General References on Design Research
Alexander, C. (1964). Notes on the Synthesis of Form. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press.
Carroll, J., and Kellogg, W. (1989). Artifact as Theory Nexus: Hermeneutics Meets Theory-Based Design. In Proceedings of CHI '89, ACM Press.
Dasgupta, S. (1996). Technology and Creativity. New York, Oxford University Press.
Gregg, D., U. Kulkarni, et al.(2001). "Understanding the Philosophical Underpinnings of Software Engineering Research in Information Systems." Information Systems Frontiers 3(2): 169-183.
Hevner, A., March, S., Park, J. and Ram, S. (2004). "Design Science in Information Systems Research." MIS Quarterly 28(1): 75-105.
Kuhn, T. (1996). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Lakatos, I. (1978) The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes (John Worral and Gregory Currie, Eds.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
March, S. and Smith, G. (1995). "Design and Natural Science Research on Information Technology." Decision Support Systems 15 (1995): 251 - 266.
Maturana, H. and Varela, F. (1987). The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding. Boston, New Science Library.
McCarthy, J. (1980). "Circumscription - A Form of Non-Monotonic Reasoning." Artificial Intelligence 13: 27-39.
Owen, C. (1997). "Design Research: Building the Knowledge Base." Journal of the Japanese Society for the Science of Design 5(2): 36-45.
Orlikowski, W. and C. Iacono (2001). "Desperately Seeking the "IT" in IT Research - A Call to Theorizing the IT Artifact." Information Systems Research 12(2): 121-134.
Pierce, C. S: Collected Papers. Harshorne, C. and P. Weiss, Eds. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, (1931 - 1935).
Purao, S. (2002). “Design Research in the Technology of Information Systems: Truth or Dare.” GSU Department of CIS Working Paper. Atlanta.
Rossi, M. and Sein, M. (2003). Design Research Workshop: A Proactive Research Approach. Presentation delivered at IRIS 26, August 9 - 12, 2003. http://tiesrv.hkkk.fi/iris26/presentation/workshop_designRes.pdf last accessed January 16, 2004.
Simon, H. (1996). The Sciences of the Artificial, Third Edition. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
Takeda, H., Veerkamp, P., Tomiyama, T., Yoshikawam, H. (1990). "Modeling Design Processes." AI MagazineWinter: 37-48.
Varela, F. (1988). “Structural Coupling and the Origin of Meaning in a Simple Cellular Automata.” The Semiotics of Cellular Communication in the Immune System. E. Scaraz, F. Celada, N. Michenson and T. Tada. New York, Springer Verlag.
Walls, J., Widmeyer, G. and El Sawy, O. (1992). "Building an Information System Design Theory for Vigilant EIS." Information Systems Research 3(1), 36 - 59.
References on Philosophical Grounding of Design Research
Ackoff, R. (1962). The nature of science and methodology. In R. Ackoff. Scientific
Method: optimizing applied research decisions (Chapter 2). New York, John Wiley.
In this chapter, Professor Ackoff explains three outcomes of any research endeavor:
(1) an answer to a research question; (2) a solution (e.g. an abstract or designed
material artifact ) to a problem or (3) a more effective and/or efficient procedure
for answering questions or solving problems.
Berger, P. and Luckman, T. (1966). The Social
Construction of Reality: a treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Garden
City, NY, Doubleday.
Bunge, M. (1984). Philosophical Inputs and Outputs of Technology. History and Philosophy of Technology. G. Bugliarello and D. Donner. Urbana, IL, University of Illinois Press: 263-281.
Carroll, J., and Kellogg, W. (1989). Artifact as Theory Nexus: Hermeneutics Meets Theory-Based Design. In Proceedings of CHI '89, ACM Press.
Dasgupta, S. (1996). Technology and Creativity. New York, Oxford University Press.
Gregg, D., Kulkarni, U. and Vinze, A. (2001). "Understanding
the Philosophical Underpinnings of Software Engineering Research in Information
Systems." Information Systems Frontiers 3(2): 169-183.
