This is a list of references on interpretive research.
After a brief introduction which suggests those works which
are essential reading for newcomers to the field, the list
is organized into two parts: the first part lists citations related to
the approach in Information Systems, the second
lists citations related to the approach in other disciplines. You can use the Edit Find command to look for a specific
citation.
Please send additional references and/or short abstracts
of items on this page (maximum 100 words) to the Section
Editor at: m.myers@auckland.ac.nz
Andersen, P-B. "A Semiotic Approach to Construction and
Assessment of Computer Systems," in Information Systems
Research: Contemporary Approaches and Emergent Traditions,
H-E. Nissen, H.K. Klein, R.A. Hirschheim (eds.),
NorthHolland, Amsterdam, 1991, pp. 465514.
Anderson, P-B. and Holmqvist, B. (eds.). The
Semiotics of the Workplace, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin,
1995.
Auramaki, E., Lehtinen, E. and Lyytinen, K. "A
Speech-Act-Based Office Modeling Approach," ACM
Transactions on Office Information Systems (6:2),
April 1988, pp. 126-152.
Barrett, M. and Walsham, G. "Electronic Trading and
Work Transformation in the London Insurance Market, Information Systems Research
(10:1), March 1999, pp.
1-22.
Baskerville, R., Pentland, B.T. and Walsham, G. "A
Workshop on Two Techniques for Qualitative Analysis:
Interviewing and Evaluation," Proceedings of the
Fifteenth International Conference on Information Systems,
1994, p. 503-4.
Beath, C.M. and Orlikowski, W.J. "The Contradictory
Structure of Systems Development Methodologies:
Deconstructing the IS-User Relationship in Information
Engineering," Information Systems Research (5:4),
December 1994, pp. 350-377.
Bentley, R., Rodden, T., Sawyer, P., Sommerville, I.,
Hughes, J., Randall, R. and Shapiro, D.
"Ethnographically-Informed Systems Design for Air Traffic
Control", ACM 1992 Conference on Computer-Supported
Cooperative Work: Sharing Perspectives, ACM Press, New
York, 1992, pp. 123-129.
Boland, R. "The process and product of system design,"
Management Science (28:9), 1978, pp. 887-898.
Richard Boland was probably the first researcher in
information systems to draw attention to the relevance
of hermeneutics and phenomenology to IS research. All of
his following articles (including this one) are
excellent examples of interpretivism in IS research.
Boland, R. "Control, causality and information system
requirements," Accounting, Organizations and Society
(4:4), 1979, pp. 259272.
Boland,
R. "Phenomenology: A Preferred Approach to Research in
Information Systems," in Research Methods in
Information Systems, E. Mumford, R.A. Hirschheim, G.
Fitzgerald, and T. WoodHarper (eds.), NorthHolland,
Amsterdam, 1985, pp. 193201.
Boland, R.J. Jr. "Information System Use as a
Hermeneutic Process," in Information Systems Research:
Contemporary Approaches and Emergent Traditions, H-E.
Nissen, H.K. Klein, R.A. Hirschheim (eds.), NorthHolland,
Amsterdam, 1991, pp. 439-464..
Boland, R.J. and Day, W.F. "The Experience of System
Design: A Hermeneutic of Organizational Action," Scandinavian Journal of Management (5: 2),
1989, pp. 87-104.
Bussen, Wendy, and Michael D. Myers. 1997. "Executive
Information Systems Failure: A New Zealand Case Study." Journal of Information Technology Vol. 12, No.2, June
1997, pp. 145-153.
Butler, T. "Towards a hermeneutic method for
interpretive research in information systems," Journal
of Information Technology (13:4), 1998, pp. 285-300.
Crowe, M., Beeby, R. and Gammack, J. Constructing
Systems and Information: A Process View, McGraw-Hill,
London, 1996.
The authors argue that information is not merely a
property of data but something we ourselves meaningfully
construct in making sense of situations. The authors
suggest that an underlying philosophy of
'constructivism' better supports designing for
adaptivity in changing environments than a realist
approach to systems development. This book discusses and
extends the interpretivist tradition in IS.
