Advancing Information Systems Evaluation (Research): A Critical Realist Approach

The aim of Information Systems (IS) evaluation research is to produce ever more detailed answers to the question of why an IS initiative works (better) for whom and in what circumstances. This paper presents an alternative to traditional IS evaluation research approaches. The alternative, realistic IS evaluation research, is based on the philosophy of critical realism. Realistic IS evaluation research attends to how and why an IS initiative has the potential to cause (desired) changes and seeks to understand for whom and in what circumstances (contexts) an IS initiative works through the study of contextual conditioning. The paper also discusses problems with traditional IS evaluation research approaches and how realistic IS evaluation overcomes the problems.