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Gregor, S. and D. Jones (2007). "The Anatomy
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Hendry, R. (2004). “Are Realism and Instrumentalism Methodologically Different?” Online working paper, Department of Philosophy, University of Durham, UK, last accessed January 11, 2004. URL: http://hypatia.ss.uci.edu/lps/psa2k/ realism-and-instrumentalism.pdf Author e-mail: r.f.hendry@dur.ac.uk
Hevner, A., March, S., Park, J. and Ram, S. (2004). "Design Science in Information Systems Research." MIS Quarterly 28(1): 75-105.
Khun, T. (1996). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Latour, B. (1987). Science in Action: How to follow scientists and engineers through society. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
March, S. and G. Smith (1995). "Design and Natural Science Research on Information Technology." Decision Support Systems 15, 251 - 266.
Niehaves, B. (2007). "On Epistemological Diversity in Design Science -
New Vistas for a Design-Oriented IS Research?" in the proceedings of ICIS
2007, Montreal.
Pierce, C. S: Collected Papers. Harshorne,
C. and P. Weiss, Eds. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, (1931 - 1935).
Purao, S. (2002). “Design Research in the Technology of Information Systems: Truth or Dare.” GSU Department of CIS Working Paper. Atlanta.
Saraswat, P. (2004). "A historical perspective on the philosophical foundations of information systems." Document on line at the website of <AIS SIGPhilosophy, AIS> at: http://www.bauer.uh.edu/parks/fis/saraswat3.htm
| Here, Saraswat (2004) suggests that a <Systems Thinking> worldview is required to treat complex organizational IS. Also, he draws from the work of Roman architect, Marcus Vitruvius, to pose a new design framework for IS. |
Searle, J., Ed. (1995). The Construction of Social Reality. New York, The Free Press.
References on Design Research Methodology
Buchanan, G. (1991). Modeling Operations Management Support Systems. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Atlanta, GA. College of Business Administration, Georgia State University.
Gregg, D., Kulkarni, U. and Vinze, A. (2001). "Understanding the Philosophical Underpinnings of Software Engineering Research in Information Systems." Information Systems Frontiers 3(2): 169-183.
Hevner, A., March, S., Park, J. and Ram, S. (2004). "Design Science in Information Systems Research." MIS Quarterly 28(1): 75-105.
Jarvinen, P. (2004) On Research Methods . Tiedekirjakauppa TAJU publisher, Helsinki, Finland. (Chapter 1; Chapter 5)
Jarvinen, P. (2006) "On A Variety of Research Output Types." Department of Computer and Information Sciences working paper, University of Tampere, Finland.
Jarvinen, P. (2006) "Research Questions Guiding Selection of an Appropriate Research Method." Department of Computer and Information Sciences working paper, University of Tampere, Finland.
Jarvinen, P. (2007) "Action Research is Similar to Design Science." Quantity and Quality 41: 37-54
Lakatos, I. (1978) The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes (John Worral and Gregory Currie, Eds.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
March, S. and Smith, G. (1995). "Design and Natural Science Research on Information Technology." Decision Support Systems 15 (1995): 251 - 266.
Newell, A. (1990). Unified Theories of Cognition. Cambridge, Mass. USA, Harvard University Press.
Nunamaker, J., Chen, M. and Purdin, T. (1991). “System Development in Information Systems Research.” Journal of Management Information Systems, 7:3, pp. 89 - 106.
Purao, S. (2002). “Design Research in the Technology of Information Systems: Truth or Dare.” GSU Department of CIS Working Paper. Atlanta.
Shu, N. (1988). Axiomatic Design Theory for Systems. Research in Engineering Design, 10, pp. 189-209.
| Shu (1998, p.189) poses that: " The design of effective systems is the ultimate goal of many fields, including engineering, business, and government. Yet system design has lacked a formal theoretical framework and thus, has been done heuristically or empirically". His paper then, set forth a formalism to design process based on function requirements, design parameters and process variables hierarchies. |
Vaishnavi, V., Buchanan, G. and
Kuechler, W. (1997). "A Data/Knowledge Paradigm for the Modeling and Design
of Operations Support Systems", IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data
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Zelkowitz, M. and Wallace, D. (1998). "Experimental
Models for Validating Technology." IEEE Computer 31(5): 23-31.
