Critical Realism: A Philosophical Perspective for Case Study Research in Information Systems

Resumo

This paper discusses two traditional philosophical perspectives that are currently used in the field of information systems – positivism and interpretivism. It also analyses a more recent philosophical perspective, critical realism, and contributes to explain how case study research can be conducted within a realist perspective of social enquiry by presenting an analysing a research model. The main objective of the paper is to provide the basis for academic researchers in the field of information systems to follow a realist approach of social enquiry and use case studies as a research strategy to conduct their investigations.