A MULTI-PERSPECTIVE FRAMEWORK FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF TOOL SUPPORT FOR DESIGN SCIENCE RESEARCH

Tool support for design science research (DSR) is increasingly recognized by the DSR community as an important but neglected area of research. Extrapolating from the achievements of tool support for more established research approaches, tool support for DSR promises to lower the barriers for the delivery of more rigorous, comparable, and, thus, relevant DSR. However, to this date, little research has looked at the challenge of providing tool support for DSR systematically. As a first step to close this gap, prior research in the form of a workshop by the DESRIST community focused on identifying an initial understanding as well as set of requirements for tool support in DSR. This paper extends and complements this prior research with a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews (n=12) about the topic of tool support in DSR with a broad variety of design science researchers. The major contribu- tion of this work is that it goes beyond the mere collection of requirements and uses qualitative data analysis to dive deeper into the understanding of tool support in DSR as well as associated opportuni- ties and challenges. Based on this analysis, we developed a multi-perspective framework for the inves- tigation of tool support for DSR, which we position as a promising foundation for future research on the emerging topic of tool support for DSR

The paradigm of design science research: a tool-supported literature review

In this paper, a review of the state of the art of theory associated with the young and quickly evolving Design Science Research (DSR) paradigm is presented. The core of the review consists of a structured literature search covering the senior scholars’ basket of eight from 1977 until the end of 2016, which resulted in data set of 196 sources. An iterative, selective coding of the title and abstracts revealed four major grounded clusters (138 papers). Three clusters (93 papers) were selected for co-citation analysis and augmented with additional forward and backward searches. The co-citation analysis affords an objective look at the current state of theory use in DSR and allows for the systematic identification of research opportunities. Altogether, the paper presents a multi-grounded DSR approach to literature reviews and contributes a reliable platform for further analysis and development of the DSR paradigm

Context in Design Science Research: Taxonomy and Framework

One of the open methodological concerns for design science research (DSR) in information systems is how to think about and deal with the notion of context. This paper takes an important step toward clarifying the notion of context and elaborates how it can be dealt with from a DSR perspective. In particular, we present a coherent theoretical account of context grounded in Pragmatism. Moreover, we also reify this understanding into a Context Taxonomy and Context Framework for DSR. Altogether, we intend to provide a sound foundation and a fruitful platform for DSR that is more attuned to the particularities of context

Tool Support for Design Science Research—Towards a Software Ecosystem: A Report from a DESRIST 2017 Workshop

The information systems (IS) field contains a rich body of knowledge on approaches, methods, and frameworks that supports researchers in conducting design science research (DSR). It also contains some consensus about the key elements of DSR projects—such as problem identification, design, implementation, evaluation, and abstraction of design knowledge. Still, we lack any commonly accepted tools that address the needs of DSR scholars who seek to structure, manage, and present their projects. Indeed, DSR endeavors, which are often complex and multi-faceted in nature and involve various stakeholders (e.g., researchers, developers, practitioners, and others), require the support that such tools provide. Thus, to investigate the tools that DSR scholars actually need to effectively and efficiently perform their work, we conducted an open workshop with DSR scholars at the 2017 DESRIST conference in Karlsruhe, Germany, to debate 1) the general requirement categories of DSR tool support and 2) the more specific requirements. This paper reports on the results from this workshop. Specifically, we identify nine categories of requirements that fall into the three broad phases (pre-design, design, and post design) and that contribute to a software ecosystem for supporting DSR endeavors

TOWARDS A PANORAMA OF SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS: EXPLORING A GLOBAL LEARNING PARTNERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The support and scaling up of successful sustainable development and nature conservation practices is a major challenge that needs to be addressed to support a smoother transition to a more sustainable society. In this paper, we present an exploratory case study of the global learning partnership “PANORAMA – Solutions for a Healthy Planet”, which develops and maintains a digital platform that aims to support this transformation by facilitating bottom-up learning from successful practitioner initiatives. We investigate how to leverage the developmental potential of digital platforms such as PANORAMA in an effort to shed a light on digital platforms in a heretofore underexplored context. We find that PANORAMA use of a layered governance model enables it to better align its platform offering with the goals and needs of stakeholders. Moreover, we find that PANORAMA’s method for facilitating bottomup learning from successful practitioner initiatives produces artefacts that are perceived to be useful by a variety of stakeholders and, thus, are another ingredient that helps PANORAMA leverage its developmental potential. Our work contributes a relevant problem class in the context of global development as well as an associated framework for its study that can inform a systematic program of future research. In addition, we contribute first insights that can inform the design of such systems

REVISITING THE PROBLEM OF THE PROBLEM – AN ONTOLOGY AND FRAMEWORK FOR PROBLEM ASSESSMENT IN IS RESEARCH

A comprehensive understanding of how to achieve relevance and practical impact with our work remains elusive within the information systems (IS) community. While we know that finding or constructing important research problems sets the bar for the potential impact that research can have, we know little about how to support research problem assessment and selection in practice. This paper address this gap by presenting the problem assessment framework (PAF) and outlining its application for the assessment, selection, and justification of important research problems. The PAF builds on the problem assessment ontology, which explicates the domain of problem assessment based on a synthesis of extant research. We have instantiated the PAF in the problem assessment canvas to make it more accessible. Altogether, we contribute three novel artifacts that support researchers looking to work on the most important research problems as the basis for more relevant and impactful IS research

Ethics in Information Systems and Design Science Research: Five Perspectives

While ethics are recognized as an integral part of information systems (IS) research, many questions about the role of ethics in research practice remain unanswered. Our report responds to this emerging set of concerns with a broad and integrative account of five perspectives on ethics in IS research and design science research (DSR) in particular. Our report is informed by a broad literature review, a panel discussion at DESRIST 2020, and substantial personal experience from wrestling with ethical considerations in the field. The report provides a comprehensive discussion of prevailing perspectives on ethics and the implications for IS research. Together, we hope the report will inspire more ethics-conscious and responsible IS research

Ethics in Information Systems and Design Science Research

Funding Information: Matti Rossi is a professor of information systems at Aalto University School of Business. He is a past president of the Association for Information Systems and an AIS Fellow. He has been the principal investigator in several major research projects funded by the technological development center of Finland and Academy of Finland. He was the winner of the 2013 Millennium Distinction Award of Technology Academy of Finland for open source and data research. His research papers have appeared in journals such as MIS Quarterly, JAIS, JSIS, and ISJ and he is a past editor in chief of Communications of the Association for Information Systems. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the Association for Information Systems.While ethics are recognized as an integral part of information systems (IS) research, many questions about the role of ethics in research practice remain unanswered. Our report responds to this emerging set of concerns with a broad and integrative account of five perspectives on ethics in IS research and design science research (DSR) in particular. Our report is informed by a broad literature review, a panel discussion at DESRIST 2020, and substantial personal experience from wrestling with ethical considerations in the field. The report provides a comprehensive discussion of prevailing perspectives on ethics and the implications for IS research. Together, we hope the report will inspire more ethics-conscious and responsible IS research.Peer reviewe