When designers are not in control - Experiences from using action research to improve researcher-developer collaboration in design science research

Abstract

Design science research (DSR) has received much attention in the past few years from the field of information systems. This paper argues that control in researcher-developer collaboration during artefact development has not yet received enough attention in design science research even though control is necessary for successful artefact instantiation.Experiences are presented from improving researcher-developer collaboration during DSR by using action research (AR) as means. These experiences are driven from the need to achieve meta-design control throughout the development of artefacts by non-researching system developers when DSR is performed in an authentic setting. The paper shows that the use of AR to both diagnose uncertainty and actively improve building activities may lead to sustainable improvements in researcher-developer collaboration, and hence achieve meta-design control in DSR performed in authentic development environments, as well as enhance progress in DSR methodology development. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.