What Is a ‘Wicked Problem’ for IS Research?

This study investigates the types of research problem for which Design Science Research (DSR) is suitable. This requires that DSR approaches are compared and contrasted with traditional empirical approaches, in order to determine the strengths and weakness of each paradigm. From this distinction, three guidelines are presented to allow Information Systems (IS) researchers to identify appropriate research problems for DSR, namely (1) when the prescriptive aspect of the research problem is less mature than the descriptive or normative aspect of the research problem, (2) when causal factors impacting upon the problem variable are difficult to identify and/or isolate, and (3) when mediating influences and interactions between causal factors impacting upon the problem variable are difficult to identify and/or isolate. These three guidelines are discussed in the context of the IS design literature, and illustrated using examples of existing DSR studies.