Interpretivist assumptions have directed me toward the subjective social meanings that information technology acquires as it is developed and used. As designers, managers, and users interact, shared and competing interpretations of technology emerge which ultimately produce important social consequences, such as the use or nonuse of systems. I see no inherent contradiction in the same researcher performing both interpretive and positivist research. Selection of epistemological assumptions should depend on their usefulness to the particular research questions being addressed. By sharing my assumptions and methods with the community to whom the research is directed, I allow all readers to form their own opinions about the appropriateness of the research for their own purposes.
Academic freedom guarantees scholarly diversity and rejects intellectual hegemony.
However, academic freedom is governed by rules that ensure some conformity to fundamental standards of research. Two of these rules are worth emphasizing here. The purpose of the Method section in standard research papers is to disclose the methods used by the researcher. A reader should gain enough information from the description of method to be able to replicate the study with another sample or site. Failure to state the details of method leads critics to dismiss such work as sloppy and unfounded.