Building bridges: constructing a framework for evidence-based information systems

Abstract

A recurring and problematic characteristic of information systems’ (IS) use has been the development of isolated ‘islands of information’. As technological advances have provided solutions, so, however, have the original problems been transformed. The current archipelago exists largely unrecognized, partly because the matter from which the islands are formed has also changed. It is no longer the content of the computerized systems that is isolated but information about IS practice itself. Academic research, practitioner reports and vendor marketing all contribute to a disparate collection of contradictory and often unevaluated information concerning IS practice, while the large volume of this information and the ease of its accessibility serve to disguise the extent of its fragmentation. Following the lead established by medicine and healthcare, the creation of an ‘evidence-based’ culture within the IS community, particularly the creation of systematic analyses of relevant literature, has been proposed as one means of bridging the gaps between these islands. There are, however, significant differences between IS and healthcare which need to be recognized if the transfer of concepts is to be successful. In this paper we identify and describe some of those differences and provide an initial sketch of a framework in which an evidence-based IS culture could flourish.

Debating Systematic Literature Reviews (SLR) and their Ramifications for IS: A rejoinder to Mike Chiasson, Briony Oates, Ulrike Schultze, and Richard Watson

“…Referring to the achievements of evidence-based medicine and health care, Oates joins others (Atkins and Louw, 2000) in arguing for faster adoption of EBP and 'evidence networks' in the IS industry 'to increase potential impact and usefulness of IS research, via SLRs that can inform the decision making of Table 1 Examples of recommendations for systematic literature reviews on university websites University of Strathclyde, Humanities and social science materials Systematic reviews help us to use primary research to find out what we know and what we do not know about any given topic. This can help inform what we might want to know from further research and how we might undertake this research.'…”

Beyond being Systematic in Literature Reviews in IS

“…In our guidelines on writing a literature review we stressed effectiveness by highlighting the importance of going beyond summarizing to synthesizing and paid less attention to efficiency (Webster and Watson, 2002). The SLR literature (e.g., Atkins and Louw, 2000) and its critics Boell and Cecez-Kecmanovic (forthcoming) have stressed methodology and given more emphasis to efficiency than effectiveness. I continue to believe that synthesis is the key to effectiveness, but I am also convinced we need to redesign the journal system for efficiency.…”

“…A SLR (e.g., Atkins and Louw, 2000) advocates a process that is 'replicable, transparent, objective, unbiased, and rigorous' (Boell and Cecez-Kecmanovic, forthcoming). The criticism of SLR by Boell and Cecez-Kecmanovic (forthcoming) adopts the perspective that a literature review lays the foundation for future research, a stance we took in our guidelines (Webster and Watson, 2002).…”

How can visualisation principles be used to support knowledge transfer in teaching and learning?

“…A systematic literature review (SLR) process was used to gather design guidelines from the field of information and knowledge visualisation. The SLR was selected as a protocol that is claimed to be replicable, transparent, objective, unbiased and rigorous [14][15][16]. The databases used are IEEE Xplore, Google Scholar, Scopus, Springer and ACM, and the search strings used are those that returned results containing at least one of the terms knowledge/information visualisation, knowledge/information visualisation principles, knowledge/information visualisation guideline.…”