Is there a dominant paradigm for information systems development?

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Is there a dominant paradigm for information
systems development?

• An empirical study

2
Background

• Hirschheim and Klein (1989) applies a
  philosophical line of analysis to Information
  System Development (ISD) process.
• They group these assumptions into four paradigms,
  namely, the functionalist paradigm, the social
  relativist paradigm, the radical structuralist
  paradigm and the neohumanist paradigm.

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• They admit that in practice the paradigmatic
  influences are usually mixing. That is, the
  information system development approaches are
  influenced by assumptions from more than one
  paradigms
• However, they argue that the influence from one
  paradigm is typically dominant.
• the major merit of this article is that it
  provides a well structured framework to examine
  the effects of different ISD philosophies

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Motivation

• However, almost all ISD approaches are influenced
  by several paradigms simultaneously.
• Nowadays, as more and more independent groups and
  individuals are involved in an IS project, it is
  usually hard to identify which paradigm plays a
  dominant role.

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• This study aims to provide empirical evidences to
  support the fact that many IS Development are not
  influenced by a dominant paradigm. Instead, they
  are influenced by the dynamic interaction of
  various paradigms.
• If it is the case, the research in the
  interactive dynamics of these four paradigms
  emerges as a promising topic.

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Theoretical Justification

• Nowadays, as more and more independent groups and
  individuals are involved in an IS project, it is
  usually hard to identify which paradigm plays a
  dominant role.
• In this sense, exact identification of ISD
  paradigm for each project is of little use in
  practice.

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• In practice, it is relatively easy to identify an
  individual (e.g. a project director) or a small
  group's ISD philosophy.
• As mentioned before, a typical IS project
  involves many individuals and groups. So the
  usefulness of the research in ISD philosophy
  conflicts and interaction is manifest.

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Methodology

• Question to be answered Is there usually a
  dominant paradigm for information systems
  development?
• Methodology Survey of ALL participants of
  several IS projects.

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• Survey design
• Step 1 Ask a series of questions to identify
  which paradigm a subjects IS development
  philosophy belongs to.
• Step 2 Ask a series of questions to identify
  the subjects importance in a IS project. For
  example, the project managers IS development
  philosophy should have more weights than a
  programmers.

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Analysis of the result

• Calculate the weighted sum of each paradigm. The
  paradigm with the highest scores should be deemed
  as the candidate dominant paradigm (CDP).
• Check that whether the scores of CDP is
  significantly larger than any those of others.

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• If the score of CDPs are significantly larger for
  most IS projects. We accept Hirshheim and
  Kleins arguement that the influence from one
  paradigm is typically dominant.
• Otherwise we reject their argument. We need to
  construct some dynamic models to examine the
  conflicts and interactions among these paradigms.
  Obviously, it is an interesting and challenging
  topic for further research.