An exploratory survey of design science research amongst South African computing scholars

Abstract

The debate ensues as to whether the traditional focus of computing research on theory development and verification and therefore has adequate immediate practical relevance. Despite increasing claims of the potential of design science research (DSR) to enhance the utility of the IT artifact and consequently practical relevance of research, many computing researchers seem to be reticent to accept this paradigm as a legitimate form of scholarly research. DSR is a relatively new paradigm in computing and little is known about its uptake in South Africa. In this paper, we investigate the opinions about DSR among South African computing scholars. Findings from a survey of 53 respondents indicate low adoption rates. The paper also investigates some of the key barriers preventing the uptake of DSR. The paper concludes with some implications as well as suggestions for building a local DSR community.