Davies, L. and Myers, M.D. "Scholarship and practice:
the contribution of ethnographic research methods to
bridging the gap," in Business Process Re-Engineering:
Information Systems Opportunities and Challenges, B.C.
Glasson, I.T. Hawryszkiewycz, B.A. Underwood and R.A.
Weber (eds.), North Holland, Amsterdam, 1994, pp. 223-231.
Davies, L., Newman, M. and Kaplan, B. "A Workshop on
Two Techniques for Qualitative Analysis: Interviewing and
Evaluation," Proceedings of the Fourteenth
International Conference on Information Systems, 1993,
p. 399.
Davis, G.B., Lee,
A.S., Nickles, K.R., Chatterjee, S., Hartung, R. and Wu,
Y., "Diagnosis of an Information System Failure: A
Framework and Interpretive Process," Information &
Management, (23:5), 1992, pp. 293-318.
Abstract: In diagnosing an episode of
information system application failure, the IS
professional and others doing the analysis face two
challenges: (1) relevant data must be identified,
collected , and organised; and (2) the data must be
analysed and interpreted to form a coherent picture of
the perspectives, actions and events which resulted in
the troubled or failed system. This article provides a
diagnostic framework and interpretive analysis for
performing a diagnosis. The premise underlying the
diagnostic framework is that an information system is a
social system that uses information technology. The
social and technical dimensions in the diagnosis of an
information system are represented in a two-dimensional
framework. Once the data and comments about the failure
have been organised in the framework, the process of
interpretation follows procedures based on interpretive
methods (hermeneutics). The framework and associated
interpretive methods assist those doing a diagnosis in
applying two powerful bodies of knowledge to failure
diagnosis - socio-technical systems and interpretive
methods. The article describes the framework and
interpretive process, explains the rationale for them,
and demonstrates their use for a case situation.
Comment: This paper is an excellent example of
the use of the hermeneutic approach to interpreting case
study data. The development of the interpretation is
clearly described as a series of steps in which the
researcher's understanding and interpretation of the
case study data develop. The topic of the paper is
clearly of interest to both researchers and
practitioners (Provided by M. Broadbent and G. Shanks).
Dietz, J.L.G. and Widdershoven, G.A.M. "Speech Acts or
Communicative Action?" Proceedings of the Second
European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work,
Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1991, p. 235-248.
Dietz, J.L.G. and Widdershoven, G.A.M. "A comparison of
the linguistic theories of Searle and Habermas as a basis
for communication support systems," in Linguistic
Instruments in Knowledge Engineering, R. Van der Reit,
and R. Meersman, (eds.), North-Holland, New York, 1992, p.
121-130.
Dhillon, G. Managing information system security.
Macmillan, London, 1997.
Abstract: In this book I present an
interpretive study of information system security within
organizations. I have used concepts rooted in semiotics
to conduct the argument (Provided by the author).
Doolin, B. "Information technology as disciplinary
technology: being critical in interpretive research on
information systems," Journal of Information Technology
(13:4), 1998, pp. 301-311.
Fitzgerald, B. and Howcroft, D. "Towards dissolution of
the IS research debate: from polarization to polarity," Journal of Information Technology (13:4), 1998, pp.
313-326.
Gerson, E.M. and Star, S.L. "Analyzing Due Process in
the Workplace," ACM Transactions on Office Information
Systems (4:3), July 1986, pp. 257-270.
Gopal, A. and Prasad, P. "Understanding GDSS in
Symbolic Context: Shifting the Focus from Technology to
Interaction," MIS Quarterly (24:3), 2000, pp.
509-546.
Harvey, L. and Myers, M.D. "Scholarship and practice:
the contribution of ethnographic research methods to
bridging the gap", Information Technology & People,
(8:3), 1995, pp. 13-27.
This article provides an overview of ethnography in
IS research. The above paper received the MCB University
Press Award for Excellence for the most outstanding
paper published in the 1995 volume of Information
Technology & People. A PDF version of this paper is
available.
