Design Science: Origin

July 28, 2023

5 minutes

Nuru Ryanga ,

Instructional Design Expert

Crafting impactful learning solutions

Today’s world has so many innovations that were born from trying to solve problems.

The thought process behind these genius, problem-solving innovations, quite frequently uses the term ‘design science.’

Design Science is a wide subject. We couldn’t possibly explore it all in one sitting, but we can start with the basics: Design Science – The Origins.

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The Definition

Design Science is a way of solving real-world problems by building solutions (artefacts) using scientific principles, creativity, and empathy.

Scientific principles include things like problem identification and experimentation. We take the best parts of science to build on what’s already known. Then, carefully and objectively, track how people engage with the artefact and improve from there.

From what we learn, we creatively experiment with new designs of the innovation (process or artefact) that solves the problem. (PS: creativity in itself is a science. Stay tuned for a blog coming out on that soon!)

Empathy is key. The whole design process should be done with the end user in mind.

Design Science is also known as Design Science Research (DSR).

There are a couple of terms I threw in there that you may have a hard time understanding, but – if I meet my goal - all will be made clear by the end of this post.

And now that we’ve got the definition out of the way, let’s understand how Design Science came about.

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The Founding Story

Design Science was first introduced by a German called Rolf. W. Schütte in the late 1960s. He was a management scientist and professor at the University of Cologne (A city, not the perfume and the ‘g’ is silent).

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Source: https://images.pexels.com/photos/590016/pexels-photo-590016.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1260&h=750&dpr=2

Schütte is credited with coining the term "design science" and laying the foundations for this problem-solving approach in the context of Information Systems (IS) research.

He wrote a seminal paper which was published in 1996 titled, "Design Science: A Unifying Paradigm for IS Research." In the paper, Schütte outlined the key principles and concepts of design science as a method of research. He was critical of his peers who just produced papers after only observing and analysing existing systems. Schütte emphasised the need for researchers to focus on creating innovative artefacts that can be applied and solve real-life problems.

While Rolf W. Schütte is considered one of the pioneers of design science, the idea of combining science and design in problem-solving has roots in various disciplines and has been evolving over time.

The Point

The main goal of Design Science is to develop and verify artefacts that solve specific problems. These artefacts are meant to be practical and useful in solving real-world issues and improving existing practices.

For Example

Let’s say, we want to teach a new, more climate-sensitive grazing technique to many pastoralists. And we want to do it in an inclusive, gender-sensitive, and cost-effective way.

Simply observing and documenting the technique won't lead to practical results that can be applied by us and other organizations facing the same challenge. We need to do Design Science Research.

This involves studying existing observations and past attempts to form a knowledge base (KB). Using this information and some initial user research, we can develop a proposed solution, like a special puzzle that helps them know when to move to a new grazing area.

A knowledge base is all the information about the problem, and past or current solutions that are attempting to solve it, stored in a structured way

Once the puzzle is created, we give it to the pastoralists and observe how they interact with it. This will provide us with valuable insights, which we can use to write papers and inform our next proposed solution for further improvements.

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Common terms in Design Science

Artefact: This is a product created through the design science process. It could be a model, method, process, system, technology, or any other innovative solution designed to address a specific problem. For example, the special puzzle designed to help pastoralists learn a new climate-sensitive grazing technique.
Problem Domain: This defines the context in which a particular problem exists. It is the domain that researchers aim to understand and improve through the design of artefacts. In the above example, the problem domains are climate change, and pastoralism.
Problem Identification: This is a stage in the design science process. It involves identifying and defining the problem or opportunity that the design science research aims to address. For example, pastoralists over-graze one area of land which leads to degradation of land, soil erosion, and desertification. Problem identification requires a deep understanding of the problem domain and the needs of stakeholders.

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The Conclusion

This concludes the first part of our 3-part Design Science Blog Series.

We have looked at the definition, the origins of Design Science thought, and defined some common terms used. We have also explored an example of how Design Science can be applied.

But are there specific steps followed in the creation of an artefact?

In part 2 of this series, we will take a closer look at the Design Science process itself.

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