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Twelve Theses on Design Science Research in Information Systems

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Book cover Design Research in Information Systems

Part of the book series: Integrated Series in Information Systems ((ISIS,volume 22))

Abstract

This essay discusses 12 theses for guiding design science research. They are aimed at strengthening the design science orientation of Information Systems, clarifying future discourses on design science research aspects of the discipline, and giving some further guidelines for design science research in Information Systems.

Some problems have such complex social, economic, or organizational interactions that they can’t be solved fully. They’ve become popularly known as “wicked problems”.

Robert W. Lucky, IEEE Spectrum, July 2009

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Referring to the first reason, the “anxiety discourse” (King and Lyytinen 2004) regarding the academic legitimacy and credibility of the discipline has been an amazingly significant issue in information systems, guiding far too much of the evolution of the discipline.

  2. 2.

    Hassan (2006) points out that it is more appropriate to speak about Information Systems as a field than as a discipline. The reasons are its lack of theory development and its weak boundaries. Despite this inaccuracy, I will speak below about the “IS discipline”.

  3. 3.

    Figure 5.1 drops the normative level of the original framework of Chmielewicz (1970) and Lehtovuori (1973). The normative level is interested in “how ought things to be?” Normative statements express “You ought to want A and to achieve this you should do X if you believe that you are in a situation B.” The reason for the exclusion is that it is still a controversial question whether one can reach “ought-to” conclusions based on ”what is.”

  4. 4.

    Interestingly, Winter (2008) applies the tenets of a 1990 edition of Chmielewicz’s book (underlying Fig. 5.1) to structure DSR. His mapping of models, methods, constructs, and theories is quite consistent with Fig. 5.1, but he associates instantiations with the normative level. This differs from my interpretation of Chmielewicz (1970) based on Lehtovuori (1974).

  5. 5.

    Lyytinen and King (2004) also touch upon this issue when criticizing the linear science -> technology -> society model. One should note, however, that they do not go very far in their criticism when discussing the cyclical society -> science -> technology -> society model as an alternative.

  6. 6.

    van Aken is referring here to technological rules (Bunge 1967b) of the following type: in order to achieve A do acts 1–n in a given order. One can interpret technological rules in the sense of Bunge (1967b) as expressing design process knowledge, but van Aken interprets them as technical norms in the sense of Niiniluoto (1993).

  7. 7.

    In fact, I think that Walls et al. (1992) fall into this trap when they suggest that the information systems development life cycle is a design theory. I am not aware of any kernel theory on which it is based.

  8. 8.

    Note that well-known classifications of IS research methods such as those of Benbasat (1985), Jenkins (1985), and Galliers and Land (1987) do not recognize anything resembling constructive research methods nor, even, does a recent review of research methods in the IS literature (Chen and Hirschheim, 2004).

  9. 9.

    The article of Hevner et al. (2004) illustrates this. They suggest a detailed list of methods for evaluation, but nothing corresponding to the building of artifacts. There is also a rich body of literature on evaluation that can be applied in the design science context (Verschuren and Hartog 2005).

  10. 10.

    Despite of these critical comments, I see problem solving as a useful heuristic metaphor to be used when considering alternative solutions, especially for different components of the artifact.

  11. 11.

    Gyro Gearloose is a fictional character created by Carl Barks for the Walt Disney Company. The purpose of using this figure to symbolize inventors in the field is not to ridicule them, but quite the contrary.

  12. 12.

    Could Berners-Lee, for example, have published his ideas on WWW in a top IS journal?

  13. 13.

    One can, of course, observe a similar phenomenon in descriptive research, as illustrated by the extensions of the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis et al. 1989).

  14. 14.

    Note that Iivari (1991) applied the above distinction as an ethical dimension, whereas Orlikowski and Baroudi (1991) applied a very similar distinction as an epistemological dimension. The critical perspective clearly illustrates the problem with the epistemological dimension. Critical research may apply either a positivistic or an anti-positivistic epistemology.

  15. 15.

    Hevner et al. (2004) characterize the difference between design activities by stating that design in IS practice is routine and design as part of DSR is more innovative. This is a slightly unfortunate characterization, since design in IS practice is frequently anything but routine.

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  1. University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Juhani Iivari

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Iivari, J. (2010). Twelve Theses on Design Science Research in Information Systems. In: Design Research in Information Systems. Integrated Series in Information Systems, vol 22. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5653-8_5

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