Abstract
There has been a great interest among scholars to identify and conceptualise activities and processes of information systems design research. Based on a paradigmatic foundation in pragmatism, this paper furthers these earlier works on activities and processes. It identifies three main sub-practices of design research; theorize, build and evaluate. It also identifies three external practices/communities: research community, general practice and local use practice. The different practices are related to each other through the construct of an activity cycle. Seven different activity cycles are specified in the paper: Theorize – Build cycle, Theorize – Evaluate cycle, Build – Evaluate cycle, Theorize – Research community cycle, Design research – General practice cycle, Build – Use cycle and Evaluate – Use cycle.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Nunamaker, J., Chen, M., Purdin, T.: Systems development in information systems research. Journal of Management Information Systems 7(3), 89–106 (1991)
March, S.T., Smith, G.F.: Design and natural science research in information technology. Decision Support Systems 15(4), 251–266 (1995)
Hevner, A.R., March, S.T., Park, J., Ram, S.: Design science in information systems research. MIS Quarterly 28(1), 75–115 (2004)
Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., Rothenberger, M.A., Chatterjee, S.: A design science research methodology for information systems research. Journal of Management Information Systems 24(3), 45–77 (2007)
Sein, M., Henfridsson, O., Purao, S., Rossi, M., Lindgren, R.: Action design research. MIS Quarterly 35(1), 37–56 (2011)
Offerman, P., Levina, O., Schönherr, M., Bub, U.: Outline of a Design Science Research Process. In: DESRIST 2009 Proceedings, Malvern (2009)
Kuechler, B., Vaishnavi, V.: A framework for theory development in design science research: Multiple Perspectives. Journal of AIS 13(6), 395–423 (2012)
Sonnenberg, C., vom Brocke, J.: Evaluation patterns for design science research artefacts. In: Helfert, M., Donnellan, B. (eds.) EDSS 2011. CCIS, vol. 286, pp. 71–83. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)
Niehaves, B.: On epistemological diversity in design science – new vistas for a design-oriented IS research? In: Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth International Conference on Information Systems, Montreal (2007)
Carlsson, S.: Design science research in information systems: A critical realist approach. In: Hevner, A., Chatterjee, S. (eds.) Design Research in Information Systems: Theory and Practice. Springer, New York (2010)
Hevner, A.R.: A three cycle view of design science research. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems 19(2), 87–92 (2007)
Lee, A., Nickerson, J.: Theory as a case of design: Lessons for design from the philosophy of science. In: Proc. of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2010)
Goldkuhl, G.: Pragmatism vs. interpretivism in qualitative information systems research. European Journal of Information Systems 21(2), 135–146 (2012)
Goldkuhl, G.: Design research in search for a paradigm: Pragmatism is the answer. In: Helfert, M., Donnellan, B. (eds.) EDSS 2011. CCIS, vol. 286, pp. 84–95. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)
Hovorka, D.: Design science research: A call for a pragmatic perspective. In: Proceedings of SIGPrag Workshop, Sprouts Working Papers on Information Systems (2009)
Levy, M., Hirschheim, R.: Removing the positivist straight jacket from information systems design science research. In: ECIS 2012 Proceedings (2012)
Dewey, J.: Logic: The theory of inquiry. Henry Holt, New York (1938)
Walls, J.G., Widmeyer, G.R., El Sawy, O.A.: Building an information systems design theory for vigilant EIS. Information Systems Research 3(1), 36–59 (1992)
Gregor, S., Jones, D.: The anatomy of a design theory. Journal of AIS 8(5), 312–335 (2007)
Baskerville, R.: What design science is not. European Journal of Information Systems 17, 441–443 (2008)
Goldkuhl, G., Lind, M.: A multi-grounded design research process. In: Winter, R., Zhao, J.L., Aier, S. (eds.) DESRIST 2010. LNCS, vol. 6105, pp. 45–60. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Venable, J., Pries-Heje, J., Baskerville, R.: A comprehensive framework for evaluation in design science research. In: Peffers, K., Rothenberger, M., Kuechler, B. (eds.) DESRIST 2012. LNCS, vol. 7286, pp. 423–438. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)
Peffers, K., Rothenberger, M., Tuunanen, T., Vaezi, R.: Design science research evaluation. In: Peffers, K., Rothenberger, M., Kuechler, B. (eds.) DESRIST 2012. LNCS, vol. 7286, pp. 398–410. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)
Iivari, J., Venable, J.: Action research and design science research – Seemingly similar but decisively dissimilar. In: Proceedings of ECIS 2009, Verona (2009)
Winter, R.: Design science research in Europe. European Journal of Information Systems 17, 470–475 (2008)
Lee, J.S., Pries-Heje, J., Baskerville, R.: Theorizing in Design Science Research. In: Jain, H., Sinha, A.P., Vitharana, P. (eds.) DESRIST 2011. LNCS, vol. 6629, pp. 1–16. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Wieringa, R.: Design science as nested problem solving. In: DESRIST 2009 Proceedings, Malvern (2009)
Baskerville, R., Pries-Heje, J.: Explanatory Design Theory. Business & Information Systems Engineering 5, 271–282 (2010)
Venable, J.: The role of theory and theorising in design science research. In: Proc. of DESRIST 2006, Claremont (2006)
Goldkuhl, G.: The research practice of practice research: theorizing and situational inquiry. Systems, Signs & Actions 5(1), 7–29 (2011)
Davern, M., Parkes, A.: Incommensurability in design science: which comes first - theory or artefact? In: Hart, D., Gregor, S. (eds.) Information Systems Foundations: The Role of Design Science. ANU E Press, Canberra (2008)
Fischer, C., Gregor, S., Aier, S.: Forms of discovery for design knowledge. In: ECIS 2012 Proceedings (2012)
Sacks, H.: Lectures on conversation. Blackwell, Oxford (1992)
Cole, R., Purao, S., Rossi, M., Sein, M.: Being Proactive: Where Action Research meets Design Research. In: Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth International Conference on Information Systems, Las Vegas, pp. 325–336 (2005)
Schatzki, T.R.: Introduction: Practice theory. In: Schatzki, T.R., Knorr Cetina, K., von Savigny, E. (eds.) The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory. Routledge, London (2001)
Goldkuhl, G., Röstlinger, A.: Context in Focus: Transaction and Infrastructure in Workpractices. In: Proceedings of the 4th Intl Conference on Action in Language, Organisations and Information Systems, Borås (2006)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer International Publishing
About this paper
Cite this paper
Goldkuhl, G. (2013). Activity Cycles in Design Research: A Pragmatic Conceptualisation of Inter-related Practices. In: Helfert, M., Donnellan, B. (eds) Design Science: Perspectives from Europe. EDSS 2012. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 388. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04090-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04090-5_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-04089-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-04090-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)