Qualitative Research in IS: Issues and Trends
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European Journal of Information Systems (2002) 11, 83–84
www.palgrave.com/jors
Book review
Qualitative Research in IS: Issues and Trends By EM Trauth Published by Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA, USA, 2001 ISBN 1-930708-06-8 European Journal of Information Systems (2002) 11, 83. DOI: 10.1057/palgrave/ejis/3000404 There are a substantial number of books on the detail of research methods and methodologies, such as Creswell (1995), and on the practice of executing a research study, such as Walliman (2001). The focus of this book, including its practical IS flavour, complements those. The declared goals of the book are to assist IS researchers in learning of and employing such methods, and facilitating discussion of the actual use of qualitative methods in IS. It meets those goals. It approaches its task with 11 chapters across as many authors; seven are from the USA. Eileen Trauth, of Boston’s Northeastern University, acts as Editor, as well as contributing two chapters. Having a spectrum of authors contributes to the richness of the material in this case. After two scoping chapters, the remainder of the book is divided into two sections: on issues ‘for the IS Researcher’ and ‘for the IS Professional’, that is, supervisor or other research manager. The distinction is real in the nature of the chapters but, in another sense, artificial as all chapters should be worthwhile reading for both groups. Although the chapters are effectively free-standing papers, the overall effect does not suffer the most common weakness of the approach, a lack of cohesion; they hold together fairly well. They address both generic dimensions, in particular choice and implementation, and specific approaches, in particular action research, ethnography and
grounded theory. The number of candidate methods or methodologies for inclusion is large and some selection was clearly necessary. Nevertheless, the scope of this book could have been a little broader. For example, it makes only passing reference to case study research (such as discussed by Yin, 1994), which is a potentially fruitful approach in the IS domain, and omits mention of other dimensions to action enquiry (Ellis & Kiely, 2000). There is almost a feeling of apology in the opening pages of this book, namely, that it needs to justify how IS could ever make use of anything other than positivistic research methods. This betrays US roots and a corresponding mind-set; there is now no questioning, in Europe, the significance of qualitative methods as part of the IS research tool-kit. Amongst the practical issues raised, it notes that the institution where one works has an influence on the norms and values in the IS field, and, correspondingly, the disposition to types of research. Probably true, and perhaps this review should be read in that light! The book fairly addresses its two declared audiences. One, students learning about qualitative research methods in IS. Two, independent learners, by which it means PhD students and IS academic staff new to qualitative approaches. A particular
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