Ahmad Najmi

What is Design Science Research and its future in research?

ahmadnajmiuthm@gmail.com — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 07:10:54 +0000

Design Science Research (DSR) is a paradigm that focuses on the creation and evaluation of design artifacts that address real-world problems. The goal of DSR is to create practical and useful designs that can be evaluated and improved through empirical research. According to the view of Alan Hevner, Design Science Research (DSR) is a systematic and rigorous approach to the study of the design, development, and use of information systems. Hevner defines DSR as an “empirical, theoretical, and practical pursuit to create, evaluate, and evolve artifacts that support the needs of individuals, organizations, and society.” Hevner emphasizes that DSR is an interdisciplinary field that draws on theories, methods, and techniques from computer science, information systems, engineering, design, and other related disciplines. He also notes that DSR is a cyclical process that involves the iterative design, development, and evaluation of artifacts, with the goal of creating knowledge that can be applied to the design of future information systems.

Design Science Research (DSR) can be applied to a wide range of fields, not only limited to information systems, engineering, business, social science, education and healthcare, some other fields include:

Human Computer Interaction (HCI): DSR can be used to design and develop new user interfaces, interaction techniques, and evaluation methods for HCI.
Architecture and Urban Planning: DSR can be used to design and develop new building designs, urban planning strategies, and evaluation methods for architecture and urban planning.
Service Science: DSR can be used to design and develop new service systems, service delivery methods, and evaluation methods for service science.
Robotics: DSR can be used to design and develop new robot systems, robot control algorithms, and evaluation methods for robotics.
Sustainable systems: DSR can be used to design and develop new sustainable systems, sustainable design methods, and evaluation methods for sustainable systems.

The future of DSR in research is expected to continue growing as more and more researchers and practitioners recognize the potential of DSR in creating practical and useful designs that can be evaluated and improved through empirical research. DSR is particularly well-suited for addressing problems in fields such as information systems, healthcare, education, and sustainability, and as such, it is expected to play a significant role in shaping the future of research in these areas.

Additionally, DSR is also expected to play a significant role in the advancement of Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning, by providing a framework to design, evaluate and improve the AI systems, thus contributing to the development of more efficient and effective systems.

Here are a few references for papers on Design Science Research (DSR):

Hevner, A. R., March, S. T., Park, J., & Ram, S. (2004). Design science in information systems research. MIS Quarterly, 28(1), 75-105.
Gregor, S., & Jones, D. (2006). Design science: creating new knowledge. Journal of management information systems, 22(4), 91-105.
Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., Rothenberger, M. A., & Chatterjee, S. (2007). A design science research methodology for information systems research. Journal of management information systems, 24(3), 45-77.
Vaishnavi, V. K., & Kuechler, W. L. (2008). Design science research in information systems. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 9(5), 341-373.

These papers provide a good introduction to the principles and methods of DSR, and provide examples of how DSR has been applied in various fields.

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