Heaton, L. "Talking heads vs. virtual workspaces: a
comparison of design across cultures," Journal of
Information Technology (13:4), 1998, pp. 259-272.
Hewitt, C. "Offices are Open Systems," Transactions
on Office Information Systems (4:3), 1986, pp.
271-287.
Hirschheim, R. "Information Systems Epistemology: An
Historical Perspective," in Information Systems
Research: Issues, Methods and Practical Guidelines,
R. Galliers (ed.), Blackwell Scientific Publications,
Oxford, 1992, pp. 28-60.
Jones, M. and Nandhakumar, J. "Structured Development?
A Structurational Analysis of the Development of an
Executive Information System" in Human, Organizational,
and Social Dimensions of Information Systems Development
D. Avison, J.E. Kendall and J.I.DeGross (eds.), North
Holland, Amsterdam, 1993, pp. 475-496.
Kaplan, B. and Duchon, D. "Combining Qualitative and
Quantitative Methods in Information Systems Research: A
Case Study," MIS Quarterly (12:4) 1988, pp.
571-587.
Kaplan, B.
and Maxwell, J.A. "Qualitative Research Methods for
Evaluating Computer Information Systems," in Evaluating
Health Care Information Systems: Methods and Applications,
J.G. Anderson, C.E. Aydin and S.J. Jay (eds.), Sage,
Thousand Oaks, CA, 1994, pp. 45-68.
Klein H. K. and Hirschheim R. "Issues and Approaches to
Appraising Technological Change in the Office: A
Consequential Perspective," Office: Technology and
People, (2), 1983, pp. 1524.
Klein,
H. K. and Michael D. Myers. "A
Set of Principles for Conducting and Evaluating
Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems," MIS Quarterly, Special Issue on Intensive Research
(23:1), 1999, pp. 67-93.
Absract: This article discusses the conduct
and evaluation of interpretive research in information
systems. While the conventions for evaluating
information systems case studies conducted according to
the natural science model of social science are now
widely accepted, this is not the case for interpretive
field studies. A set of principles for the conduct and
evaluation of interpretive field research in information
systems is proposed, along with their philosophical
rationale. The usefulness of the principles is
illustrated by evaluating three published interpretive
field studies drawn from the IS research literature. The
intention of the paper is to further reflection and
debate on the important subject of grounding
interpretive research methodology.
Klein,
H.K. and Truex III, D.P. "Discourse Analysis: A Semiotic
Approach to the Investigation of Organizational
Emergence," in The Semiotics of the Workplace, P.B.
Andersen and B. Holmqvist (eds.), Walter De Gruyter,
Berlin, 1995.
Komito, L. "Paper 'work' and electronic files:
defending professional practice," Journal of
Information Technology (13:4), 1998, pp. 235-246.
Paper documents are often described as 'information
rich', in contrast with electronic documents. This
ethnographic study examines Lotus NOTES in a sub-section
of the Irish civil service, with particular reference to
the concurrent use of electronic and paper documents.
The sub-section examines disagreements with regard to
claims by Irish citizens for particular government
benefits. The study describes how meta-information
contained in paper case files is perceived as necessary
for the work of the organisation, thus restricting the
use of electronic case files in NOTES as a shared
information system. However, this reliance on paper
files derives not only from the information rich
properties of paper documents, but also from the desire
of some workers to protect occupational status by
defining, as necessary for their job, information which
is only available in paper documents and which only they
can interpret. This dependence on paper documents also
reduces the amount of information that can be shared
within the organisation. This paper suggests that, only
if the perceived threat posed by the information system
were reduced in some way would user innovations in work
practices and greater sharing of information within the
organisation become possible.
Kumar, K., van Dissel, H.G., and Bielli, P. "The
Merchant of Prato - Revisited: Toward a Third Rationality
of Information Systems," MIS Quarterly (22:2),
1998, pp. 199-226.
Lacity, M.C. and Janson, M.A. "Understanding
Qualitative Data: A Framework of Text Analysis Methods,"
Journal of Management Information Systems (11:2),
Fall 1994, pp. 137-155.
