Structure, Agency, and Causality: Three Central Assumptions in Itd Research

The intention of this paper is to highlight and demonstrate the importance of three ontological assumptions in information technology for development (ITD) research; structure, agency, and causality. We argue that these three assumptions are 1) inherent in all social theory, and thus in ITD research, and 2) underdetermined by the current dominant philosophical approaches to research. Therefore, irrespective of one’s adopted philosophical approach we argue that researchers need to reflect on these assumptions. To expedite this reflection, we present a model of the relationships among philosophy, social theory, and research methodology that illustrates the centrality of these three assumptions in the process of research and theorizing. Then, this essay engages in a retrospective analysis of an ongoing longitudinal interpretive research study in India to consider the relevance of these assumptions and show how they are implicated in research and the development of theory.