Epistemology and Methodology in Case Research: A Comparison between European and American IS Journals

The case study is an important research method in Information Systems research. It enables us to study contemporary and complex social phenomena in their natural context and is one of the most widely used qualitative research methods in the field. Case studies are used in both the positivist and the interpretist epistemological tradition. Studies on the evaluation of case research tend to focus on only one of these epistemological standpoints and tend to have a North American bias when it comes to journal selection. This study evaluates 62 case studies that have been published in North American and European top journals and that have been conducted from both epistemological stances. In this study I compare papers published in American and European journals on epistemology, methodology and pluralism with respect to other sciences such as sociology, psychology or history. The evaluation is done in the qualitative tradition (because it concerns qualitative studies). In this way it provides IS researchers with a colourful palette with which they can paint their own case study designs and reports.