Qualitative research in information systems: consideration of selected theories - Information Systems Foundations: Constructing and Criticising - page 39

bounded. The contextually rich concept suggests that those events, which are experienced
first hand, are the ones that are most vividly remembered (Tulving, 1972). As Swap et
al. (2001) suggest, employing an approach where research participants relate stories
about their personal experiences '… would be more memorable, be given more weight,
and be more likely to guide behaviour'. (Swap et al., 2001). The second concept, tempor-
ally bounded, suggests that narratives should have a beginning and an ending, along
with a chronological description of intervening events. Research suggests that the se-
quential aspect of relating events contributes to the appropriateness of the narrative
(Bruner, 1990; Czarniawska-Joerges, 1995; Vendelo, 1998).
Narrative inquiry has been employed to investigate behavioural science (Rappaport,
1993), fiction and film (Chatman, 1978), and strategic management (Barry and Elmes,
1997). It has been employed to investigate various aspects of information systems by
Boland and Day (1989), and Hirschheim and Newman (1991). Further, Hunter and Tan
(2001) employed narrative inquiry to identify the major career path impacts of information
systems professionals. They interviewed a number of information systems professionals
at various stages of their career to determine why these individuals changed jobs. In
order to ground the discussion in the research participants' personal experiences, indi-
vidual résumés were employed as the main instrument to guide the interview and to
elicit the narratives. The résumé was employed to assist research participants to reflect
upon their work experiences and report these experiences in a sequential account of
events as they transpired throughout their careers. The résumé approach has been used
previously in information systems research (Young, 2000). The résumé is readily available
and an untapped source of data (Dex, 1991), as well as acting as a milestone reference
to assist human memory recall (Baker, 1991). While the résumé was used to guide the
interview, the next paragraph describes a generic technique upon which the interview
was organised.
The long interview technique (McCracken, 1988) may be used in association with nar-
rative inquiry. During the course of the interview research participants were asked to
reflect upon past work experiences. Initially, 'grand tour' (McCracken, 1988) questions
were asked. These questions are general in nature and non-directive in manner, allowing
the research participant to specify much of the substance or perspective of the interview.
With reference to the research participant's résumé, questions were asked that focused
the discussion on activities of the current position, why the research participant found
the current position attractive and why the research participant left a previous position.
This process was followed in reverse chronological order, employing the research parti-
cipant's résumé as a guide to sequential dates. The discussion continued through the
dates until the time of initial entry into the information systems profession. Throughout
this section of the interview, 'floating prompt' (McCracken, 1988) questions were asked.
The nature of these questions depends upon the content of each interview and, generally,
relate to the researcher's decision to pursue a thread of discussion in more detail. Specific,
or 'planned prompt' (McCracken, 1988) questions were asked near the end of the inter-
view in order to address issues gleaned from the literature or previous investigations.
The objective of this research project was to document the factors surrounding job
changes among a number of information systems professionals at various stages of their
careers. It was anticipated that analysis of the interview data would help to identify and
categorise events surrounding career path changes and career advancement. The results
of this research have provided a more thorough understanding of the events within an
individual's career path, which have resulted in the research participant's current social
positioning within the occupational community. Finally, trends have been identified