Abstract

Many key contributions to research in information systems development (ISD) have been made by practitioners. This exploratory study aims to advance the knowledge about practitioner researchers, which can help improve the cooperation between academics and practitioners in ISD research. Adopting a qualitative research strategy an exploratory case study of a practitioner researcher is carried out. The data is collected through an in-depth interview and a sample of refereed publications. The study shows that practitioner research is not limited to experience papers but includes theoretical contributions as well. Writing papers is how the practitioner researcher in the study reflects on his professional practice, and in this sense he writes them for himself. This may explain why he prefers theoretical papers, shows little interest in experience reports, does not document systematic data collection, and does not emphasise reflexivity in his papers.

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