Larsen, M. and Myers, M.D. 1999. "When success turns
into failure: a package-driven business process
re-engineering project in the financial services
industry," Journal of Strategic Information Systems,
Vol. 8, No. 4, December 1999, pp. 395-417.
Lee, A.S. "A Scientific Methodology for MIS Case
Studies," MIS Quarterly (13:1), 1989, pp. 33-52.
Lee, A. S. "Integrating Positivist and Interpretive
Approaches to Organizational Research," Organization
Science, (2), 1991, pp. 342-365.
Lee, A.S.
"Electronic Mail as a Medium for Rich Communication: An
Empirical Investigation Using Hermeneutic Interpretation,"
MIS Quarterly (18:2), June 1994, pp. 143-157.
Lee, A.S., Baskerville, R.L. and Davies, L. "A Workshop
on Two Techniques for Qualitative Data Analysis: Action
Research and Ethnography," Proceedings of the
Thirteenth International Conference on Information Systems,
1992, p. 305-306.
Lehtinen, E., and Lyytinen, K. "Action based model of
information system," Information Systems (2:4),
1986, pp. 299317.
Liebenau, J. and Backhouse,
J. Understanding information: An introduction.
Macmillan, London, 1990.
Lyytinen, K. and Ngwenyama, O.K. "What does computer
support for cooperative work mean? A structurational
analysis of computer supported cooperative work," Accounting, Management and Information Technologies
(2:1), 1992, pp. 19-37.
Levine, H.G. and Rossmore, D. "Diagnosing the Human
Threats to Information Technology Implementation: A
Missing Factor in Systems Analysis Illustrated in a Case
Study," Journal of Management Information Systems,
(10:2), Fall 1993, pp. 55-73.
Lyytinen, K. J. and Ngwenyama, O. K. "What does
computer support for cooperative work mean? A
structurational analysis of computer supported cooperative
work," Accounting, Management and Information
Technology (2:1), 1992, pp. 1937.
Madsen, K.H. "Breakthrough by Breakdown," in Information Systems Development for Human Progress in
Organizations, H.K. Klein and K. Kumar (eds.), 1989,
pp. 41-53.
Majchrzak, A., Rice, R.E., Malhotra, A., King, N., and
Ba, S. "Technology Adaptation: The Case of a
Computer-Supported Inter-Organizational Virtual Team," MIS Quarterly (24:4), 2000, pp. 569-600.
Murray, F. "Technical rationality and the IS
specialist: Power, discourse and identity," Critical
Perspectives on Accounting (2) 1991, pp. 5981.
Myers, M.D.
"A disaster for everyone to see: an interpretive analysis
of a failed IS project," Accounting, Management and
Information Technologies (4:4), 1994a, pp. 185-201.
Abstract: The New Zealand Education Department
attempted to implement a centralised payroll system in
1989. The difficulties that the department experienced
were broadcast on national radio and television and
publicised on the front page of The New Zealand
Herald. In the end, the centralised payroll system
was scrapped by the government. This paper examines this
case study using the critical hermeneutics of Gadamer
and Ricoeur. Critical hermeneutics, as an integrative
theoretical framework, combines both interpretive and
critical elements, and addresses those social and
organisational issues, which are key to the successful
implementation of information systems. This paper
suggests critical hermeneutics as a conceptual
foundation for information systems implementation
research.
Comments: This paper shows how critical
hermeneutics can be used in the interpretation of case
study data. The case study is presented in a way which
clearly explains the changing perspectives of the
various stakeholders in the information system
implementation (Provided by M. Broadbent and G. Shanks).
Myers, M. D. "Quality in Qualitative Research in
Information Systems", Proceedings of the 5th
Australasian Conference on Information Systems, 1994b,
pp. 763-766.
Myers, M.D. "Dialectical hermeneutics: a theoretical
framework for the implementation of information systems," Information Systems Journal (5:1), 1995, pp. 51-70.
