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Identifying Generative Mechanisms in a Mobile Health (mHealth) Project in Sierra Leone: A Critical Realist Framework for Retroduction

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Information and Communication Technologies for Development. Strengthening Southern-Driven Cooperation as a Catalyst for ICT4D (ICT4D 2019)

Part of the book series: IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology ((IFIPAICT,volume 552))

Abstract

This paper examines an ongoing mobile health (mHealth) initiative in Sierra Leone. The objective is to describe the ontological perspective and methodological approach used which relies on critical realism and Archer’s morphogenetic approach. Such a critical realist-based approach addresses many of the concerns associated with the interpretivist and positivist philosophical duopoly that has dominated the ICT4D field for many years. The approach allows the mechanisms that determined what caused the events associated with the mHealth case to be hypothesized, thus making clear why this mHealth case has sustained through many challenges.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ADAPT Centre, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    P. J. Wall, Dave Lewis & Lucy Hederman

Authors
  1. P. J. Wall
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  2. Dave Lewis
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  3. Lucy Hederman
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Correspondence to P. J. Wall .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Petter Nielsen

  2. University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Honest Christopher Kimaro

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Wall, P.J., Lewis, D., Hederman, L. (2019). Identifying Generative Mechanisms in a Mobile Health (mHealth) Project in Sierra Leone: A Critical Realist Framework for Retroduction. In: Nielsen, P., Kimaro, H. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies for Development. Strengthening Southern-Driven Cooperation as a Catalyst for ICT4D. ICT4D 2019. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 552. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19115-3_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19115-3_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-19114-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19115-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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