A response to the design-oriented information systems research memorandum

Abstract

In response to Österle et al.'s ‘Memorandum on Design Oriented Information Systems Research’, this commentary disputes, and expands the context of, several premises used to justify the main argument in the memorandum. These include: (1) claims about the evolution and role of design science research in the broader IS community and its position in the so-called ‘Anglo-Saxon community’, (2) the journal reviewing standards applied to design science research and what is perceived to be a sole focus on behavioral ‘descriptive’ research in certain IS journals. This commentary also discusses how such journals operate and set up their missions, review principles, and standards.

Keywords:

• design science research
• design research
• research methods

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Richard Baskerville

About the authors

Richard Baskerville is a Board of Advisors Professor of Information Systems (IS) at Georgia State University. His research regards security of IS, methods of IS design and development, and the interaction of IS and organizations. He is a Chartered Engineer and holds a Ph.D. from The London School of Economics, University of London. He is the Editor-in-Chief of European Journal of Information Systems.

Kalle Lyytinen

Kalle Lyytinen is a Iris S. Wolstein Professor of IS at Case Western Reserve University. He conducts research on digital innovation and large-scale requirements engineering, and his research has been funded by National Science Foundation. He holds Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, and Ph.D. h.c. from Umea University, Sweden. He is the Former Editor-in-Chief of Journal of the Association for Information Systems.

Vallabh Sambamurthy

Vallabh Sambamurthy is the Eli Broad Professor of Information Technology (IT) at Michigan State University. He has expertise in how firms leverage information technologies in their business strategies, products, services, and organizational processes. His work has been funded by the Advanced Practices Council and the National Science Foundation. His Ph.D. is from the University of Minnesota. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Information Systems Research.

Detmar Straub

Detmar Straub is a Regent's Professor and the J. Mack Robinson Distinguished Professor of IS at Georgia State University. He conducts research in the areas of Net-enhanced organizations (e-Commerce), information security, technological innovation, IS methodological issues, and international IT studies. He holds a DBA in MIS from Indiana and a Ph.D. in English from Penn State. He is the Editor-inChief of MIS Quarterly.