Title: Introduction to Design Research: a Methodological Background for Scientific Work
1Introduction to Design Research a
Methodological Background for Scientific Work
- Elena Paslaru Bontas
- Semantic Web PhD Network Berlin Brandenburg
- 30.09.2005
2Outline
- Motivation
- Types of research
- Design Research Basics
- Evaluation in Design Research
- Conclusion
3Motivation
- Motivation for research
- pure research enhance understanding of phenomena
- instrumentalist research a problem needs a
solution - applied research a solution needs application
fields - Motivation for research methodology
- (qualitatively) control research process
- validate research results
- compare research approaches
- respect rules of good scientific practice
4Research A Definition
- Research
- an activity that contributes to the understanding
of a phenomenon Kuhn, 1962 Lakatos, 1978 - phenomenon a set of behaviors of some
entity(ies) that is found interesting by a
research community - understanding knowledge that allows prediction
of the behavior of some aspect of the phenomenon - activities considered appropriate to the
production of understanding (knowledge) are the
research methods and techniques of a research
community - paradigmatic vs multi-paradigmatic communities
(agreement on phenomena of interest and research
methods)
5Scientific Disciplines
- Types of research Simon, 1996
- natural sciences phenomena occurring in the
world (nature or society) - design sciences sciences of the artificial
- all or part of the phenomena may be created
artificially - studies artificial objects or phenomena designed
to meet certain goals - social sciences structural level processes of a
social system and its impact on social processes
and social organization - behavioural sciences the decision processes and
communication strategies within and between
organisms in a social system
6phenomena
design sciences
Semantic Web (CS)
activities
Owen,1997
7Design research basics
- Process model
- Artifact types
- result of the research work
- Artifact structure
- content of the research approach
- Evaluation
- evaluation criteria
- evaluation approach
8Process model
- a problem-solving paradigm
- seeks to create innovations that define the
ideas, practices, technical capabilities, and
products through which the analysis, design,
implementation, and use of information systems
can be effectively and efficiently accomplished
Tsichritzis 1997 Denning 1997
9Design research process
knowledge flows
operation and goal knowledge
circumscription
process steps
Awareness of problem
Suggestion
Development
Conclusion
Evaluation
logical formalism
abduction
deduction
Takeda,1990
10Artifacts
- are not exempt from natural laws or behavioral
theories - artifacts rely on existing "kernel theories" that
are applied, tested, modified, and extended
through the experience, creativity, intuition,
and problem solving capabilities of the
researcher Walls et al. 1992 Markus et al.
2002
11Design research outputs March Smith, 1995
- Constructs
- conceptual vocabulary of a problem/solution
domain - Methods
- algorithms and practices to perform a specific
task - Models
- a set of propositions or statements expressing
relationships among constructs - abstractions and representations
- Instantiations
- constitute the realization of constructs, models
and methods in a working system - implemented and prototype systems
- Better theories
- artifact construction
Thesis output
12Design research outputs
constructs better theories models
emergent theory about embedded phenomena
abstraction
models methods constructs better theories
abstraction
knowledge as operational principles
abstraction
artifact as situated implementation
instatiations methods constructs
Purao , 2002
13Examples
- Open up a new area
- Provide a unifying framework
- Resolve a long-standing question
- Thoroughly explore an area
- Contradict existing knowledge
- Experimentally validate a theory
- Produce an ambitious system
- Provide empirical data
- Derive superior algorithms
- Develop new methodology
- Develop a new tool
- Produce a negative result
14Artifact structure
- Structure of the artifact
- the information space the artifact spans
- basis for deducing all required information about
the artifact - determines the configurational characteristics
necessary to enable the evaluation of the
artifact
Content of the thesis
15Evaluation criteria
- Evaluation criteria
- the dimensions of the information space which are
relevant for determining the utility of the
artifact - can differ on the purpose of the evaluation
Test cases
16Evaluation approach
- Evaluation approach
- the procedure how to practically test an artifact
- defines all roles concerned with the assessment
and the way of handling the evaluation - result is a decision whether or not the artifact
meets the evaluation criteria based on the
available information.
Testing method
17Evaluation approach (2)
- Quantative evaluation
- originally developed in the natural sciences to
study natural phenomena - approaches
- survey methods
- laboratory experiments
- formal methods (e.g. econometrics)
- numerical methods (e.g. mathematical modeling)
18Evaluation approach (3)
- Qualitative evaluation
- developed in the social sciences to enable
researchers to study social and cultural
phenomena - approaches
- action research
- case study research
- ethnography
- grounded theory
- qualitative data sources
- observation and participant observation
(fieldwork) - interviews and questionnaires
- documents and texts
- the researchers impressions and reactions
19Constructs
20Methods
21Models
22Instantiations
23Conclusion
- Good research results require a careful
- design of the research methodology and
- considerable evaluation efforts
24References
- DFG Rules of Good Scientific Practice available
at www.dfg.de, last seen September 2005 - Tsichritzis, D. "The Dynamics of Innovation,"
Beyond Calculation The Next Fifty Years of
Computing, Copernicus, 1997, pp. 259-265 - Denning, P.J. "A New Social Contract for
Research," Communications of the ACM (402),
February 1997, pp. 132-134 - Simon, H.A. The Sciences of the Artificial, 3rd
Edition, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996 - Markus, M.L., Majchrzak, A., and Gasser, L., "A
Design Theory for Systems that Support Emergent
Knowledge Processes," MIS Quarterly (263),
September, 2002, pp. 179-212 - Walls, J.G., Widmeyer, G.R., and El Sawy, O.A.
"Building an Information System Design Theory for
Vigilant EIS," Information Systems Research
(31), March 1992, pp. 36-59 - Kuhn, T.S. The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions, 3rd Edition, University of Chicago
Press, 1996 - March, S.T. and Smith, G. Design and Natural
Science Research on Information - Technology, Decision Support Systems (154),
December 1995, pp. 251-266 - Lakatos, I. The Methodology of Scientific
Research Programmes, John Worral and Gregory
Currie, Eds., Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press, 1978 - Wikipedia available at www.wikipedia.org, last
seen Semptember 2005 - Purao, S. Design Research in the Technology of
Information Systems Truth or Dare. GSU
Department of CIS Working Paper. Atlanta, 2002
25Danke für die AufmerksamkeitViel Erfolg für die
Promotionpaslaru_at_inf.fu-berlin.de