The collective consciousness of information technology research. Research students' ways of seeing information technology research: its objects and territories

The aim of the project reported here was to investigate dimensions of the collective consciousness of information technology (IT) research. In particular, the study explored how research students see: • research, and particularly IT research; • the information technology research field, or territory. What are the features of the field? What are its boundaries?; and • the information technology research object. How do IT researchers see the ‘things’ underpinning their research? How do they collectively constitute or ‘shape’ the object of IT research? What kinds of shared understandings do they have of their research object? How do their understandings differ? The primary outcome from this study is a framework comprising a set of categories, each of which represents significant differences in IT research students’ ways of seeing IT research, its objects and territories.