Novice-based Data Collection Methods for the Study of IOIS : Practice Probes and Learning Communities

Reimers Kai, Johnston Robert B, Guo Xunhua, Klein Stefan, Xie Bin, Li Minzhi

Abstract
In response to the increasing influence of practice theory perspectives for studying organisational and inter-organisational information systems, we demonstrate that an important dilemma from this perspective for data collection methods is between authentic access to practices and the ability to thematize knowledge of practices. We propose a promising new approach to this dilemma that uses the learning experiences of novice practitioners to collect data as they are progressively enrolled in the practice, and describe two instantiations of this new approach, practice probes and learning communities.

Keywords
Inter-organisational information systems(IOIS); Research methods; Data collection; Practice theory; Communities of practice; Embodied knowledge; JEL classification C8; Responsible Editor: Hans-Dieter Zimmermann and Nilm