Is Information Systems a Science? An inquiry into the nature of the Information Systems Discipline By: Chris Burrows & Patrick ODonovan

Is Information Systems a Science? An inquiry into the

nature of the Information Systems Discipline

By: Chris Burrows

& Patrick O’Donovan

Presentation format

• About the paper• Information Systems is NOT a Science• Information Systems is a Science• Conclusions• Questions

About the paper

• Authors:– Deepak Khazanchi (University of Nebraska)– Bjorn Munkvold ( Agder University College, Norway)

• Date:– Summer 2000

• References:– >70

• Publication:– The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems –

Summer 2000 (Vol. 31, No.3)

About the paper (2)

• Subject:– The Information Systems (IS) field is currently

undergoing a crisis of identity.– Academics are questioning the need for IS

departments in universities / colleges.– Practitioners ignore IS as a distinct field of study.– The article outlines these and other challenges and

concludes IS as an emerging science.

Science is

• “the state of knowing-knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding”

• “knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through the scientific method.” (Merriam-Webster Online, 1998)

Information Systems Research, King 1993, p 283.

Field of study

• “Is IS a field of study or just an intellectual convocation that arose from the confluence of interests among many individuals from many fields.”

Identity, the core of IS

• IT department, deployment of IT resource

• Management Department, use in organisational behaviour or marketing

IS

• A Techincal System

• A Social System

• A Conceptual System

Reference

• Computer Science

• Management Science

• Organisational Science

Technology

• Enabler of IS

• Technology quickly changing, leaving current thinking behind

What does it include

• What kinds of phenomena are included in the study of IS?

• What is the conceptual domain of the IS discipline?

• What is the potential for finding underlying uniformaties in the IS discpline?

• What is the status of methodological rigor in IS research?

Members of IS

• Skeptical of own field

• Cross discipline

Business

• Lack of Government understanding

• Ivory Tower, research is key

Conclusion

• Too fragmented

• No real core

• No real knowledge

• Lack of faith and understanding

Information Systems: a science

• Define Information Systems

• Define Science

• Examples of its scientific nature

• Conclusion

Definitions

• Information Systems:– Interpreted differently by different groups of

people:• A technical system• A social system• A conceptual system

– This makes it hard to arrive at a precise definition

Definitions

• Information Systems:– Basic: meaningfully processed data

• Meaningful = relevant to the user• Data = raw symbols or facts

Definitions

• Information Systems:– More detailed: a collection of interrelated

components that work together to collect, process, store and distribute information to support decision-making and control an organisation.

• Components: hardware, software, procedures, people, databases

Definitions

• Science:– Key distinguishing characteristics:

• Any science must have a distinct subject matter or phenomena

• A science has some means of describing and classifying its subject matter

• A science utilises the “method of science” to investigate its subject matter

• Presupposes the existence of underlying laws, principles and theories


• Critical assessment of the nature of the IS discipline.– By applying criteria based on a version of the

natural science model– Findings: There are fundamental

characteristics of the natural sciences that are clearly applicable to the IS field


• IS Phenomena– “Any science must have a distinct subject

matter, a set of phenomena which serves as a focal point for investigation”

– Not all can agree what should be included however there are common elements

– IS focal point: “information technology”


• Describing and Classifying the IS field– “A science has some means of describing and

classifying its subject matter”– Cushings (1990) states that although IS is a

young discipline substantial progress has been made in identifying and classifying its subject matter.


• Underlying Uniformities in IS Phenomena– The general aim of theory development and

knowledge accumulation in IS research is a key argument favouring the status of IS as a science.


• IS Research Methodology– “Social science is not united by the subject

matter but by their research methodology”– Methods are techniques sufficiently general to

be common to all sciences– IS investigators use these techniques

depending upon the nature of the IS phenomena being studied.


• A counter argument: it has no “intellectual core”, it borrows from many referent disciplines.– What about Physics?

• Greatly influenced by maths or electronic engineering.

– What about Geology?• Greatly influenced by Physics and Chemistry


• Another counter argument: It has a lack of cumulative of knowledge. The IS field’s foundations are young and tentative– What about Newtonian Physics:

• It was similar• New scientific knowledge was built on it


• Conclusion– IS field includes a systematic body of

organised knowledge– Studied using diverse but rigorous scientific

methods:• Methods which are transferable across subjects

– Although IS derives its models / theories from other disciplines so do social sciences


• What if???– IS community would have lost their identity– Reductionist view of the role of IS in

organisations and society as the focus would shift to how technology could support existing practices and business processes

– A loss in proactive research

Documents

Is Information Systems a Science? An inquiry into the nature of the Information Systems Discipline By: Chris Burrows & Patrick ODonovan