CAN DESIGN SCIENCE BE USED FOR DESIGN?

Design Science is currently much discussed in Information Systems research. In our analysis we distinguish two distinct threads in this discussion. The first thread is a meta-debate about the nature of IS research, and (in particular) how design work can properly be enacted as research. The second thread is a normative discussion of how design work should be conducted – important in a field where the principle objects of study are designed artefacts called information systems. If these principles for design have any consequence at all, they should be verifiable and they should be evaluated. In this research, conducted with student software designers at Aalborg University, we pose the question ‘can design science be used to build software?’ Ten experienced students in the Department of Computer Science participated in experiments to use design science theory as the principle inspiration for small software development projects. They studied the literature, chose appropriate starting theories, designed their own development processes, used them to build small mobile applications, documented their experiences and evaluated those experiences by writing research articles. A more experienced researcher helped organise the experiments and supervised the research. Students were surprisingly positive about their experiences with design science and the causes for this enthusiasm, and the underlying contribution of design science to the software developments are discussed

Effects of Solo and Pair Programming Instructional Strategies on Students’ Academic Achievement in Visual-Basic.Net Computer Programming Language

This study assesses the relative effectiveness of solo and pair programming instructional strategies on students’ academic achievement in the Visual-Basic.Net Computer Programming Language. Two research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The sample comprised 68 subjects distributed over the three treatment groups (27 solo programmers, 24 pair programmers, and 17 conventional programmers) from three hundred computer science students of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Yaba, Lagos State, Nigeria. The Visual-Basic.Net Achievement Test (VAT) was used to collect data for both the pre- and post-tests. The VAT test was administered to all 68 subjects in the three groups, first as pre-test and after treatment as post-test. Mean and standard deviations were used to answer the two research questions while ANCOVA and multiple comparisons were used in testing the three null hypotheses. The results of the analyses indicate that: (i) the experimental groups performed better than the control group, (ii) the treatment appeared to be more effective among male students than their female counterparts, (iii) the main effects of treatment and gender as well as the interaction effects of treatment and gender were not statistically significant

Exploring morphogenetical gradient variability using hidden Markov tree models in young individuals of the tropical species Symphonia globulifera (Clusiaceae)

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Adaptation-Based Programming in Haskell

We present an embedded DSL to support adaptation-based programming (ABP) in Haskell. ABP is an abstract model for defining adaptive values, called adaptives, which adapt in response to some associated feedback. We show how our design choices in Haskell motivate higher-level combinators and constructs and help us derive more complicated compositional adaptives. We also show an important specialization of ABP is in support of reinforcement learning constructs, which optimize adaptive values based on a programmer-specified objective function. This permits ABP users to easily define adaptive values that express uncertainty anywhere in their programs. Over repeated executions, these adaptive values adjust to more efficient ones and enable the user's programs to self optimize. The design of our DSL depends significantly on the use of type classes. We will illustrate, along with presenting our DSL, how the use of type classes can support the gradual evolution of DSLs.Comment: In Proceedings DSL 2011, arXiv:1109.032

Design of Experiments for Screening

The aim of this paper is to review methods of designing screening experiments, ranging from designs originally developed for physical experiments to those especially tailored to experiments on numerical models. The strengths and weaknesses of the various designs for screening variables in numerical models are discussed. First, classes of factorial designs for experiments to estimate main effects and interactions through a linear statistical model are described, specifically regular and nonregular fractional factorial designs, supersaturated designs and systematic fractional replicate designs. Generic issues of aliasing, bias and cancellation of factorial effects are discussed. Second, group screening experiments are considered including factorial group screening and sequential bifurcation. Third, random sampling plans are discussed including Latin hypercube sampling and sampling plans to estimate elementary effects. Fourth, a variety of modelling methods commonly employed with screening designs are briefly described. Finally, a novel study demonstrates six screening methods on two frequently-used exemplars, and their performances are compared

The Work System Method for Understanding Information Systems and Information System Research

The work system method is a broadly applicable set of ideas that use the concept of “work system” as the focal point for understanding, analyzing, and improving systems in organizations, whether or not IT is involved. The premises underlying this method may be controversial in the IS community because they imply that the traditional jargon and concerns of IS practitioners and researchers address only part of the issues that should be covered and may discourage focusing on other core issues related to successful projects and systems. The work system method includes both a static view of a current (or proposed) system in operation and a dynamic view of how a system evolves over time through planned change and unplanned adaptations. The static view is based on the “work system framework,” which identifies the basic elements for understanding and evaluating a work system. This framework is prescriptive enough to be useful in describing the system being studied, identifying problems and opportunities, describing possible changes, and tracing the likely impacts as those changes propagate to other parts of the system. The dynamic view is based on the “work system life cycle model,” which shows how a work system may evolve through multiple iterations of four phases. The static and dynamic views are used together in a principle-based systems analysis method that treats the information system as part of the work system until a final step when it distinguishes between work system changes that do and do not involve the information system

The Work System Method for Understanding Information Systems and Information Systems Research

The work system method is a broadly applicable set of ideas that use the concept of work system as the focal point for understanding, analyzing, and improving systems in organizations, whether or not IT is involved. The premises underlying this method may be controversial in the IS community because they imply that the traditional jargon and concerns of IS practitioners and researchers address only part of the issues that should be covered and may discourage focusing on other core issues related to successful projects and systems. The work system method includes both a static view of a current (or proposed) system in operation and a dynamic view of how a system evolves over time through planned change and unplanned adaptations. The static view is based on the work system framework, which identifies the basic elements for understanding and evaluating a work system. This framework is prescriptive enough to be useful in describing the system being studied, identifying problems and opportunities, describing possible changes, and tracing the likely impacts as those changes propagate to other parts of the system. The dynamic view is based on the work system life cycle model, which shows how a work system may evolve through multiple iterations of four phases. The static and dynamic views are used together in a principle-based systems analysis method that treats the information system as part of the work system until a final step when it distinguishes between work system changes that do and do not involve the information system