IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/conmgt/v27y2009i5p465-472.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Applying critical realism to information and communication technologies: a case study

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Fox

Abstract

Critical realism is a philosophy of science which has been developed as an alternative to positivism and interpretivism. It has been argued that critical realism should be applied to research concerned with information and communication technologies (ICTs). In particular, it has been argued that critical realism can increase understanding of causal mechanisms and contexts that are needed in order to achieve outcomes from actions. However, there is a lack of examples of how critical realism might be applied in practice. The aim of the research was to investigate the potential for practical application of critical realism to research concerned with ICTs. Four interrelated examples are presented from practical application of critical realism during ICT research. These are examples of causal mechanism, technological context, social context and business context. Findings suggest that practical application of critical realism to ICT research in AECO may be possible without any particular training or extensive prior knowledge.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Fox, 2009. "Applying critical realism to information and communication technologies: a case study," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(5), pages 465-472.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:conmgt:v:27:y:2009:i:5:p:465-472
    DOI: 10.1080/01446190902842292
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01446190902842292
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/01446190902842292?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jerome VICENTE (LEREPS-GRES) & Raphael SUIRE (CREM), 2004. "Observational vs. Interactive Learning in Locational Choice: Evidences on ICT Clusters Formation and Stability," Cahiers du GRES (2002-2009) 2004-10, Groupement de Recherches Economiques et Sociales.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Herrera-Vega, Eliana, 2015. "Relevance of N. Luhmann's theory of social systems to understand the essence of technology today. The Case of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 25-42.
    2. Mirani, Rajesh, 2013. "A case study of morphogenetic change in long-term offshoring," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 663-673.
    3. Jamil, Md Golam, 2018. "Technology-enhanced teacher development in rural Bangladesh: A critical realist evaluation of the context," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1-9.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christophe CARRINCAZEAUX, 2009. "Spatial dynamics of innovation (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2009-21, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    2. Stephen Fox & Jiri Hietanen, 2007. "Interorganizational use of building information models: potential for automational, informational and transformational effects," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 289-296.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:conmgt:v:27:y:2009:i:5:p:465-472. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RCME20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.