Abstract

Considers the problems of defining ‘information science’ as a unitary discipline and suggests that the concept of integrative levels offers an explanation for the fragmentation of the field. ‘Information’ has different contexts at different integrative levels, and different disciplines deal with these contexts. The paper then considers how information as a social phenomenon requires social scientific research methods to be applied to its investigation and sets out a new taxonomy for social research methods.

Keywords: Information science, Research methods

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License

Copyright (c) 2004 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to Cite

Wilson, T. (2004). ‘Information Science’ and Research Methods. Information World, 5(2), 212-222. https://doi.org/10.15612/BD.2004.488