Research Objectives Shape Design Outcomes

Why It Matters

Understanding the underlying 'ends' of research helps designers and researchers make more deliberate and effective choices about their projects. This awareness can lead to more relevant, ethical, and impactful design solutions by aligning the research process with desired societal or user outcomes.

Key Finding

The study reveals that research, even in technical fields like Information Systems, is guided by underlying values and choices about its purpose and outcomes, which designers and researchers should consciously consider.

Key Findings

• Information Systems research is not value-neutral; it involves deliberate normative choices.
• A pragmatic framework can expose these choices regarding research ends, theories, methodologies, ethics, and impact.
• Even experimental research involves significant value judgments in its design and interpretation.

Research Evidence

Aim: How can a pragmatic framework help researchers critically evaluate the normative choices and value judgments inherent in Information Systems research design?

Method: Conceptual Framework Development and Application

Procedure: The authors propose a pragmatic framework to analyze the choices made in IS research concerning theories, methodologies, ethics, desirable outcomes, and long-term impact. They illustrate this framework by examining experimental research, often perceived as value-neutral, to highlight the implicit and explicit decisions in topic selection, design, execution, and knowledge representation.

Context: Information Systems Research

Design Principle

Research design should be intentionally aligned with clearly articulated goals and values.

How to Apply

Before starting a design research project, ask: 'What are the ultimate goals of this research, and how do my chosen methods and design decisions serve those goals ethically and effectively?'

Limitations

The framework is primarily applied to Information Systems research, and its direct applicability to all design disciplines may require adaptation.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: Think about *why* you're doing a design project and what you hope to achieve, not just *how* you'll do it. Your goals will affect your choices.

Why This Matters: Understanding the 'ends' of your design research helps you make better decisions about what to study, how to study it, and what impact your design might have.

Critical Thinking: How might a designer's personal values or the values of their client influence the 'ends' of a design research project, and how can this influence be managed ethically?

IA-Ready Paragraph: The research presented suggests that the 'ends' or desired outcomes of a design project significantly shape the research process and its findings. Therefore, it is crucial to explicitly define the goals and values guiding the design research, ensuring that the chosen methodologies, execution, and representation of knowledge are aligned with these objectives to maximize relevance and impact.

Project Tips

• Clearly state the purpose and desired outcomes of your design project at the outset.
• Justify your chosen research methods and design approaches by linking them back to your project's goals.

How to Use in IA

• When discussing the rationale for your research, explain how your chosen objectives influenced your methodology and design.
• Use this to justify why certain outcomes were prioritized in your design.

Examiner Tips

• Ensure your research questions and design choices are clearly linked to the intended impact or purpose of your design project.

Independent Variable: Normative choices and value judgments in research design

Dependent Variable: Quality, relevance, and impact of research outcomes

Controlled Variables: Specific research topic, chosen methodologies, ethical considerations

Strengths

• Provides a critical lens for evaluating research design.
• Highlights the often-overlooked subjective elements in research.

Critical Questions

• Are the stated 'ends' of the research genuinely the driving force, or are there unacknowledged influences?
• How can researchers ensure their chosen 'ends' align with broader societal benefits rather than just academic or commercial interests?

Extended Essay Application

• An Extended Essay could explore how different philosophical underpinnings (e.g., utilitarianism, deontology) lead to different 'ends' and thus different research designs in a specific design field.
• Investigate how the funding source for a design research project might implicitly or explicitly shape its 'ends'.

Source

The Ends of Information Systems Research: A Pragmatic Framework1 · MIS Quarterly · 2012 · 10.2307/41410403