o Why are empirical studies based on the methods of evaluation and technology assessment important to the successful implementation of information resources to improve health care? o What challenges make studies in informatics diflicult to carry out? How are these challenges addressed in practice? ¡ Why can all evaluations be classified as empirical studies? o What are the major assumptions und...

Biro and Siegel have raised two objections against the pragmadialectical approach to argumentation. According to the first, the pragmadialectical theory is not genuinely normative. According to the second, the rejection of justificationism by pragma-dialecticians is unwarranted: they reject justificationism unjustly and they are not consistent in accepting some arguments (‘justifications’) as s...

Identifying concept–formation as a mathematical process and demonstrating that the essence of a concept is objective, rather than intrinsic or subjective, Ayn Rand claims to have solved the “problem of universals” in philosophy and to have paved the way for the validation of scientific induction. Rand’s theory holds profound implications for marketing theory.

Bayes' rule shows how one might rationally change one's beliefs in the light of evidence. It is the foundation of a statistical method called Bayesianism. In health care research, Bayesianism has its advocates but the dominant statistical method is frequentism. There are at least two important philosophical differences between these methods. First, Bayesianism takes a subjectivist view of proba...

This paper examines the role that computer-based information systems can play in the communication and sharing of knowledge. It considers the actual and potential symbiosis of such systems with the concepts of knowledge management within an organizational environment. It identifies the objectivist philosophy of knowledge, which typically underpins the literature advocating computer-based knowle...

In this rejoinder I respond separately to Daniel Fishman’s and Ronald B. Miller’s respective arguments regarding my views about objectivity and causality, owing to the fact that Fishman finds a place for “objectivity” and “causality” within his theoretical model whereas Miller does not. First, I question the basis for Fishman’s conclusion that coherence and pragmatic models are objectivist acco...

The French conception of Information science is often compared to the Anglophone one which is perceived as different and rooted mainly in Shannon's mathematical theory of communication. While there is such thing as a French conception of information science, this conception is not totally divorced from the Anglophone one. Unbeknown to researchers from the two geographical and cultural regions, ...

Reviewing the information systems (IS) literature shows the prevalence of studies claiming to exploit the grounded theory (GT) method. However, most of these studies follow an objectivist approach to GT. This manuscript addresses another recognized yet rarely used GT approach in IS: constructivist. The importance of IS constructivist research is briefly explained. This is followed with a recapi...

Examining the naturalist and normativist concepts of health and disease this article starts with analysing the view of C. Boorse. It rejects Boorse's account of health as species-typical functioning, giving a critique of his view based on evolutionary theory of contemporary biology. Then it gives a short overview of the normativist theories of health, which can be objectivist and subjectivist t...