Flogging a dead horse: the implications of epistemological relativism within information systems methodological practice

The supporters of the realist principles of information system methodological development argue, that what makes our theories and beliefs about information systems design true or false is the way they stand in relation to reality and not just the way reality is ‘constructed’ in accordance with a particular cultural world-view, descriptive scheme or belief system. In contrast are the views of the anti-realists and epistemological relativists for whom such an argument is nonsensical—involving as it does the appeal to truths outside or beyond our best current knowledge. In this paper, using recent work from within the area, the realist and relativist models of information systems research and methodological design are identified. Following this an analysis is presented which debates whether relativism in information systems design, as a model of epistemology, provides practitioners and researchers with directions for achieving the epistemological state it describes. Finally, the tenet that practitioners and researchers are able to learn and adhere to the principles of relativism and from this will be able to provide an improved methodology for information systems design is questioned.