A Tale of Action-Research in Information Systems: Memories of a Ph.D. Student

This paper tells the tale of a Ph.D. student who used action-research to establish an information systems design methodology. It describes how he initiated his project, how he came across action-research, and how he slowly evolved in his search for coherence until he felt he could progress confidently. The paper is mainly intended to offer to readers who are unfamiliar with action-research a context where they can become aware of some of the difficulties of its use and how they can be solved, and recognize some criteria that can be met to ensure that the results obtained are scientifically valid. The paper concludes by reflecting on the close relationship between action-research and the epistemology of the information systems field, suggesting that this relationship should be the object of further exploration.

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