Transparency in Design Science Research

Abstract

Research transparency promotes openness and trust in the performed process, produced evidence, claimed contributions, and actionable implications of scientific inquiry. The field of information systems (IS), as a pluralistic research community, must address transparency in relation to its use of multiple research methods appropriate to complex socio-technical application contexts and challenging research questions. This commentary presents a position statement and a set of important transparency challenges and actionable guidance for the design science research (DSR) community. We propose a six-feature DSR Transparency Framework, containing the features of process, problem space, solution space, build, evaluation, and contribution. For each of these features, we discuss challenges with guidance to support effective DSR transparency throughout the publication process and in application as novel real-world solutions. Abstract: Research transparency promotes openness and trust in the process, evidence, contributions, and implications of scientific inquiry. Information Systems (IS), as a pluralistic research community, must address transparency in relation to its use of multiple research methods appropriate to complex socio-technical contexts and challenging research questions. This commentary presents a set of important transparency challenges and actionable guidance for the Design Science Research (DSR) community. We propose a DSR Transparency Framework containing six forms of transparency: process, problem space, solution space, build, evaluation, and contribution. For each, we discuss challenges with guidance to support effective DSR transparency throughout the publication process.