Design Science Research Process Research Articles

A design-based pedagogical framework for developing computational thinking skills

ABSTRACT Despite of advances in computational methods for a variety of real-world problems, there is a lack of holistic educational approaches for developing Computational Thinking (CT) skills of students. The CT skills develop students’ ability to design and implement solutions using information systems development process. This paper describes how a soft computing-based multi-faceted modelling approach for solving the interdisciplinary problem of community detection in social networks can be used for developing CT skills among students. We use Design Science Research (DSR) process to design the proposed educational framework. The proposed educational framework has been implemented using R programming environment. Evaluation and feedback of students who undertook a couple of sessions establish the viability of the proposed educational framework.

Sociability in Virtual Reality

This study investigates sociability in the context of immersive Virtual Reality (VR). A Design Science Research process was applied, and three iterative development versions of a VR application were studied. Sociability around the technology was investigated with two theoretical perspectives: social presence and social interactions. The results of qualitative interviews and observations as well as a quantitative experiment are combined to make a proposal for four design principles enhancing the beneficial sociability of VR systems. These principles address the importance of ease-of-use and personalization in the activation of a customer, customer empowerment and emancipation through familiarization, creating real-world connections and surprising content, as well as adding informative elements and streamlining the customer encounter and service process. The proposed design principles are empirically linked through social behaviors and emotions to cognitive outcomes representing beneficial sociability, e.g., improved customer motivation, willingness-to-share, value communications, co-creation, and co-innovation.

Designing for the future in the age of pandemics: a future-ready design research (FRDR) process

ABSTRACT The recent pandemic has painfully reminded us of the need for IS design to be informed by possible futures and conscious of undesirable futures – Within months, many of the nice-to-have IS functionalities have become must-haves; Technology solutions in response to the pandemic have raised privacy and equality concerns. Although design science research fundamentally focuses on shaping artefacts and events to create a more desirable future, there has been limited guidance on how futures should be accounted for. This article addresses the gap by integrating insights from future-oriented IS research and futures research to develop guidelines for engaging with futures throughout the design science research process. The future-ready design research (FRDR) process prompts researchers to be more aware of futures, to foster the innovative foresight for actively pursuing the preferred future, and to espouse the responsible foresight for consciously avoiding undesirable futures. The guidelines are illustrated with a design science research project on outbreak analytics and the instantiated system’s subsequent adaptation and utilisation in COVID-19.

A URI parsing technique and algorithm for anti-pattern detection in RESTful Web services

PurposeMany REpresentational State Transfer (RESTful) Web services suffered from anti-patterns problem, which may diminish the sustainability of the services. The anti-patterns problem could happen in the code of the programme or the uniform resource identifiers (URIs) of RESTful Web services. This study aims to address the problem by proposing a technique and an algorithm for detecting anti-patterns in RESTful Web services. Specifically, the technique is designed based on URIs parsing process.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted following the design science research process, which has six activities, namely, identifying problems, identifying solutions, design the solutions, demonstrate the solution, evaluation and communicate the solution. The proposed technique was embedded in an algorithm and evaluated in four phases covering the process of extracting the URIs, implementing the anti-pattern detection algorithm, detecting the anti-patterns and validating the results.FindingsThe results of the study suggested an acceptable level of accuracy for the anti-patterns detection with 82.30% of precision, 87.86% of recall and 84.93% of F-measure.Practical implicationsThe technique and the algorithm can be used by developers of RESTful Web services to detect possible anti-pattern occurrences in the service-based systems.Originality/valueThe technique is personalised to detect amorphous URI and ambiguous name anti-patterns in which it scans the Web service URIs using specified rules and compares them with pre-determined syntax and corpus.

Design principles for learning analytics information systems in higher education

ABSTRACT This paper reports a design science research (DSR) study that develops, demonstrates and evaluates a set of design principles for information systems (IS) that utilise learning analytics to support learning and teaching in higher education. The initial set of design principles is created from theory-inspired conceptualisation based on the literature, and they are evaluated and revised through a DSR process of demonstration and evaluation. We evaluated the developed artefact in four courses with a total enrolment of 1,173 students. The developed design principles for learning analytics information systems (LAIS) to establish a foundation for further development and implementation of learning analytics to support learning and teaching in higher education.

