Musings on Critical Realism

For the past two weeks, I have been reading about research philosophies and methodologies to help design my research.  It is a bit difficult, given that I am working with an interdisciplinary topic that crosses multiple areas. My topic is on the 'usability of disaster mobile applications from the perspective of the citizens'.

There are two strong research paradigms: positivism or interpretivism. I was on the fence on which one I will adhere to... Because, even just on the top level, I can cut my topic into three broad themes: [1]  mobile applications (technology), disaster management  (social science/ management), [3] citizens' use (computer-human interaction). So there is the technical, social, AND the interaction between the two. So... am I primarily dealing with information systems which has a strong predominance on positivism? Or am I dealing with the social concept of technology use which might lean more towards an interpretivist stance? 

However, after further reading, I realize that these are more than two options. There are also other concepts such as pragmatism, critical realism, and others. So far Critical Realism (CR) seems to suit my research world view.

Critical realism takes on the realist stance -- where reality is believed to exist outside human perception (hence 'realism'). But knowledge of this reality can only be perceived through human experiences where knowledge is always local and historical; viewpoints (scientific, political, social, etc...) are all valid but to some extent fallible (hence 'critical'). Critical realism is "ontologically bold but epistemologically cautious." (Wynn and Williams, 2012). 

How reality is viewed by critical realism:

CR acknowledges that there is an intransitive domain where there are enduring properties. In the realm of the real, there are inherent powers and tendencies of things. In the realm of the actual, these tendencies are triggered into events (whether observed by us or not). The empirical is the realm where we acquire our knowledge, where we get to measure and to perceive the experienced events. 

Despite a realism ontology, CR allows for epistemological relativity (Zachariadis, Scott & Barret, 2013).  The process of our scientific knowledge is in the transitive domain where it is "historically emergent, political and imperfect"(Zachariadis, Scott & Barret, 2013). With a relative epistemological stance, CR supports mixed methods research. CR acknowledges that in order to access different epistemological characteristics of different type of objects we can use a range of research methodologies.  (Mingers, Mutch & Willocks, 2013). 

Some key points to consider further

• retroduction
• causal tendencies

Important Readings (some read and some still to read)

• Critical realism and information systems

Carlsson, S. a. (2011). Critical Realist Information Systems Research in Action. In M. Chiasson, O. Henfridsson, H. Karsten, & J. I. DeGross (Eds.), Researching the Future in Information Systems (pp. 269–284). Turku: Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21364-9_17

Dobson, P. J. (2012). Critical realism and IS research: Some methodological implications. In M. Mora, O. Gelman, A. Steenkamp, & M. Raisinghani (Eds.), Research Methodologies, Innovations and Philosophies in Software Systems Engineering and Information Systems (pp. 63–81). Hershey, PA. http://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-0179-6.ch004

Mingers, J., Mutch, A., & Willcocks, L. (2013). Critical realism in information systems research. MIS Quarterly, 37(3), 795–802. 

Smith, M. L. (2006). Overcoming theory-practice inconsistencies: Critical realism and information systems research. Information and Organization, 16(3), 191–211. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2005.10.003

Wynn, D. J., & Williams, C. K. (2012). Principles for conducting critical realist case study research in information systems. MIS Quarterly, 36(3), 787–810.

Zachariadis, M., Scott, S., & Barrett, M. (2013). Methodological implications of critical realism for mixed-method research. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 37(3), 855–879.

• Design science

Carlsson, S. A. (2010). Design science research in information systems: A critical realist approach. In A. R. Hevner & S. Chatterjee (Eds.), Design research in information systems: integrated series in information systens (Vol. 22, pp. 209 – 233). http://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5653-8

Hevner, A. R., March, S. T., Park, J., & Ram, S. (2004). Design science in information systems research. MIS Quarterly, 28(1), 75–105. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5653-8_2

Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., Rothenberger, M. A., & Chatterjee, S. (2007). A Design Science Research Methodology for Information Systems Research. Journal of Management Information Systems, 24(3), 45–78. http://doi.org/10.2307/40398896

• Mixed Methods

Venkatesh, V., Brown, S. A., & Bala, H. (2013). Bridging the qualitative-quantitative divide: guidelines for conducting mixed methods research in information systems. MIS Quarterly, 37(3), 855–879.

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