<b>Research Note</b>—Heuristic Theorizing: Proactively Generating Design Theories
Authors: Gregory, Robert Wayne; Muntermann, Jan
Journal: Information Systems Research (2014)
<jats:p>Design theories provide explicit prescriptions, such as principles of form and function, for constructing an artifact that is designed to meet a set of defined requirements and solve a problem. Design theory generation is increasing in importance because of the increasing number and diversity of problems that require the participation and proactive involvement of academic researchers to build and test artifact-based solutions. However, we have little understanding of how design theories are generated. Drawing on key contributions by Herbert A. Simon, including the ideas of satisfice and bounded rationality and reviewing a large body of information systems and problem-solving literature, we develop a normative framework for proactive design theorizing based on the notion of heuristic theorizing. Heuristics are rules of thumb that provide a plausible aid in structuring the problem at hand or in searching for a satisficing artifact design. An example of a problem-structuring heuristic is problem decomposition and an example of an artifact design heuristic is analogical design. We define heuristic theorizing as the process of proactively generating design theory for prescripti…