Through a Glass Darkly: Fact and Filtration in the Interpretation of Evidence

For almost three decades, the primary fault line in information systems research has been between positivist and interpretivist research philosophies. The kernel of the debate between these two approaches rotates around the meaning of reality, two aspects of which are what constitutes a fact and what constitutes evidence. In this paper the nature of fact in interpretivist research is explored. The range of filters through which research must travel is catalogued and it is argued that a taxonomy of fact emerges from interpretivist research.