Myers, M.D. "Hermeneutics in
Information Systems Research," in: Social Theory and Philosophy for
Information Systems, J. Mingers and L.P. Willcocks (eds.), John Wiley &
Sons, Chichester, 2004, pp. 103-128.
Nandhakumar, J. "Design for Success?: critical success
factors in executive information systems development "
European Journal of Information Systems 5, 1996, pp.
62-72.
Nandhakumar, J. and Jones, M. "Too close for comfort?
Distance and engagement in interpretive information
systems research," Information Systems Journal
(7:2), 1997, pp. 109-131.
Orlikowski, W.J. "Integrated Information Environment or
Matrix of Control? The Contradictory Implications of
Information Technology," Accounting, Management and
Information Technologies (1:1), 1991, pp. 9-42.
Abstract: This paper examines the extent to
which information technology deployed in work processes
facilitates changes in forms of control and forms of
organising. A field study of a single organisation that
implemented information technology in its production
processes is presented as an empirical investigation of
these issues. The findings indicate that information
technology reinforced established forms of organising
and facilitated an intensification and fusion of
existing mechanisms of control. While debunking the
technological imperative once again, the results also
provide a number of insights into the contradictory
implications of computer-based work and control in
organisations. In particular, this paper shows that when
information technology mediates work processes, it
creates an information environment, which while it may
facilitate integrated and flexible operations, may also
enable a disciplinary matrix of knowledge and power.
These findings and their implications for control, forms
of organising, and professional practice are discussed.
Comments: This paper presents a thorough
analysis of relevant literature which motivated the
field study. Detailed descriptions are presented and the
discussion of implications is well related to the
literature. Although the paper is longer than most, it
is a very good example of interpretive research
(Provided by M. Broadbent and G. Shanks).
Orlikowski, W.J. "CASE Tools as Organizational Change:
Investigating Incremental and Radical Changes in Systems
Development," MIS Quarterly (17:3), September 1993,
pp. 309-340.
Orlikowski, W.J. "Improvising Organizational
Transformation Over Time: A Situated Change Perspective,"
Information Systems Research (7:1), 1996, pp.
63-92.
Orlikowski, W.J. & Baroudi, J.J. "Studying Information
Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and
Assumptions", Information Systems Research (2)
1991, pp. 1-28.
An excellent overview of the underlying
epistemological perspectives and assumptions in IS
research.
Orlikowski, W.J., Markus, M.L. and Lee, A.S. "A
Workshop on Two Techniques for Qualitative Data Analysis:
Analytic Induction and Hermeneutics," Proceedings of
the Twelfth International Conference on Information
Systems, 1991, p. 390-1.
Orlikowski, W.J. and Robey, D. "Information Technology
and the Structuring of Organizations," Information
Systems Research (2), 1991, pp. 143-169.
Orlikowski, W.J. and Yates, J. "Genre Repertoire: The
Structuring of Communicative Practices in Organizations,"
Administrative Science Quarterly, 39, 1994, pp.
541-574.
Phillips, D.J. "The social construction of a secure,
anonymous electronic payment system: frame alignment and
mobilization around Ecash," Journal of Information
Technology (13:4), 1998, pp. 273-283.
Pozzebon, M. "Conducting and Evaluating Critical
Interpretive Research: Examining Criteria as a Key
Component in Building a Research Tradition," in:
Information Systems Research: Relevant Theory and Informed
Practice, B. Kaplan, D.P. Truex, D. Wastell, A.T.
Wood-Harper and J.I. DeGross (eds.), Kluwer Academic
Publishers, Norwell, MA, 2004, pp. 275-292.
Abstract: The collection, analysis,and
interpretation of empirical materials are always
conducted within some broader understanding of what
constitutes legitimate inquiry and valid knowledge. This
paper describes the timely emergence of a critical
interpretive perspective in IS research and holds the
argument that an extended version of Golden-Biddle and
Locke.s (1993) criteria is not only appropriate but
comprehensive as initial guidelines for conducting and
evaluating critical interpretive research.
PriesHeje, J. "Three barriers for continuing use of
computer-based tools: a grounded theory approach," Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems
(4), 1992,
pp. 119-136.
