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How software engineering research aligns with design science : a review

Engström, Emelie LU orcid ; Storey, Margaret-Anne LU ; Runeson, Per LU orcid ; Höst, Martin LU and Baldassarre, Maria Teresa (2020) In Empirical Software Engineering 25(4).
Abstract
Background: Assessing and communicating software engineering research can be challenging. Design science is recognized as an appropriate research paradigm for applied research, but is rarely explicitly used as a way to present planned or achieved research contributions in software engineering. Applying the design science lens to software engineering research may improve the assessment and communication of research contributions. Aim: The aim of this study is 1) to understand whether the design science lens helps summarize and assess software engineering research contributions, and 2) to characterize different types of design science contributions in the software engineering literature. Method: In previous research, we developed a visual... (More)
Background: Assessing and communicating software engineering research can be challenging. Design science is recognized as an appropriate research paradigm for applied research, but is rarely explicitly used as a way to present planned or achieved research contributions in software engineering. Applying the design science lens to software engineering research may improve the assessment and communication of research contributions. Aim: The aim of this study is 1) to understand whether the design science lens helps summarize and assess software engineering research contributions, and 2) to characterize different types of design science contributions in the software engineering literature. Method: In previous research, we developed a visual abstract template, summarizing the core constructs of the design science paradigm. In this study, we use this template in a review of a set of 38 award winning software engineering publications to extract, analyze and characterize their design science contributions. Results: We identified five clusters of papers, classifying them according to their different types of design science contributions. Conclusions: The design science lens helps emphasize the theoretical contribution of research output—in terms of technological rules—and reflect on the practical relevance, novelty and rigor of the rules proposed by the research. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Empirical Software Engineering
volume
25
issue
4
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85084081553
ISSN
1573-7616
DOI
10.1007/s10664-020-09818-7
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b02a482a-f96a-4fb7-96d1-70496de03740
alternative location
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10664-020-09818-7
date added to LUP
2020-05-11 08:22:50
date last changed
2022-05-12 02:44:15
@article{b02a482a-f96a-4fb7-96d1-70496de03740,
  abstract     = {{Background: Assessing and communicating software engineering research can be challenging. Design science is recognized as an appropriate research paradigm for applied research, but is rarely explicitly used as a way to present planned or achieved research contributions in software engineering. Applying the design science lens to software engineering research may improve the assessment and communication of research contributions. Aim: The aim of this study is 1) to understand whether the design science lens helps summarize and assess software engineering research contributions, and 2) to characterize different types of design science contributions in the software engineering literature. Method: In previous research, we developed a visual abstract template, summarizing the core constructs of the design science paradigm. In this study, we use this template in a review of a set of 38 award winning software engineering publications to extract, analyze and characterize their design science contributions. Results: We identified five clusters of papers, classifying them according to their different types of design science contributions. Conclusions: The design science lens helps emphasize the theoretical contribution of research output—in terms of technological rules—and reflect on the practical relevance, novelty and rigor of the rules proposed by the research.}},
  author       = {{Engström, Emelie and Storey, Margaret-Anne and Runeson, Per and Höst, Martin and Baldassarre, Maria Teresa}},
  issn         = {{1573-7616}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Empirical Software Engineering}},
  title        = {{How software engineering research aligns with design science : a review}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10664-020-09818-7}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10664-020-09818-7}},
  volume       = {{25}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}