Abstract
Discussions about design science research as an alternative or at least complementary approach to the dominant descriptive research paradigm have not only taken place in information systems research, but also in organizational sciences, accounting, operations, and other business research disciplines. In contrast to the descriptive research paradigm that can be taken over from sociology and psychology in a very mature state, the problem-solving paradigm is comparably new to business research. Not only have different variants of this approach (e.g. design as search, evidence-based design, emergent design) been proposed and applied that appear to be incompatible at first sight. Descriptive research and design science research also appear to have no common ground and no synergy potentials. As a consequence, not only seem improvement and change (‘design and engineering’) often detached from phenomenon analysis and theory building. The role of ‘un-grounded’, innovative practices is also not clear. In order to provide a common ground and support a better integration of descriptive and design-oriented research in information systems, we propose a framework that is not only organized along the well-known ‘descriptive vs. prescriptive’ dimension, but also introduces a generality dimension. The four resulting quadrants ‘operations’, ‘explanations’, ‘technologies’ and ‘solutions’ allow not only to position all central objects of research, but also to position and better integrate research activities and iterations. This extends not only to ‘deductive’ design (solution search based as well as evidence-based), but also to ‘inductive’ design.
The proposed framework is regarded to be applicable for information systems research as well as in related fields. In [1] the author describes the framework’s application for organizational design and engineering. Most figures are identical.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
- Information System
- Design Theory
- Technology Acceptance Model
- Abstraction Level
- Business Process Management
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
Winter, R.: A Framework for Evidence-based and Inductive Design. In: Magalhaes, R. (ed.) Organization Design and Engineering: Co-Existence, Cooperation or Integration? (to appear 2014)
Gregor, S.: The Nature of Theory in Information Systems. MIS Quarterly 30(3), 611–642 (2006)
Bhattacherjee, A.: Understanding Information Systems Continuance: An Expectation-Confirmation Model. MIS Quarterly 25(3), 351–370 (2001)
Baskerville, R.L., Pries-Heje, J.: Explanatory Design Theory. Business & Information Systems Engineering 2(5), 271–282 (2010)
Walls, J.G., Widmeyer, G.R., El Sawy, O.A.: Building an Information System Design Theory for Vigilant EIS. Information Systems Research 3(1), 36–59 (1992)
Winter, R.: Design Science Research in Europe. European Journal of Information Systems 17(5), 470–475 (2008)
Österle, H., Becker, J., Frank, U., Hess, T., Karagiannis, D., Krcmar, H., Loos, P., Mertens, P., Oberweis, A., Sinz, E.: Memorandum on design-oriented information systems research. European Journal of Information Systems 20(1), 7–10 (2011)
Junglas, I., Niehaves, B., Spiekermann, S., Stahl, B.C., Weitzel, T., Winter, R., Baskerville, R.L.: The inflation of academic intellectual capital: the case for design science research in Europe. European Journal of Information Systems 20(1), 1–6 (2011)
Gregor, S., Jones, D.: The Anatomy of a Design Theory. Journal of the Association for Information Systems 8(5), 312–335 (2007)
Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., Silverstein, M., Jacobson, M., Fiksdahl-King, I., Angel, S.: A Pattern Language. Oxford University Press (1977)
Gamma, E., Helm, R., Johnson, R., Vlissides, J.: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1995)
Mintzberg, H.: Patterns in strategy formation. Management Science 24(9), 934–948 (1978)
Mettler, T., Eurich, M.: What is the business model behind e-health? A pattern-based approach to sustainable profit. In: Proceedings of 20th European Conference on Information Systems, Barcelona, Spain (2012)
March, S.T., Smith, G.F.: Design and Natural Science Research on Information Technology. Decision Support Systems 15(4), 251–266 (1995)
Vahidov, R.: Design Researcher’s IS Artifact - A Representational Framework. In: Proc. DESRIST 2006, Claremont, pp. 19–33 (2006)
Hevner, A.R., March, S.T., Park, J., Ram, S.: Design Science in Information Systems Research. MIS Quarterly 28(1), 75–105 (2004)
Chmielewicz, K.: Forschungskonzeptionen der Wirtschaftswissenschaften, 3 ed, 3rd edn. Poeschel, Stuttgart (1994)
Gericke, A.: Konstruktionsforschung und Artefaktkonstruktion in der gestaltungsorientierten Wirtschaftsinformatik: Ein Literaturüberblick, Research Report, Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen (2008)
Goldkuhl, G.: Design Theories in Information Systems - A Need for Multi-Grounding. Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application 6(2), 59–72 (2004)
Venable, J.R.: The Role of Theory and Theorising in Design Science Research. In: Proceedings DESRIST 2006, Claremont, pp. 1–18 (2006)
Winter, R., Gericke, A., Bucher, T.: Method Versus Model – Two Sides of the Same Coin? In: Albani, A., Barjis, J., Dietz, J.L.G. (eds.) CIAO! 2009. LNBIP, vol. 34, pp. 1–15. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
