Deep structures: Real information requirements determination

Abstract

We argue that a class of information is missing in the traditional ways of performing information requirements determination (IRD) activities. This “deep structure” information consists of the values, beliefs and unwritten rules in an organization. Previous research shows that failure to identify this is one of the reasons why information systems (IS) fail. Here, therefore, focus group methodology is suggested as a preprocess for IRD processes for uncovering latent information. Further, in order to see how effective the focus group method is for eliciting deep structure information, a laboratory experiment was conducted. The results suggest, first, that deep structure information is qualitatively different from surface structure information and second, that information gathered using the focus group methodology contains more deep structure information than that using traditional interviews. Implications are discussed.