The authors describe 12 research techniques to validate a designed artifact;
one or more could incorporated into a robust design research methodology.
References on Understanding Design Research in the Context of Information Systems Research
Adams, L.and Courtney, J. (2004) "Achieving Relevance in IS Research via the DAGS Framework." Proc. of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
Alter, S. (2003). "18 Reasons Why IT-Reliant Work Systems Should Replace 'The IT Artifact' as the Core Subject Matter of the IS Field." Communication of the AIS 12(October): 365-394.
Applegate, L. (1999). "Rigor and Relevance in MIS Research - Introduction." MIS Quarterly 23(1): 1-2.
Benbasat, I. and Zmud, R. (1999). "Empirical Research in Information Systems: The Practice of Relevance." MIS Quarterly 23(1): 3-16.
Brooks, F. (1996). "The Computer Scientist as Toolsmith II." Communications of the ACM 39(3): 61-68.
| Here, Brooks (1996) poses that "... the scientist builds
in order to study; the engineer studies in order to build". He suggests
that Computer Sciences> is a bad name for the field, since it rather
belongs to a <Engineering> discipline. Brooks indicates (p. 63) "we
are concerned with making things, be they computers, algorithms, or software
systems" . According to Brooks, two criterion of success for a computer-based
tool are: easy to use and <productive> or <usefulness>. He also proposes an old Greek criterion of wisdom as part of the assessment of a design: Is the tool/artifact true? is it beautiful? it is good?, which adds an <ethical> dimension to the assessment process of any design. |
Caws, P. (1969). "The Structure of Discovery." Science 166(December): 1375-1380.
Falconer, D. and Mackay, D. (1999). Ontological Problems of Pluralist Research Methodologies. 5th AIS Conference on Information Systems, Milwaukee, WI.
Fugetta, A. (1999). "Some Reflections on Software Engineering Research." ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes 24(1): 74-77.
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Glass, R., Ramesh, V. and Vessey, I. (2004). "An analysis of research computing disciplines." Communications of the ACM, 47(6): 89-94.
| Although the authors do not use the term <design research>, it is clear - from table 2, pp. 91- that the research approach called <formulative> in contrast with <descriptive> and <evaluative> is closely related to <design research>. |
Hempel, C. (1966). Philosophy of Natural Science. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall.
Hopcroft, J. (1987). "Computer Science: The Emergence of a Discipline." Communications of the ACM 30(3): 198-202.
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Iivari, J. (2003). "The IS CORE VII: Towards Information Systems as a Science of Meta-Artifacts." Communication of the AIS 12(October), Article 37.
Kuechler, W. and Vaishnavi, V. (2007). "Design [Science] Research in IS: A Work in Progress" in proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology (DESRIST '07), May 13-16, 2007, Pasedena, CA.
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J. (2006). The Design Science Research Process: A Model for Producing and Presenting
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Petroski, H. (1996). Invention by Design: How
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Tichy, W. (1998). "Should Computer Scientists Experiment More?" IEEE Computer 31(5): 32-40.
| Tichy proposes that, from a formal statistical theory of design of experiments, computer scientists (and by implication, IS design research academics) have not achieved the level of maturity of other empirical disciplines. |
Tsichritzis, D. (1997). The Dynamics of Innovation. Beyond Calculation: The Next Fifty Years of Computing, P. Denning and R. Metcaffe (Eds). New York, Springer-Verlag: 259-265.
Truex, D. (2001). “Three Issues Concerning Relevance in IS Research: Epistemology, Audience and Method.” Communications of the AIS, 6:24.
Vaishnavi, V. and Kuechler, W. (2004/5).
“Design Research in Information Systems” January 20, 2004, last
updated August 16, 2009. URL: http://www.isworld.org/Researchdesign/drisISworld.htm
Authors e-mail: vvaishna@gsu.edu kuechler@unr.edu
[Pertti Jarvinen's critique of the
2004 version of the DR web site]
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