Research Philosophy and Strategy

Chapter 2 highlighted both the critical need for data-exchange standards and the current limit of empirical research in the adoption of information technology standards and more specifically data-exchange standards such as STEP. These two issues were key motivations for this research. Therefore, to achieve the aims of this research, a qualitative approach was used to support the exploratory and descriptive nature of the research. This chapter discusses the justifications for the overall research philosophy and approach subscribed to, and the multiple data collection and data analysis activities used to collect sufficient data to answer the study’s research questions.