The Question: The purpose of this study is to empirically show that the assumptions that lead to categorizing users or system developers in one of the four paradigms discussed by Hirshheim and Klein will affect whether or not there is agreement on the kind of information flows.

Ontological Assumptions Epistemological Assumptions Subjective Objective Order Conflict Functionalism Social Relativism Radical Structuralism Neohumanism Four Paradigms (According to Hirschheim and Klein)

Hypothesis: H1: The system developers and users that agree on their worldview will also agree on the kind of information flows.

Methodology: This study used a survey based field study of several organizations who had recently implemented a new information system. Forty companies from the Memphis area were used. Two surveys were constructed: one for the end-user and one for the system developer/analyst involved in each system development project. The companies were located through several large consulting firms in the Memphis area which had assigned employees to aid in the system development process.

Methodology: The survey consisted of several questions that were developed to determine the end-user or system developer’s assumptions on reality and knowledge. The answers to these questions were ranked as being 1. Subjective or Objective 2. Order-like or Conflict-like The survey also contained several questions to determine both the system developer and end-user’s assumptions on the kind of information flows the system provided. The answers to these questions were ranked as being 1. Information flow towards the end-users 2. Information flow towards management

Methodology: Once the worldview of the end-user and developer was established the user/developer pair was put into one of two groups 1. Those who agreed on the worldview (or were of the same paradigm, according to Hirshheim and Klein) 2. Those who disagreed on the worldview (or were of different paradigms, according to Hirshheim and Klein) Once separated into groups the average of those agreeing on information flows was calculated of those in the group whose worldview agreed. Likewise the same step was taken for group two, as shown in the following example.

Methodology U, D (A) U, D (X) U, D (A) U, D (X) Group 1 - Same WorldviewGroup 2 - Different Worldview *U = User, D = Developer, A = Agree, X = Disagree Average =.75 Average =.25

Methodology: Once the averages are calculated a t-test is run on the two averages to see if there is a significant difference between the them.