Constructive Synergy in Design Science Research: A Comparative Analysis of Design Science Research and the Constructive Research Approach

En co-autoría con Kalle Piirainen, ha sido publicado este artículo en la revista The Finnish Journal of Business Economics, cuyo abstract es "Information systems research is focused on creating knowledge which can be applied in organizations. Design science research, which specifically aims at applying existing knowledge to solve interesting and relevant business problems, has been steadily gaining support in information systems research. However, design science research is not the only design-oriented research framework available. Accordingly, this raises the question of whether there is something to learn between the different approaches. This paper contributes to answering this question by comparing design science research with the constructive research approach. The conclusion is that the two approaches are similar and compatible, save for details in practical requirements and partly underlying philosophical assumptions. The main finding that arises from the comparison is, however, that there is a potential problem in claiming knowledge contribution from evaluation of the utility of an artifact. That is, utility-based evaluation often builds the argument on adoption of the artifact, assuming that adoption and utility in general validates also claims to knowledge contribution. We show that this mode of evaluation has philosophical and practical problems that need addressing in further research."
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Visita a Groningen

Aprovechando la primavera holandesa, fui invitado a participar el pasado 9 de abril a un seminario de Innovación y Organización en la Universidad de Groningen para realizar una presentación titulada "Pragmatist-abductive design science research in information systems" cuyo resumen es el siguiente: Ever since H. Simon popularized design science (or the sciences of the artificial) as an alternative to natural science, it has been increasingly adopted by researchers in engineering, management science, design studies, and architecture, among others. Simon's framing nicely ties together design, problem-solving, decision-making and scientific research. However, not all researchers agree on how to go about it: what sort of underlying epistemology should we use; which type of reasoning best describes the discovery process; should there be theory development, and if so, what kind of theory should it create? Furthermore, many are still unconvinced that design and science are as close or similar as Simon argued. I will thus present design science research from a pragmatist and abductive perspective with the aim of clarifying the above questions as well as discussing the implications that this viewpoint has in terms of evaluation and validation of the research results. I will use much of the work that has been recently devoted to design science research in the field of information systems, presenting examples from this area and opening up new questions.