A very readable introduction to the interpretive perspective is Berger and Luckman‘s (1967) book. For a more in-depth consideration of the philosophical underpinnings of interpretivism, Palmer‘s (1969) collection of readings on hermeneutics is excellent. From there, the serious scholar will want to look at Gadamer‘s (1975) "Truth and Method", which is regarded as a classic in the field, and Bernstein‘s (1983) work, which is seen as an important landmark in social philosophy.
In the IS field, two books can be regarded as essential reading: Winograd and Flores (1986) work and Walsham‘s (1993) text. The following are excellent examples of research articles in IS which explicitly use hermeneutics: Boland (1991), Davis, Lee, Nickles, Chatterjee, Hartung and Wu (1992), Lee (1994), and Myers (1994). Klein and Truex‘s (1995) paper is a good example of the use of semiotics in IS. A Special Issue of the Journal of Information Technology on Interpretive Research in Information Systems was published in December 1998. The Editorial along with a brief description of the papers is available.
Klein and Myers‘ (1999) paper suggests a set of principles for the conduct and evaluation of interpretive research in IS. This paper was the winner of MIS Quarterly‘s Best Paper Award for 1999.
