Not available in 2019/20
MG502 Half Unit
Foundations of Social Research in Information Systems: Paradigms and Traditions
This information is for the 2019/20 session.
Teacher responsible
Prof Jannis Kallinikos NAB3.24
Availability
This course is compulsory on the MRes/PhD in Management (Information Systems and Innovation). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.
Compulsory for MPhil/PhD Informations Systems and Innovation students in their first year. Students from related PhD programmes who are interested in epistemological paradigms may be able to join the course with the teacher's permission.
Course content
The course introduces the foundations of social research and the key issues concerning the status of knowledge and the forms by which it is acquired. The course deals with the principal paradigms/traditions in the philosophy of science and epistemology and the answers they have provided to the basic questions concerning the status of knowledge claims and the forms by which valid knowledge claims can be made. The main focus of the course concerns the ways by which these key epistemological paradigms have been applied in the fields of Information Systems and Organization Studies. The course is structured around the following basic epistemological paradigms: Positivism Critical Realism Constructivism Hermeneutics, Phenomenology Critical Theory Structuralism Postmodernism
Teaching
2 hours of lectures, 9 hours of lectures and 9 hours of seminars in the MT.
Indicative reading
Archer, M. et al. (eds.), (1998) Critical Realism, Readings. London: Routledge; Dreyfus, H & Rabinow, P. (1982) Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. London: Harvester; Crotty, M. (1998), The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process. London: Sage; Lakatos, I. & Musgrave, A. (eds.) (1970) Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Morgan, G. (1983) Beyond Method: Strategies for Social Research. London: Sage; Myers, M.D. & Avison, D. (eds.) (2002) Qualitative Research in Information Systems. London: Sage.
Assessment
Essay (100%, 7000 words) in the LT.
An essay of between 5,000-7,000 words to be submitted by the end of March.
Key facts
Department: Management
Total students 2018/19: Unavailable
Average class size 2018/19: Unavailable
Value: Half Unit
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Problem solving
- Communication
