This book provides guidelines for practicing design science in the fields of information systems and software engineering research. A design process usually iterates over two activities: first designing an artifact that improves something for stakeholders and subsequently empirically investigating the performance of that artifact in its context. This “validation in context” is a key feature of the book - since an artifact is designed for a context, it should also be validated in this context. The book is divided into five parts. Part I discusses the fundamental nature of design science and its artifacts, as well as related design research questions and goals. Part II deals with the design cycle, i.e. the creation, design and validation of artifacts based on requirements and stakeholder goals. To elaborate this further, Part III presents the role of conceptual frameworks and theories in design science. Part IV continues with the empirical cycle to investigate artifacts in context, and presents the different elements of research problem analysis, research setup and data analysis. Finally, Part V deals with the practical application of the empirical cycle by presenting in detail various research methods, including observational case studies, case-based and sample-based experiments and technical action research. These main sections are complemented by two generic checklists, one for the design cycle and one for the empirical cycle. The book is written for students as well as academic and industrial researchers in software engineering or information systems. It provides guidelines on how to effectively structure research goals, how to analyze research problems concerning design goals and knowledge questions, how to validate artifact designs and how to empirically investigate artifacts in context – and finally how to present the results of the design cycle as a whole.

It is 5 years since the publication of the seminal paper on “Design Science in Information Systems Research” by Hevner, March, Park, and Ram in MIS Quarterly and the initiation of the Information Technology and Systems department of the Communications of AIS. These events in 2004 are markers in the move of design science to the forefront of information systems research. A suf cient interval has elapsed since then to allow assessment of from where the eld has come and where it should go. Design science research and behavioral science research started as dual tracks when IS was a young eld. By the 1990s, the in ux of behavioral scientists started to dominate the number of design scientists and the eld moved in that direction. By the early 2000s, design people were having dif culty publishing in mainline IS journals and in being tenured in many universities. Yes, an annual Workshop on Information Technology and Systems (WITS) was established in 1991 in conju- tion with the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) and grew each year. But that was the extent of design science recognition. Fortunately, a revival is underway. By 2009, when this foreword was written, the fourth DESRIST c- ference has been held and plans are afoot for the 2010 meeting. Design scientists regained respect and recognition in many venues where they previously had little.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology, DERIST 2012, held in Las Vegas, NV, USA, in May 2012. The 24 revised full papers presented together with 7 revised short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 44 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on DSRIS in practice, DSRIS methodologies and techniques, social and environmental aspects of DSRIS, theory and theory building in DSRIS, and evaluation of DSRIS projects.

Philosophical paradigms, theoretical frameworks, and methodologies make up the answering and problem solving systems that define current research approaches. While there are multiple research method books, the subject lacks an update and integrated source of reference for graduate courses. Research Methodologies, Innovations and Philosophies in Software Systems Engineering and Information Systems aims to advance scientific knowledge on research approaches used in systems engineering, software engineering, and information systems and to update and integrate disperse and valuable knowledge on research approaches. This aims to be a collection of knowledge for PhD students, research-oriented faculty, and instructors of graduate courses.

Design research promotes understanding of advanced, cutting-edge information systems through the construction and evaluation of these systems and their components. Since this method of research can produce rigorous, meaningful results in the absence of a strong theory base, it excels in investigating new and even speculative technologies, offering

Consolidating existing knowledge in Design Science, this book proposes a new research method to aid the exploration of design and problem solving within business, science and technology. It seeks to overcome a dichotomy that exists in the field between theory and practice to enable researches to find solutions to problems, rather than focusing on the explanation and exploration of the problems themselves. Currently, researches concentrate on to describing, exploring, explaining and predicting phenomena, and little attention is devoted to prescribing solutions. Herbert Simon proposes the need to develop a Science of the Artificial (Design Science), arguing that our reality is much more artificial than natural. However, the research conducted on the Design Science premises has so far been scattered and erratic in different fields of research, such as management, systems information and engineering. This book aims to address this issue by bringing these fields together and emphasising the need for solutions. This book provides a valuable resource to students and researchers of research methods, information systems, management and management science, and production and operations management.

This book presents contemporary empirical methods in software engineering related to the plurality of research methodologies, human factors, data collection and processing, aggregation and synthesis of evidence, and impact of software engineering research. The individual chapters discuss methods that impact the current evolution of empirical software engineering and form the backbone of future research. Following an introductory chapter that outlines the background of and developments in empirical software engineering over the last 50 years and provides an overview of the subsequent contributions, the remainder of the book is divided into four parts: Study Strategies (including e.g. guidelines for surveys or design science); Data Collection, Production, and Analysis (highlighting approaches from e.g. data science, biometric measurement, and simulation-based studies); Knowledge Acquisition and Aggregation (highlighting literature research, threats to validity, and evidence aggregation); and Knowledge Transfer (discussing open science and knowledge transfer with industry). Empirical methods like experimentation have become a powerful means of advancing the field of software engineering by providing scientific evidence on software development, operation, and maintenance, but also by supporting practitioners in their decision-making and learning processes. Thus the book is equally suitable for academics aiming to expand the field and for industrial researchers and practitioners looking for novel ways to check the validity of their assumptions and experiences. Chapter 17 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.