Rathswohl, E.J. "Applying Don Idhe's Phenomenology of
Instrumentation as a Framework for Designing Research in
Information Science," in Information Systems Research:
Contemporary Approaches and Emergent Traditions, H-E.
Nissen, H.K. Klein, R.A. Hirschheim (eds.), NorthHolland,
Amsterdam, 1991, pp. 421-438.
Sayer, K. "Denying the technology: middle management
resistance in business process re-engineering," Journal
of Information Technology (13:4), 1998, pp. 247-257.
Schultze, U. "A Confessional Account of an Ethnography
about Knowledge Work," MIS Quarterly (24:1), 2000,
pp. 3-41.
Stamper, R. Information in Business and Administrative
Systems, Batsford, London, 1973.
Comments: Semiotics was first introduced to
the IS community by Ronald Stamper in his seminal 1973
book. The book can be regarded as one
of the classic IS texts (Provided by Frank Land).
Suchman, L. Plans and Situated Actions: The Problem
of Human-Machine Communication, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 1987.
Trauth, E.M., and Jessup, L.M. "Understanding
Computer-Mediated Discussions: Positivist and Interpretive
Analyses of Group Support System Use," MIS Quarterly
(24:1), 2000, pp. 43-79.
Turkle, S. "Constructions and Reconstructions of Self
in Virtual Reality: Playing in the MUDs," Mind,
Culture and Activity, 1, 1994, pp. 158-17.
Visala, S. "Broadening the empirical framework of
Information Systems Research," in Information Systems
Research: Contemporary Approaches and Emergent Traditions,
H-E. Nissen, H.K. Klein, R.A. Hirschheim (eds.),
NorthHolland, Amsterdam, 1991, pp. 347-364.
Walsham, G. Interpreting Information Systems in Organizations,
Wiley, Chichester, 1993.
Walsham's book is an excellent introduction to the
interpretive perspective on IS phenomena.
Walsham, G. "Interpretive case studies in IS research:
nature and method," European Journal of Information
Systems (4), 1995, pp. 74-81.
Walsham, G. "The Emergence of Interpretivism in IS
Research," Information Systems Research (6:4),
1995, pp. 376-394.
In this article Walsham provides an overview of the
historical development of interpretivism in IS research.
Walsham, G. and Waema, T. "Information Systems Strategy
and Implementation: A Case Study of a Building Society,"
ACM Transactions on Information Systems (12:2),
April 1994, pp. 150-173.
Walsham, G., and Sahay, S. "GIS for District-Level
Administration in India: Problems and Opportunities," MIS Quarterly (23:1), 1999, pp. 39-65.
Winograd,
T. & Flores, F. Understanding Computers and Cognition,
A New Foundation for Design, Addison-Wesley Publishing
Co. Inc., New York 1987.
This book discusses the relevance of hermeneutics and
other social and philosophical theories to the design of
computer systems.
Wynn, E. Office Conversation as an Information
Medium, PhD Dissertation, University of California,
Berkeley, 1979.
Wynn, E. "Taking Practice Seriously", in Design at
Work, J. Greenbaum, and M. Kyng (eds.), New Jersey,
Lawrence Erlbaum, 1991.
Zemanek, H. "Semiotics and programming languages," Communications of the ACM (9:3), 1966, pp. 139-143.
Zuboff, S. In the Age of the Smart Machine, New
York, Basic Books, 1988.
Austin, J.L. How to Do Things with Words,
Clarendon Press, London, 1962.
An important work in semiotics.
Berger, P. and
Luckman, T. The social construction of reality: a
treatise in the sociology of knowledge, Penguin
Publishers, London, 1967.
A very readable introduction to the interpretive
perspective in social science, showing how social
reality is socially constructed.
Bernstein, R.J. Beyond
Objectivism and Relativism, University of Pennsylvania
Press, Pennsylvania, 1983.
This book marks an important landmark in social
philosophy and the philosophy of science. Bernstein
draws attention to the hermeneutical dimension in all
science, drawing on Kuhn's work
amongst others.
