Design science

Definition

(according to Pertti Järvinen, 2004)

Technological rules
- tell you how to do things and are dependant on other theories (and beliefs)
- Bunge (quoted by Järvinen:99): "A technological rule: an instruction is defined as a chunk of general knowledge, linking an intervention or artifact with a desired outcome or performance in a certain field of application".
Types of outcomes (artifacts, interventions):
- Constructs (or concept) form the " language " of a domain
- Models are sets of propositions expressing relationships among constructs
- Methods are a set of steps to perform a task (guidelines, algorithms)
- Instantiations are realizations of an artifact in its environment
Types of research:
- Build: Demonstrate feasibility of an artifact or intervention
- Evaluate: Development of criteria, and assessment of both artifact building and artifact usage

What does this mean ?

There are 4*2 ways to lead interesting design research.
Usually, it's the not the artefact (i.e. program or course) you build that is interesting, but something behind it (constructs, models, methods, ...) or around it (conditions, perceptions, usage, ...).

Here is picture that shows some of the relationsships between elements of a design process:

A researcher can investigate at least on of the dotted lines
A design rule (technological rule in terms of Järvinnen) is a theory on how to build things. It be input, output or both in a research project. See also design-based research that has become popular in educational technology research.
See instructional design models and instructional design method for designs and methods related to education.

Pertti Järvinen: On Research Methods. Tampere: Opinpajan Kirja, ISBN 952-99233-1-7 .
- Note: This seems to be the only useful methdology book related to design-oriented research. Very dense reading, but worth to buy, directly from here (no other place sells it): http://www.uta.fi/taju ... a small and friendly university bookshop (tested by me).