toivanen, Marika Trauth, Eileen M Truex, Duane P III Urquhart, Cathy Ramage, Magnus Rose, Jeremy Rowe, Frantz Russo, Nancy L 71 411, 653 83 735 Wagner, Erica L Walsham, Geoff Waring, Teresa Wastell, David Webb, Brian Whattaker, Louise Whitley, Edgar A Whyte, Jennifer Willetts, Mike Wilson, Melanie Wood-Harper, A Trevor 597 653 35 433 453 693 687 659 515 713 577 453 195, 649 1, 83, 175 649 433 293 , 659 555 1, 651 699 103 653 723 651 653 , 667 ... societies, and individual and honorary membership schemes are also offered INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH Relevant Theory and Informed Practice IFIP TC8 / WG8.2 Year Retrospective: Relevant Theory and Informed. .. European Journal of Information Systems? ?? Information Systems Research? ?? Information Systems Journal‚ and MIS Quarterly Of the many different segments of our information systems research community‚... critical theory to diagnose and prescribe for information systems development is also suggestive of how they and other information systems researchers can use critical theory to diagnose and prescribe