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International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 151-152, 1995 Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0268-401~95 $10.[X) + 0.00
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Research Notes This issue's research notes discuss methodology research undertaken in my own institution. (If researchers wish to discuss the relevance, importance and ongoing research of their organizations, please contact me at the address below.) Dr Nimal Jayaratna Department o f Computing and Electrical Engineering Heriot- Watt University Riccarton Edinburgh E H I 4 4AS, UK Tel: +44 (0)31 451 3410 Fax: +44 (0)31 451 3327 e-mail nimal@uk, ac. h w. cee
Research in information systems methodologies Information systems (IS) research and teaching within a computing and electrical engineering environment can be both a satisfying and a frustrating experience. Students who spend most of their time on programming and/or design engineering find IS an extremely exciting, interesting and intellectually demanding topic. It also enables them to relate to industrial/business environments in which most of them seek career development. Satisfaction is also experienced when non-IS colleagues begin to appreciate the contribution of IS research and teaching. It can also be a frustrating experience when those who cannot relate to the subject display their subjective prej u d i c e s . R e l e v a n c e to i n d u s t r y / business is not a question that arises in their minds. Trying to conduct research and teaching within such an environment is an extremely challenging experience particularly when there is a determination on the part of the IS researchers to pursue the unanswer-
able questions. Being an interdisciplinary subject, IS provides an opportunity to link many knowledge areas. In this context well established compartmentalized knowledge is challenged by integrative IS knowledge areas. The specific research at HeriotWatt has helped us to conceptualize IS not simply as the capturing, storing, processing of data and disseminating the resulting data (Kendall, 1992; Hicks, 1993) but as a much more meaningful subject. For example, we would challenge the very notion of data vs information. As the late Anderton (1987) pointed out, meaningfulness is applied to the processing and certainly to the decisions on what data to collect in the first place. Our research has helped to identify five IS sub-functional areas namely • • • • •
processing and usability; systems development; educating and training; information systems management; information systems strategy.
For a more elaborate discussion on the nature of the sub-functions and the differences between academic and industrial perspectives of the subject see Jayaratna (1994). The essence of research at HeriotWatt is focused on methodologies, through which we examine requirement definitions (Biggam and Hogarth, 1994) integrating software engineering with organizational issues (Bell and Oates, 1994), role of control systems (Jayaratna and Thomson, 1993) and a methodology for strategic information systems developed (Fong, 1994). In addition, strong collaborative research is being undertaken with the universities of Vaxjo, Stockholm, L u n d and S u n d s v a a l of S w e d e n (Lundberg, Nissen) and the Universi-
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ty of Bayonne of France (Larrasquet, Meyranx). IS research, both theoretical and applied kind, has helped us to understand and evaluate methodologies in terms of what they attempt to achieve, their influence domains and boundary construction, capabilities and limitations, philosophical paradigms, focus, consistency between what they try to achieve and their structures and steps. The framework that was developed and refined over this period has helped us to understand and evaluate methodologies and for understanding any problem solving process (Jayaratna, 1994). Methodologies have been classified under • Provision/technical (Daniel and Yates, 1969); • Task (de Marco, 1979; Yourdon, 1988); • Structural (Beer, 1988); • Process (Mumford, 1983); • Issues (Checkland, 1981; Churchman, 1971). The second research area focuses on the development of a problem formulation methodology. This work was originally generated by D'Arcy and Jayaratna (1985) and is now continuing at a theoretical and conceptual level. In fact, it is this research that enabled us to note that methodologies have a significant role to play in what problems are perceived and solved in practice. Rather than methodologies helping to solve problems, most bring solution laden ideas and notions to the problem situation, and it is these that are used for determining problems. A third research area is in the design of a methodology for the development of new forms of organizations. This work is being carried out with L a r r a s q u e t of the U n i v e r s i t y of Bayonne, France and Lundberg of Stockholm University, Sweden. We
Research notes h a v e f o u n d this c o l l a b o r a t i o n particularly useful b e c a u s e it has h e l p e d to e x a m i n e t h e role of i n f o r m a t i o n syst e m s in new ways. W i t h the s u p p o r t of the d e p a r t m e n t we initiated a n d e s t a b l i s h e d an int e r e s t g r o u p w i t h i n t h e British C o m p u t e r Society o n IS m e t h o d o l o g i e s . This g r o u p has n o w grown f r o m a n initial m e m b e r s h i p of eight to over 140 worldwide. It is o u r belief in the subject m a t t e r a n d its intellectual c o n t e n t t h a t e n a b l e d us to get this g r o u p s t a r t e d within the B C S a n d not the politics which n o r m a l l y drive t h e s e activities. T h e first two a n n u a l confere n c e s of the g r o u p were held at the university with c o n s i d e r a b l e success. W e believe IS r e s e a r c h can m a k e t h e g r e a t e s t c o n t r i b u t i o n to k n o w ledge only if we a d m i t to o u r inadequacies a n d failures as a starting point. It is the a d m i t t a n c e of failures t h a t h a v e h e l p e d the r e s e a r c h g r o u p m e m -
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bers to b r e a k free f r o m self-imposed intellectual c o n s t r a i n t s a n d c o n t r i b u t e to the r e s e a r c h d e b a t e .
References ANDERTON, R A (1987) 'Information, systems and the construction of meaning'
International Journal of Information Management 7 BEER, S (1988) Diagnosing the System Wiley (1994) 'A framework for model integration' Second BCS Conference in IS Methodologies, Lissoni, Warwick University Press BIGGAM, J AND H O G A R T H , A (1984) 'Soft systems methodology (SSM): fundamental issues' Second BCS Conference on IS Methodologies, Warwick University Press CHECKLAND, P B (1981) Systems Thinking, Systems Practice Wiley CHURCHMAN, C W (1971) The Design of Enquiring Systems New Basic Books D'ARCY, B AND JAYARATNA, N (1985) 'SysBELL, V AND OATES, B
tems closure and enquiry' Systems Re-
search 12 (1) DANtEL, A AND YATES, O (1969) Basic Training for Systems Analysis Pitman Publishing OEMARCO (1979) Structured Analysis and Systems Specification Yourdon Press FONG, J (1994) 'Towards a better understanding of strategic information systems opportunities for business organisations' Second BSC Conference on IS Methodologies, Warwick University Press HICKS, J (1993) Management Information Systems: a user perspective West Publishing Co J A Y A R A T N A , N AND THOMSON, I (1993) 'Management accounting: can it ever become an intellectual discipline!' BAA Conference, Glasgow, UK JAYARATNA, N (1994) Understanding and Evaluating Methodologies McGraw Hill KENDALL, P (1992) Introduction to Systems
Analysis and Design--a structured approach WC Brown MUMVORD, E (1983) Designing Human Systems Manchester Business School VOURDON, E (1988) Modern Structured Analysis Prentice-Hall
International Journal of Information Management 1995 Volume 15 Number 2