Strategies for Creating, Generalising and Transferring Design Science Knowledge - A Methodological Discussion and Case Analysis

Abstract

Design Science Research has been well accepted as part ofInformation Systems Research. The discussion about the researchprocess and the structure of design theories has been going on forsome time. While research has been done on the relation betweendesign theories and other types of theories, not much has beensaid about how design knowledge can be re-used. Otherdisciplines refer to such re-use as “generalisation” and “transfer”.We define a three-level separation of design abstraction (short-,mid-, and long-range) and show how knowledge re-use strategiesoperate between and within them, as well as how they relate togeneralisation and transfer. Each strategy is supported by a casefrom an existing publication, showing that the types of designtheories and the research strategies can be found in practice. Weargue that these research strategies can provide guidelines toresearchers and reviewers for planning, performing and evaluationDesign Science Research.