A modelling framework for integrated smart city planning and management

Observation of global smart city trends shows a shift in focus from sector-based interventions towards integrated decision-making informed by Big Data. This move towards integration is evident in the emergence of Integrated City Management Platforms (ICMPs). Despite the deluge of data generated by ICMPs and the accompanying growth in computing power, limited research has been conducted on exploring the use of this data to develop quantitative tools for integrated smart city planning and management. In this study, the Design Science Research process was followed to develop and evaluate a modelling framework aimed at exploring the use of ICMP data to identify synergies and dependencies across smart city sectors. This paper provides a summary of framework design and implementation and discusses the Design Science Knowledge gained from the exercise.

Information security frameworks for assisting GDPR compliance in banking industry

PurposeData can nowadays be seen as the main asset of organizations and data leaks have a considerable impact on the organization’s image, revenues and possible consequences to the affected clients. One of the most critical industries is the bank. Information security frameworks (ISF) have been created to assist organizations and other frameworks evolved to update these domain practices. Recently, the European Union decided to create the general data protection regulation (GDPR), applicable to all organizations dealing with personal data of citizens residing in the European Union. Although considered a general regulation, GDPR implementation needs to align with some industries’ laws and policies. Especially in the Bank industry. How these ISF can assist the implementation of GDPR is not clear.Design/methodology/approachThe design science research process was followed and semi-structured interviews performed.FindingsA list of practices to assist the bank industry in GDPR implementation is provided. How each practice map with assessed ISF and GDPR requirements is also presented.Research limitations/implicationsAs GDPR is a relatively recent subject, it is hard to find experts in the area. It is more difficult if the authors intend to find experienced people in the GDPR and bank industry. That is one of the main reasons this study does not include more interviews.Originality/valueThis research provides a novel artefact to the body of knowledge. The proposed artefact lists which ISF practices banks should implement to comply with GDPR. By doing it the artefact provides a centralized view about which ISF frameworks (or part of them) could be implemented to help banks comply with GDPR.

A Digital Patient Portal for Patients With Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that requires a complex, differential, and lifelong treatment strategy, which involves high monitoring efforts and the accumulation of numerous medical data. A fast and broad availability of care, as well as patient-relevant data and a stronger integration of patients and participating care providers into the complex treatment process is desirable. The aim of the ERDF-funded project “Integrated Care Portal Multiple Sclerosis” (IBMS) was to develop a pathway-based care model and a corresponding patient portal for MS patients and health care professionals (HCPs) as a digital tool to deliver the care model.Methods: The patient portal was created according to a patient-centered design approach which involves both the patients' and the professionals' view. Buurmann's five iterative phases were integrated into a design science research process. A problem analysis focusing on functions and user interfaces was conducted through surveys and workshops with MS patients and HCPs. Based on this, the patient portal was refined and a prototype of the portal was implemented using an agile software development strategy.Results: HCPs and patients already use digital hardware and are open to new technologies. Nevertheless, they desire improved (digital) communication and coordination between care providers. Both groups require a number of functions for the patient portal, which were implemented in the prototype. Usability tests with patients and HCPs are planned to consider whether the portal is deemed as usable, acceptable as well as functional to prepare for any needed ameliorations.Discussion: After testing the patient portal for usability, acceptability, and functionality, it will most likely be a useful and high-quality electronic health (eHealth) tool for patient management from day care to telerehabilitation. It implements clinical pathways in a manner which is comprehensible for patients. Future developments of the patient portal modules could include additional diseases, the integration of quality management and privacy management tools, and the use of artificial intelligence to personalize treatment strategies.

Identification of User Roles in Enterprise Social Networks: Method Development and Application

The importance of gaining insights into informal organizational structures for management purposes is acknowledged by both research and practice. However, “traditional” approaches to analyzing informal organizational social networks involve significant manual effort and do not scale for larger datasets. Enterprise Social Networks (ESN) have emerged as important tools for informal employee interactions, such as for problem-solving and information sharing. While the analysis of ESN back end data might provide insights into the informal fabric of organizations, and in particular employees’ roles in such networks, there is a lack of systematic approaches for carrying out ESN analytics, such as for user role identification. Following a design science research process, a process-based method to identify user roles from ESN data was developed and evaluated. The method’s efficacy is demonstrated through an in-depth application in a case study of Australian professional services firm Deloitte. In doing so the paper shows how ESN data can be utilized to derive metrics that characterize participation behavior, message content, and structural network positions of ESN users.

