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Activity Cycles in Design Research: A Pragmatic Conceptualisation of Inter-related Practices

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Design Science: Perspectives from Europe (EDSS 2012)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 388))

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Abstract

There has been a great interest among scholars to identify and conceptualise activities and processes of information systems design research. Based on a paradigmatic foundation in pragmatism, this paper furthers these earlier works on activities and processes. It identifies three main sub-practices of design research; theorize, build and evaluate. It also identifies three external practices/communities: research community, general practice and local use practice. The different practices are related to each other through the construct of an activity cycle. Seven different activity cycles are specified in the paper: Theorize – Build cycle, Theorize – Evaluate cycle, Build – Evaluate cycle, Theorize – Research community cycle, Design research – General practice cycle, Build – Use cycle and Evaluate – Use cycle.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden

    Göran Goldkuhl

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  1. Göran Goldkuhl
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

    Markus Helfert

  2. Maynooth Innovation Value Institute, School of Business, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland

    Brian Donnellan

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Goldkuhl, G. (2013). Activity Cycles in Design Research: A Pragmatic Conceptualisation of Inter-related Practices. In: Helfert, M., Donnellan, B. (eds) Design Science: Perspectives from Europe. EDSS 2012. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 388. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04090-5_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04090-5_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-04089-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-04090-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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