SOFT SYSTEMS METHODOLOGY AS A SOCIAL-SCIENCE RESEARCH TOOL

Soft systems methodology (SSM) is well established as a vehicle for ac tion research, particularly in programmes initiated at Lancaster Unive rsity. It is now sufficiently well known, in academic circles at least , to be considered as a candidate methodology for a wide range of soci al science research projects. This paper summarizes (and updates) the set of issues which should be explicit when designing a project which includes both SSM and other research approaches. It attempts to 'place ' SSM within a taxonomy of social science research approaches, examine s the contingencies which may determine the success and acceptance of the research, and explores the relationship between SSM components of such programmes and other, more traditional, approaches. A further imp ortant focus is the status of SSM products as theory, and the use of S SM for theory generation and/or testing. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, L td.