Bleicher, J.
Contemporary Hermeneutics: Hermeneutics as Method,
Philosophy and Critique, London and Boston: Routledge
& Kegan Paul, 1980.
This book is a useful overview of the different forms
and uses of hermeneutics.
Blumer, H. Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and
Method, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1969.
Blumer's symbolic interactionism is one interpretive
approach the analysis of social phenomena.
Chua, W.F.
"Radical Developments in Accounting Thought," The
Accounting Review (61), 1986, pp. 601-632.
A critique and overview of the development of
interpretive research in accounting.
Dyer, W.G. Jr. and Wilkins, A.L. "Better Stories, Not
Better Constructs, to Generate Better Theory: A Rejoinder
to Eisenhardt," Academy of Management Review
(16:3), 1991, pp. 613-619.
A brief rejoinder to Eisenhardt, arguing that
"stories" make good social science, not better
constructs.
Eisenhardt, K.M. "Building Theories from Case Study
Research," Academy of Management Review (14:4),
1989, pp. 532-550.
Eisenhardt's suggestions for building better theories
from case study research. This article led to Dyer and
Wilkins rejoinder above.
Eisenhardt, K.M. "Better Stories and Better Constructs:
The Case for Rigor and Comparative Logic," Academy of
Management Review (16:3), 1991, pp. 620-627.
Eisenhardt defends herself against the arguments put
forward by Dyer and Wilkins.
Foucault, M. The Archaeology of Knowledge,
Tavistock, London, 1972.
Gadamer, H-G. Truth and
Method, The Continuing Publishing Corporation, New
York, 1975.
This book is a classic in the field of hermeneutics,
but could be heavy going for some.
Gadamer, H-G. Philosophical Hermeneutics,
California, University of California Press, 1976a.
Gadamer, H-G. "The Historicity of Understanding," in
Critical Sociology, Selected Readings, P. Connerton
(ed.), Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, 1976b, pp.
117-133.
For a brief introduction to Gadamer, this excerpt
from Gadamer's work in the selection of readings edited
by Connerton is excellent. The excerpt is well chosen
and in a few pages summarizes some of the key ideas in
Gadamer's thought.
Garfinkel, H. Studies in ethnomethodology,
Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1967.
Geertz, C. The Interpretation of Cultures, Basic
Books, New York, 1973.
An important contribution to the interpretive
perspective in anthropology.
Giddens, A. The Constitution of Society: Outline of
the Theory of Structure, University of California
Press, Berkeley, CA, 1984.
In this book Giddens outlines his theory of
structuration.
Grice, H.P. "Logic and Conversation," in Syntax and
Semantics, Vol. 3, Cole, P. and Morgan, J. (eds.),
Academic Press, New York, 1975, p. 41-58.
Heidegger, M. Being and Time, Basil Blackwell,
Oxford, 1962.
Herda, Ellen A. Research Conversations and
Narrative: A Critical Hermeneutic Orientation in
Participatory Inquiry. Praeger Publishers,
Westport, Conn.
1999.
Abstract: This book portrays how
participatory inquiry in a critical hermeneutic
tradition moves the research process for social
scientists from an epistemological place to an
ontological event. Part One offers a critique of the
technical, intellectual, and advocacy research
enterprises and provides the reader a segue to a
philosophical and historical discussion of critical
hermeneutics. The discussion, in Part Two, lays the
foundation for an ontologically-based field research
protocol. In Part Three, the questions of research
topic, research categories, questions and conversations,
selection of participants, entree, background of
researcher, data collection and analysis, and learning
and community are discussed from a theoretical and
applied perspective with examples drawn from selected
field projects.
This book draws on works by Ricoeur, Gadamer, Habermas,
R. Bernstein and C.A. Bowers. The research conversation
based in the notion of "play" marks the researcher and
research participants as co-progenitors of the data
which when transcribed becomes a text for analysis. This
text has the possibility of opening reconfigured worlds
in our organizations and communities. The notions of
text, narrative, and mimesis are explicated in terms of
data analysis with implications for action and social
policy. An ontological understanding of language is at
the heart of participatory inquiry in a critical
hermeneutic tradition. It is through this understanding
that we are endowed with the responsibility for creating
just institutions.