A Framework to Support the Process of Measurement of Customer’s Satisfaction According to ISO 9001

Each time more companies seek to differentiate themselves from their competitors. For this, they resort to company certification through standards such as ISO 9001 or EFQM. The quality norms permit business to improve process management and production and reduce the lack of knowledge. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to propose a framework to support the process of improving customer's satisfaction according to ISO 9001. To achieve the main objective, the methodology of the design science research process has been followed. First, the problems in the evaluation of customer's satisfaction required by ISO 9001 have been analysed. Second, an expert system has been developed to evaluate the process. To end, the system has been validated. The results suggest that this system facilitates continuous improvement in organizations, providing the customer's vision of the organization, and making possible the implementation of actions oriented to retain customers. This study presents important managerial implications. Insights from this research allow us to offer recommendations that can help practitioners and managers interested in the implementation of expert systems, to focus in quality processes that can increase the chances of a successful adoption.

Design of an Agent-Based Traffic Control System

Traffic control system is an imperative instrument in traffic management and smart urban development. However, most of the current traffic control systems cannot intercommunicate nor interact with each other. Most importantly, none of these systems are proactive and reactive to their immediate traffic environment. Thus, this study explores the design of an agent-based traffic control system where traffic lights can interact and inter-communicate to take prompt traffic control decisions within a traffic area. The study presents an agent-based traffic control system known as ATC. ATC system design was done using Design Science Research Process Model while the system was evaluated using qualitative research methodology. The study argues that there is need for traffic control system to be more reactive and proactive to their immediate traffic environment in order to limit traffic jam in urban areas.

Usage control architecture options for data sovereignty in business ecosystems

PurposeCurrent business challenges force companies to exchange critical and sensitive data. The data provider pays great attention to the usage of their data and wants to control it by policies. The purpose of this paper is to develop usage control architecture options to enable data sovereignty in business ecosystems.Design/methodology/approachThe architecture options are developed following the design science research process. Based on requirements from an automotive use case, the authors develop architecture options. The different architecture options are demonstrated and evaluated based on the case study with practitioners from the automotive industry.FindingsThis paper introduces different architecture options for implementing usage control (UC). The proposed architecture options represent solutions for UC in business ecosystems. The comparison of the architecture options shows the respective advantages and disadvantages for data provider and data consumer.Research limitations/implicationsIn this work, the authors address only one case stemming from the German automotive sector.Practical implicationsTechnical enforcement of data providers policies instead of relying on trust to support collaborative data exchange between companies.Originality/valueThis research is among the first to introduce architecture options that provide a technical concept for the implementation of data sovereignty in business ecosystems using UC. Consequently, it supports the decision process for the technical implementation of data sovereignty.

XBRL based Corporate Tax Filing in Indonesia

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is a significant new information technology for the electronic communication of business and financial data. XBRL has been implemented by Central Bank of Indonesia and Indonesia Stock Exchange but not yet adopted by Indonesian Tax Authority. As there was no data exchange among the regulators, it may result in inconsistent financial information among these authorities. However, before promoting this G2G sharing, the tax authority has to adopt the XBRL in the first place. This research proposed the XBRL taxonomy, which can be used in the adoption of XBRL for the e-Tax Corporate Filing system. As an applied research, the paper technically demonstrates how to develop XBRL taxonomy called The Corporate Tax XBRL Taxonomy (1771-CTXT). The taxonomy was created based on the iterative approach as the main part of the Design Science Research (DSR) process model. Although this research paper was done based on the case study of corporate income tax in Indonesia, the steps to developing taxonomy document could be applied as well to other countries’ tax regulators. In implementing XBRL based data exchange among regulators, the National XBRL taxonomy has to be developed first to provide XBRL elements, which can be re-used among them. The XBRL extensions of the national taxonomy should also be developed for particular reporting domains such as tax and statistics.

A road map for digital forensics research: a novel approach for establishing the design science research process in digital forensics

A road map for digital forensics research: a novel approach for establishing the design science research process in digital forensics

A road map for digital forensics research: a novel approach for establishing the design science research process in digital forensics

Compared to other well-established scientific fields computer forensics (CF) is still evolving as a new scientific field. CF lacks standardisation in various aspects including process models, datasets, procedures, techniques, and formal research methodologies. Consequently, progress in the establishment of CF as a scientific field has been hindered. Therefore, this paper aims to address one of such issues concerning the lack of standardisation, namely the absence of formal research methods in CF. Our study adds to the body of knowledge by filling the gap that there does not currently exist a well-established research methodology in CF. To this end, we borrow a well-established research methodology from the domain of IS, namely Peffers et al.'s (2006), adapt and extend it and make it relevant to research studies in CF. Our study sets a precedent for other researchers to identify, adapt, extend and apply other well-established research methods to studies in CF.

