Distinguishing and contrasting two strategies for design science research

Abstract

This paper distinguishes and contrasts two design science research strategies in information systems. In the first strategy, a researcher constructs or builds an IT meta-artefact as a general solution concept to address a class of problem. In the second strategy, a researcher attempts to solve a client’s specific problem by building a concrete IT artefact in that specific context and distils from that experience prescriptive knowledge to be packaged into a general solution concept to address a class of problem. The two strategies are contrasted along 16 dimensions representing the context, outcomes, process and resource requirements.