Husserl, E. Logical investigations, Routledge
and Kegan Paul, London, 1970.
Husserl, E. Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology
and to a phenomenological philosophy, Kluwer, Boston,
1982.
Krippendorff, K.
Content analysis : An introduction to its methodology.
Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, 1980.
Kuhn, T. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,
Second Edition, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
1970.
Kuhn, T. The Essential
Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and
Change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977.
As a physicist turned philosopher and historian of
science, Kuhn looks at the nature of scientific
tradition and change. Kuhn's discusses the importance of
hermeneutics in the preface.
Luthans, F. and Davis, T.R.V. "An Idiographic Approach
to Organizational Behavior Research: The Use of Single
Case Experimental Designs and Direct Measures," Academy
of Management Review (7:3), July 1982, pp. 380-391.
Morey, N.C. and Luthans, F. "An Emic Perspective and
Ethnoscience Methods for Organizational Research,"
Academy of Management Review (9:1), January 1984, pp.
27-36.
Mueller-Vollmer, K (ed.) The Hermeneutic Reader,
New York: Continuum Publishing, 1988.
This book is a detailed treatment of hermeneutics,
including selected articles from prominent hermeneutical
scholars. This volume includes essays from the debate
between Gadamer and Habermas (a proponent of critical
theory).
Nardulli, P.F. The Courtroom Elite: An
Organizational Perspective on Criminal Justice,
Ballinger Press, Cambridge, MA, 1978.
Palmer, R. Hermeneutics:
Interpretation Theory in Schleiermacher, Dilthey,
Heidegger, and Gadamer. Northwestern University Press,
Evanston, 1969.
This is a very readable introduction to and overview
of many of the key thinkers in interpretation theory.
Rabinow, P. and Sullivan, W.M (eds.). Interpretive
Social Science: A Reader, Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1979.
This book includes interesting articles on
hermeneutics and other topics from authors such as
Charles Taylor, Paul Ricoeur and Clifford Geertz.
Radnitzky, G.
Contemporary Schools of Metascience, Goteborg:
Scandinavian University Books, 1970.
Ricoeur, P. The Conflict
of Interpretations: Essays in Hermeneutics,
Northwestern University Press, Evanston, 1974.
Ricoeur, P. "Hermeneutics: Restoration of Meaning or
Reduction of Illusion?" in Critical Sociology, Selected
Readings, P. Connerton (ed.), Penguin Books Ltd,
Harmondsworth, 1976, pp. 194-203.
For a brief introduction to Ricoeur, this excerpt
from Ricoeur's work in the selection of readings edited
by Connerton is excellent. The excerpt is well chosen
and in a few pages summarizes some of the key ideas in
Ricoeur's thought.
Ricoeur, P. Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1981.
Schutz, A. Collected papers, M. Nijhoff,
Hingham, MA, 1982.
Searle, J.R. Expression and Meaning, Studies in the
Theory of Speech Acts, Cambridge University Press,
London, 1979.
Taylor, C. "Hermeneutics and
Politics," in Critical Sociology, Selected Readings,
P. Connerton (ed.), Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth,
1976, pp. 153-193.
Thompson, J.B.
Critical hermeneutics: A study in the thought of Paul
Ricoeur and Jurgen Habermas, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 1981.
Tice, T.N. and Slavens, T.P. Research Guide to
Philosophy, Chicago: American Library Association,
1983.
This book gives a brief overview of hermeneutics and
critical theory in just nine pages (pp. 293-301).
Weber, M. The Protestant ethic and the spirit of
capitalism, Unwin University Books, London, 1930.
Weber, M. The methodology of the social sciences,
Free Press, Glencoe, Ill, 1949.
Whyte, W.F. Street Corner Society: The social
structure of an Italian slum, University of Chicago
Press, Chicago, 1943.
