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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Exploring the Role of Informants in Interpretive Case Study Research in IS

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Interpretive case study research constitutes an important and increasing part of the information systems (IS) knowledge base (Walsham, 1993; Myers, 1997; Pare and Elam, 1997; Walsham, 2006). Interpretive case studies can be distinguished from positivist case study research (Benbasat et al., 1987; Lee, 1989; Dube and Pare, 2003) by the focus on close interaction between researcher and participants throughout the case study process, viewing the case members as active participants in the construction of the case narrative (Boland, 1985; Guba and Lincoln, 1989; Kvale, 2002). However, while the interpretivist perspective ascribes an active role to the case study informants, in practice the extent of this involvement is normally confined to the data collection process and discussion of early versions of the case narrative. In few cases is the involvement of the informants reported to continue further to the final stages of analytical abstraction of the case study data, where the aim is to develop the overall patterns and explanations.