Content analysis in support of critical theory research: How to deliver an unwelcome message without being shot

The notion that the powerful shoot messengers who bear unwelcome messages goes back to at least Plutarch and perhaps as far as Sophocles. Researchers whose work is adjacent to, rather than directly within, the disciplinary mainstream, may at times feels that this applies even in academic disciplines. This paper reports on a journey undertaken in order to achieve publication of a critique of papers published in a Special Issue of a leading eCommerce journal. The literature on content analysis was first examined, with particular reference to a range of approaches to literature reviews. Conventional, directed, summative and computational content analysis techniques were considered, and exemplars in the IS literature identified. Because the critique has been undertaken in the critical theory research tradition, the role of criticism in research was also reviewed. The findings enabled refinements to be made to the protocol used for conducting the content analysis, together with strengthening of the robustness of the paper's research method section and improvements to the expression of the research findings.