There is a growing interest in critical realism (CR) in Information Systems (IS) research. This paper presents and discusses how critical realism can be an alternative philosophical underpinning for IS research. It briefly presents critical realism and how it can be used in IS research. Contemporary examples of how CR have been used in IS research are presented and discussed. The future use of ...

In “Economics and Reality” (1997) Tony Lawson advocates a perspective on social reality labelled critical realism. Critical realism maintains that strict regularities between observable events are the exception rather than the rule in the social world. This is a negative argument for econometrics which is seen to rely on the identification of such regularities. By contrast, the notion of explan...

Despite the fact that realism has long been the dominant outlook in science, ethical realism has been thought to be especially problematic. Even the most steadfast realists in other fields have questioned the existence of moral truths. It seems that the would be moral realist has his work cut out for him. The first step necessary for any defense of moral realism will be the identification of th...

This paper examines the treatment of ontology offered by Critical Realism. Three main criticisms are made of the Critical Realist treatment of open systems. It is argued that Critical Realism, particularly in the project in economics emanating from Cambridge, UK, tends to define systems in terms of events. This is shown to be problematic. The exemplar of a closed system provided by Critical Rea...

“realism” is a critical term which in its specific sense refers to a literary movement in mid-nineteenth century and in its general sense designates a style of writing that has continued into the contemporary period. the school principal, a short novel by jalal ale-ahmad, is a characteristic example of realism in its general sense in which the author attempts to represent people and social cond...

In a series of recent papers, the prominent Austrian economist Peter Boettke has criticised orthodox economics for its lack of realism. This paper situates Boettke’s critique in the context provided by recent developments in the methodology of economics, most notably critical realism. While there is a good deal of common ground between Boettke’s approach and critical realism, the latter also he...

Critical realism has been proposed as an alternative philosophical paradigm to positivism and interpretivism, but few papers have offered guidelines or suggestions for applying this philosophy to actual research methodologies. This article proposes a set of methodological principles for conducting and evaluating critical realism-based explanatory case study research within the information syste...