van de Weerd, I., de Weerd, S., Brinkkemper, S.: Developing a Reference Method for Game Production by Method Comparison. In: Ralyté, J., Brinkkemper, S., Henderson-Sellers, B. (eds.) Situational Method Engineering: Fundamentals and Experiences. IFIP, vol. 244, pp. 313–327. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)
Kerlinger, F.N.: Foundations of Behavioral Research; Educational and Psychological Inquiry. Holt Rinehart and Winston, New York (1964)
Iivari, J.: A Paradigmatic Analysis of Information Systems As a Design Science. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems 19(2) (2007)
Gehlert, A., Schermann, M., Pohl, K., Krcmar, H.: Towards a research method for theory driven design research. In: Proceedings of Wirtschaftsinformatik, pp. 441–450 (2009)
Smith, J.M., Smith, D.C.P.: Database abstractions: aggregation and generalization. ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS) 2(2), 105–133 (1977)
Malone, T.W., Crowston, K., Lee, J., Pentland, B.T., Dellarocas, C., Wyner, G.M., Quimby, J., Osborn, C.S., Bernstein, A., Herman, G.A., et al.: Tools for Inventing Organizations: Toward a Handbook of Organizational Processes. Management Science 45(3), 425–443 (1999)
Bucher, T., Winter, R.: Project Types of Business Process Management – Towards a Scenario Structure to Enable Situational Method Engineering for Business Process Management. Business Process Management Journal 15(4), 548–568 (2009)
Bucher, T., Winter, R.: Taxonomy of Business Process Management Approaches: An Empirical Foundation for the Engineering of Situational Methods to Support BPM. In: vom Brocke, J., Rosemann, M. (eds.) Handbook on Business Process Management, vol. 2, pp. 93–114. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Winter, R.: Construction of Situational Information Systems Management Methods. International Journal of Information System Modeling and Design 3(4), 67–85 (2012)
Winter, R.: Problem Analysis for Situational Artefact Construction in Information Systems in Andrea Carugati and Cecilia Rossignoli, ed. In: Emerging Themes in Information Systems and Organization Studies, pp. 97–113. Physica, Heidelberg (2011)
Sein, M., Henfridsson, O., Purao, S., Rossi, M., Lindgren, R.: Action Design Research. MIS Quarterly 35(1), 37–56 (2011)
Rousseau, D.M.: The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-based Management. Oxford University Press, New York (2012)
Simon, H.A.: The Sciences of the Artificial, vol. 3. MIT Press, Cambridge (1996)
Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., Rothenberger, M., Chatterjee, S.: A Design Science Research Methodology for Information Systems Research. Journal of Management Information Systems 24(3), 45–77 (2007)
van Aken, J.E., Nagel, A.P.: Organising and managing the fuzzy front end of new product development, Research Report, Technical University Eindhoven (2004)
Davies, H.: Improving the Relevance of Management Research: Evidence-Based Management: Design Science or Both? Business Leadership Review (July 2006)
Mintzberg, H., Waters, J.A.: Of strategies, deliberate and emergent. Strategic Management Journal 6(3), 257–272 (1985)
Van Burg, E., Romme, A.G.L., Reymen, I.M.M.J., Gilsing, V.A.: Creating University Spinoffs: A Science-Based Design Perspective. Journal of Product Innovation Management 25(2), 114–128 (2008)
Hevner, A.R.: A Three Cycle View of Design Science Research. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems 19(2), 87–92 (2007)
Mayer, J.H., Bischoff, S., Winter, R., Weitzel, T.: Extending Traditional EIS Use to Support Mobile Executives Online and Offline. MIS Quarterly Executive 22(2), 87–96 (2012)
Ragin, C.C.: Set Relations in Social Research: Evaluating Their Consistency and Coverage. Political Analysis, 291–310 (2006)
Rossi, M., Sein, M.K.: Design Research Workshop: A Proactive Research Approach. In: Proc. IRIS 2003. IRIS Association (2003)
Romme, A.G.L.: Making a Differnce: Organization as Design. Organization Science 14(5), 558–573 (2003)
Magalhaes, R., Silva, A.R.: Organizational Design and Engineering (ODE), Research Report, Technical University of Lisbon (2009)
van Aken, J.E., Romme, A.G.L.: A Design Science Approach to Evidence-based Management in Denise. In: Rousseau, M. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-based Management, Oxford University Press, New York (2012)
Winter, R., Albani, A.: Restructuring the Design Science Research Knowledge Base - A One-Cycle View of Design Science Research and its Consequences for Understanding Organizational Design Problems in Richard Baskerville. In: Baskerville, R., de Marco, M., Spagnoletti, P. (eds.) Designing Organizational Systems: An Interdisciplinary Discourse, pp. 63–81. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)
Denyer, D., Tranfield, D., van Aken, J.E.: Developing Design Propositions through Research Synthesis. Organization Studies 29, 393–413 (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Winter, R. (2014). Towards a Framework for Evidence-Based and Inductive Design in Information Systems Research. In: Helfert, M., Donnellan, B., Kenneally, J. (eds) Design Science: Perspectives from Europe. EDSS 2013. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 447. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13936-4_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13936-4_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-13935-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-13936-4
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)