On design research – Some questions and answers

Abstract

Design research is needed in building a new information system or information technology artifact for business informatics and its research. Our literature does not have a common view on design research. In this paper we are interested in a variety of ways how a research problem is stated, which kind of knowledge and innovations does design research produce, and how will a goodness of design research be specified. The variety of solutions to those problems will be found by using a particular method, phenomenography. A successful application of phenomenography is demonstrated. The results found in the information systems literature will be compared and supplemented.