Considering the social impacts of artefacts in information systems design science research

Design science research (DSR) is a distinct research paradigm in the information systems (IS) field that encourages the creation and evaluation of artefacts as a means for research. Yet, design science researchers often create and evaluate artefacts that tend to be techno-centric. By also considering the social impacts of a design science artefact throughout the creation and evaluation process, the researcher develops an artefact with a greater potential to thrive when the artefact is instantiated and implemented. Furthermore, the purposeful consideration of social impacts in the design science creation and evaluation process supports the researcher in developing a more complete contribution to the IS field, a field whose core foundation relates to information, technology, and social interactions. In this paper, we discuss the importance of identifying social impacts of artefacts as well as an expanded notion of artefacts in DSR. We provide guidelines for design science researchers on how to incorporate the social impacts of artefacts throughout the DSR process. Using vignettes, we demonstrate how researchers have incorporated social impacts and demonstrate the value of considering social impacts as design science researchers seek to create and evaluate artefacts to address a research problem.

A new method for strategic decision-making in higher education

Using the appropriate methodology for strategic decision-making in higher education is crucial to make effective decisions. In this paper, the analytic network process (ANP), one of the most suitable decision-making methods in terms of higher education issues, is presented and evaluated from the position of the user. After recognising some characteristics of the ANP that can be improved, the main objective of this research was to develop a new method based on the characteristics of the ANP and social network analysis (SNA). The research methodology used in this paper is the design science research process (DSRP), which is often used to design new artefacts, such as models, methods and methodologies. The main phases of this approach include problem identification, objectives of a solution, design and development, demonstration of the artefact, evaluation and dissemination. By using the DSRP, a new decision-making method is designed and proposed. The new method has two components that are based on the ANP and SNA. The first component is related to determining the importance of criteria with respect to the goal of decision-making. The second component is related to modelling influences/dependencies between criteria, and identifying criteria that strongly influence others, as well as criteria that others depend on. A measure that describes how strong a particular criterion is in terms of influences/dependencies is based on the centrality degree, one of the most fundamental centrality measures. In this paper, the new method, which was evaluated on several cases, is demonstrated with example of evaluating scientists, and a comparison of the new method’s results and the ANP method’s results is presented.

Using a Design Science Research Approach in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Project

Design science is a problem-solving approach that focuses on how to develop and produce artifacts having desired properties. A Design Science Research (DSR) approach was followed to develop a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) artifact (semiotic framework [Semiotic Interface sign Design and Evaluation – the SIDE framework]) to help practitioners to design and evaluate the web interfaces. The objective of this paper is to present how a DSR approach was adopted in a HCI project and to highlight what lessons were learned by adopting the DSR approach in developing a HCI artifact. This paper outlines how the principles and guidelines of DSR approach were adopted, while performing the activities of the DSR process model to construct the artifact. Lessons learned from this case study and their implications in HCI research are also discussed; that includes, for example, DSR provides higher level of procedural transparency, maintains the research rigor, create a bridge between the HCI and IS, provides established research knowledge base, support to claim both as an approach and a paradigm, and facilitates to employ both inductive and deductive design activities.

A standardised data acquisition process model for digital forensic investigations

Similar to traditional evidence, courts of law do not assume that digital evidence is reliable if there is no evidence of some empirical testing regarding the theories and techniques pertaining to its production. Courts take a careful notice of the way in which digital evidence has been acquired and stored. In contrast with traditional crimes for which there are well-established standards and procedures upon which courts can rely, there are no formal procedures or models for digital data acquisition to which courts of law can refer. A standardised data acquisition process model is needed to enable digital forensic investigators to follow a uniform approach, and to assist courts of law in determining the reliability of digital evidence presented to them. This paper proposes a model that is standardised in that it can enable digital forensic investigators in following a uniform approach, and that is generic in that it can be applied in both law enforcement and corporate investigations. To carry out the research presented in the paper, the design science research process (DSRP) methodology proposed by Peffers et al. (2006) has been followed.

A design science research (DSR) case study: building an evaluation framework for social media enabled collaborative learning environments (SMECLEs)

To conduct design science research (DSR) it is expected that some form of process model must be used, where each stage is explicitly outlined in the presentation of the research, with clear explanations. Since very few, if any, papers actually produces and presents DSR in such a manner, this provides an excellent opportunity to do so. Thus, this paper introduces a case study, where a DSR process model is utilised to produce and present DSR, where the focus is on building an evaluation framework for social media enabled collaborative learning environments (SMECLEs). This approach is imitable by other researchers who wish to produce high quality DSR, and present it in a fashion that is both easy to read, and understand, which helps to increase the standard of DSR being produced and presented.