Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Design Research in ITThe new millennium saw a call for a return to an exploration of the technology that underliesIS research. Vaishnavi and Kuechler (2004) provides a comprehensive overview of the place ofDesign Research in IS as well as links to numerous resources in this field. What is importantis the conclusion drawn from this overview:We propose that Design Research is distinguished from design by the productionof interesting (to a community) new knowledge. In a typical industry designeffort a new product (artifact) is produced, but in most cases, the more successfulthe project is considered to be, the less is learned. ... In fact, most productdesign efforts in industry are preceded by many meetings designed to ‘engineerthe risk out of’ the design effort. The risks that are identified in such meetingsare the ‘we dont know how to do this yet’ areas that are precisely the targetsof Design Research efforts. This is in no way meant to diminish the creativitythat is essential to any design effort. We merely wish to point out that designis readily distinguished from Design Research (within its community of interest)by the intellectual risk, the number of unknowns in the proposed design whichwhen successfully surmounted provide the new information that makes the effortresearch and assures its valueVaishnavi and Kuechler (2004).4.1.2 Action ResearchAlthough there are examples of Action Research being undertaken as early as 1913, theterm can be traced to the social psychologist Lewin, who emphasised the need to studythe conditions for promoting social change, and, in so doing constructed a theory of ActionResearch (Lewin, 1946). Somekh (1989)defines it asthe study of a social situation, involving the participants themselves as researchers,with a view to improving the quality of action within it.To the basic themes notable in this and other definitions, namely empowerment of participants;collaboration through participation; acquisition of knowledge; social change (Masters,1995) should be added systematic enquiry; critical reflection; strategic action (Wortley, 2000).In all cases action researchers acknowledge the ambiguity, interconnectedness, complexity andconstant change inherent in the phenomena under study. So while developing a conceptualframework to interpret their findings, researchers also recognise that data collected on a188