Artifact Sampling: Using Multiple Information Technology Artifacts to Increase Research Rigor

Researchers in many scientific disciplines routinely conceptualize information technologies (IT) as antecedents or outcomes in theoretical models. The ongoing theorizing of IT leads to a novel methodological challenge termed instantiation validity (IV). In this paper, we contribute to research on remediating IV challenges by proposing and advocating the methodological practice of artifact sampling, whereby multiple artifacts are sampled from the population of all possible artifacts (the instantiation space). Artifact sampling extends the practice of employing multiple research subjects or survey respondents, routinely used in social sciences, into the IT artifact design space. Artifact sampling is an important methodological practice that stands to increase the rigor of research dealing with software artifacts. As it is currently not being adequately undertaken in the aforementioned research, many studies may result in biased or unjustified conclusions

A critical rationalist approach to organizational learning: testing the theories held by managers

The common wisdom is that Popper's critical rationalism, a method aimed at knowledge validation through falsification of theories, is inadequate for managers in organizations. This study falsifies this argument in three phases: first, it specifies the obstructers that prevent the method from being employed; second, the critical rationalist method is adapted for strategic management purposes; last, the method and the hypotheses are tested via action research. Conclusions are that once the obstructers are omitted the method is applicable and effective

How software engineering research aligns with design science: A review

Background: Assessing and communicating software engineering research can be challenging. Design science is recognized as an appropriate research paradigm for applied research but is seldom referred to in software engineering. Applying the design science lens to software engineering research may improve the assessment and communication of research contributions. Aim: The aim of this study is 1) to understand whether the design science lens helps summarize and assess software engineering research contributions, and 2) to characterize different types of design science contributions in the software engineering literature. Method: In previous research, we developed a visual abstract template, summarizing the core constructs of the design science paradigm. In this study, we use this template in a review of a set of 38 top software engineering publications to extract and analyze their design science contributions. Results: We identified five clusters of papers, classifying them according to their alignment with the design science paradigm. Conclusions: The design science lens helps emphasize the theoretical contribution of research output---in terms of technological rules---and reflect on the practical relevance, novelty, and rigor of the rules proposed by the research.Comment: 32 pages, 10 figure

A task-centred approach to evaluating a mobile learning environment for pedagogical soundness

The focus of this paper is how to evaluate the pedagogical soundness of a mobile learning environment in which many users (both teachers and learners) may not have previously encountered mobile technology, so may be uncertain how best to deploy it to achieve their goals. Drawing on concepts from Activity Theory and the socio-cognitive engineering method described by Sharples (2000), it describes an approach which enables an enriched view of users’ current and future activities, which in turn will allow us to understand the range of actions and opportunities open to mobile learners, and seek ways of extending this range to support what learners want to do – even if they themselves do not yet know what that is

Improving Students’ Creativity In The Proving The Validity Of Arguments Through Learning Strategy ”What’s Another Way”

The purpose of this study was to describe the enhancing creativity of students in proving the validity of arguments through learning strategy "what's another way". This research was an action research with qualitative descriptive approach. The subjects were students of mathematics education UNIROW Tuban. The study was conducted in three cycles, Cycle I: Proof of Validity Arguments Directly, Cycle II: Proof of Validity Arguments Indirectly, and Cycle III: Validity Evidence Arguments Containing Kuantor. This research results in the following: In general, the learning strategy "what's another way" to improve the creativity of students in proving the validity of the argument. The main difficulty in proving the validity of the argument is as follows: a) the use of evidentiary rules of argument, and b) the idea of proof plan. Key Words: creativity, proving, argument, validity, and ”what’s another way

Trust Evaluation for Embedded Systems Security research challenges identified from an incident network scenario

This paper is about trust establishment and trust evaluations techniques. A short background about trust, trusted computing and security in embedded systems is given. An analysis has been done of an incident network scenario with roaming users and a set of basic security needs has been identified. These needs have been used to derive security requirements for devices and systems, supporting the considered scenario. Using the requirements, a list of major security challenges for future research regarding trust establishment in dynamic networks have been collected and elaboration on some different approaches for future research has been done.This work was supported by the Knowledge foundation and RISE within the ARIES project