A key author in the reflection on methodological and research approaches

Allen S. Lee, a key writer on methodological and research approaches

From his earliest research, Allen S. Lee has distinguished himself by integrating a wide range of research methods, based on both positivist and interpretivist epistemologies.

A true pillar of Information Systems (IS) research, as an advocate of integrated research approaches, Allen S. Lee has worked for the equal recognition of interpretive, qualitative and case study approaches, often relegated to the background, in IS research. For some years now, Allen S. Lee has been pursuing a research program that links and combines qualitative and quantitative research methods with positivist and interpretivist epistemologies.

In this chapter, we present some of the author's most important works on this methodological subject. We then detail his contribution to one of the most controversial theories in the IS field, namely media wealth theory.

We conclude this chapter with this author's main contributions, while opening the way to other perspectives and future avenues of research.

Allen S. Lee's research career has been characterized by the development of new concepts that have enriched the IS discipline. His quest to theorize IS has led him to study the workings of organizations in detail, in order to bring a recognized scientific basis to the field. To reconcile rigor and relevance, he turned to scientific methodology, with the contribution of statistical tools and mathematical calculations. Then, going beyond these classic methodologies, he focused on the notion of "system", which until recently had not found a definition in this field of research.

Allen S. Lee devotes most of his work to the integration of positivist and interpretivist research methods in IS. In the course of his research, he mobilizes fields as varied as philosophy, sociology, systems theory, social theory and mathematical logic, particularly formal logic. His research program, spanning three decades, identifies the main principles of the philosophy and history of science, and applies them to the IS discipline. It seeks to show how qualitative research can be rigorously conducted and meet the requirements of science.

In fact, Lee has endeavored to reconcile opposing methodologies. The pursuit of his research has led him to confront, once again, two approaches considered irreconcilable, namely positivism and interpretivism. In Integrating Positivist and Interpretive Approaches to Organizational Research (1991), Lee proposes a framework for reconciling the two methods. From this framework derive three levels of understanding: subjective, interpretive and positivist.

One of Allen S. Lee's major contributions is his desire to create a common scientific basis. This notion means that the author wishes to develop conciliation between opposing research methodologies (qualitative/quantitative, positivist/interpretive, etc.), notably with the integration of formal logic (testing of empirical theories). The aim is also to bring together different currents of research, enabling greater collaboration and pooling of data in the IS field.

The author's other essential contribution is the rich use of different approaches outside the field of "hard" sciences. The transdisciplinary contribution of the natural and social sciences sheds new light on IS users. The result is a dynamic understanding of the situations observed. It is influenced by Schütz's work on phenomenological sociology, which is a strength in that it takes account of individual specificities in the analysis proposed by the authors, particularly with regard to his reflections on the notion of media richness, which he presents as limited because it does not take sufficient account of the socially constructed dimension of technology.