A critical perspective on action research as a method for information systems research

Richard Baskerville

pp. 169-190

in: Leslie Willcocks, Chris Sauer, Mary C. Lacity (eds), Enacting research methods in information systems 2, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review critically the origins, techniques and roles associated with a growing information systems (IS) research method known as "action research". This method is widely cited as an exemplar of a post-positivist social scientific research method, ideally suited to the study of technology in its human context. We seek to illuminate both the attractions and the detractions that this method holds for IS researchers.