Authors: Fred Niederman, Roman Lukyanenko
Tags: categorization, conceptual modeling, IS categories
As part of doing research, scientists, including information systems researchers, ceaselessly propose new, apply existing or refine previously proposed categories. Despite the centrality of categories to research, very little conceptualizing on the nature of categories had been attempted and the little that is known remains contentious. In the information systems discipline the investigations on the nature of categories had been pursued most notably by Parsons and Wand (2008a) and Nickerson et al. (2013), who while advancing the field, left unresolved controversies. To further the debate on the subject, in this paper we entertain a distinction between two types of categories – truth-seeking and action-oriented, each focusing on a unique aspect of information systems research. This distinction raises new questions about the nature of information systems research and strategies for making theoretical contributions using categories. We conclude by making a call for future research on the nature of information systems categories.
Cite as:
Lukyanenko R. and Niederman F. (2019). “Toward a framework for making theoretical contributions using categories in IS,” in AIS SIGSAND, New York, NY, United States, June 1-2, 2019.
