Yesterday I had – once again – a discussion about the degree of rigor and other research related aspects of the so called “design science paradigm” which was published by Hevner et al. in the MIS Quarterly. Design science plays an important role in Information Systems research and is supposed to be considered in interaction with the behavioral paradigm. The main differences are shown most strikingly by citing Hevner as follows: The behavioral-science paradigm seeks to find “what is true”. In contrast the design-science pradigm seeks to create “what is effective”.
To give you an idea of the conceptual framework I list the guidelines composed by the authors:
- Design as an Artifact
- Communication of Research
- Design as a Search Process
- Research Rigor
- Research Contributions
- Design Evaluation
- Problem Relevance
As you may have guessed my doctoral dissertation will also follow this research approach. If you also intend to do so just be aware that the design science is still impetuously discussed and often you have to convince your counterpart of the academic use.
