Call for papers for a Special Issue of the Australasian Journal of Information Systems (AJIS) on Qualitative Methods in IS/IT Research: Issues, Contributions and Challenges.

Guest co-editors
Wasana Bandara - Queensland University of Technology, Australia, w.bandara@qut.edu.au
Walter D Fernández - The Australian National University, Australia, walter.fernandez@anu.edu.au
Bruce Rowlands - Griffith University, Australia, B.Rowlands@griffith.edu.au

Motivation and overview
Qualitative research methods are widely accepted in Information Systems and multiple approaches have been successfully used in IS qualitative studies over the years. These approaches include narrative analysis, discourse analysis, grounded theory, case study, ethnography and phenomenological analysis. Guided by critical, interpretive and positivist epistemologies (Myers 1997), qualitative methods are continuously growing in importance in our research community.

The aim of this AJIS Special Issue is to provide a forum within which we can present and debate the significant number of issues, results and questions arising from the pluralistic approach to qualitative research in Information Systems. We recognise both the potential and the challenges that qualitative approaches offers for accessing the different layers and dimensions of a complex and constructed social reality (Orlikowski 1993). The Special Issue is also a response to the need to showcase the current state of the art in IS Qualitative research and highlight advances and issues encountered in the process of continuous learning that includes questions about its ontology, epistemological tenets, theoretical contributions and practical applications.

Research questions
We invite contributions from those working with qualitative research methods in the areas of information technology, information systems, software engineering, business, social and health informatics. We are interested in submissions that address a range of ontological, epistemological and practical issues in qualitative research including, but not limited to, the following questions and topics:

• Papers showing critical methodological challenges when applying qualitative methods in IS/IT research.
• Ontological and epistemological issues in qualitative research.
• Innovative applications of qualitative methods in IS/IT studies.
• Social and ethical considerations in qualitative research.
• Issues of design, data gathering, data analysis and interpretation.
• Qualitative research which uses information technology to generate and/or collect qualitative data (e.g. blogs, emails).
• The use of software tools designed expressively for the qualitative researcher (e.g. Nvivo, Atlas, Leximancer etc).

Deadlines and submission dates

Dec 3rd, 2010: Two page outline prior full paper deadline (is optional) - guest editors can advise on the suitability of a proposed paper submission.

• March 11th, 2011: Deadline call for papers.
• May 6th, 2011: First review cycle completed.
• July 22nd, 2011: Second review cycle and final acceptance.
• September 1st, 2011: Camera-ready papers for productions.
• 1st 2nd Quarter 2012: Planned publication.

Information for authors
All papers should follow the AJIS author guidelines available at: http://dl.acs.org.au/index.php/ajis/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

The length of the manuscript should be commensurate with content, but should not exceed 30 pages (double spaced, including tables and diagrams, but not including abstract and references). Where manuscripts exceed 30 pages justification needs to be made to the editor.

Completed paper will be submitted via the AJIS submission system. Authors need to register in the AJIS system (you can register through the AJIS home page http://dl.acs.org.au/index.php/ajis/index).

Once registered, log on to ‘User home’ and select a ‘Start a New Submission’. Select ‘AJIS Featured theme- QUALIT’ when submitting papers to this special issue.

Contact
Dr. Walter Fernandez
E-Mail: walter.fernandez@anu.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 6125 4861

References
Myers, M.D. "Qualitative Research in Information Systems," MIS Quarterly (21:2), June, 1997 1997, pp 241-242.

Orlikowski, W.J. "CASE tools are organizational change: Investigating Incremental and Radical Changes in Systems Development," MIS Quarterly (17:3), Sep 1993 1993, pp 309-340.