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A framework for classifying intelligent design theories

Published: 05 November 2004 Publication History

Abstract

Software Engineering (SE) design approaches are traditionally based on concepts associated with the procedural and object-oriented SE paradigms, such as stepwise methods and techniques for abstraction, modularity and refinement of software functionality. In contrast, researchers in other engineering domains have developed theories of Intelligent Design (ID) to explain what human design engineers think and do in the design process. So far these theories have provided useful process models, knowledge representations and strategies to underpin a number of approaches to designing complex artifacts. Our aim is to explore the potential of such engineering-based ID theories to support SE design. In pursuit of this we need to appraise existing ID theories in a systematic manner. Due to the large number of ID theories and the diversity of elements which they are composed of, the first stage of any systematic appraisal would be to develop a framework for classifying and analyzing ID theories. Such a framework is proposed in this paper. It can be used to categorize and assess ID theories, their elements and research methodologies. Together with a set of appraisal criteria, we can then assess the usefulness of each ID theory for supporting SE design activities. The framework identifies the main elements of ID theories including the underlying research approach, the process models created, and the knowledge representations derived. This paper provides a full description of the framework and shows how it can be used to analyze an example ID theory.

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cover image ACM Conferences
WISER '04: Proceedings of the 2004 ACM workshop on Interdisciplinary software engineering research
November 2004
96 pages
ISBN:1581139888
DOI:10.1145/1029997
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Publication History

Published: 05 November 2004

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Author Tags

  1. design methodologies
  2. intelligent design (ID)
  3. software development
  4. software engineering (SE)

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Cited By

View all
  • (2016)A specification of principles governing the design of requirement prioritisation approachesInternational Journal of Business Information Systems10.1504/IJBIS.2016.07426221:2(206-220)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2016
  • (2014)A proposal for using design science in small-scale postgraduate research projects in information technology2014 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE)10.1109/TALE.2014.7062633(242-245)Online publication date: Dec-2014
  • (2012)A Conceptual Framework to Construct an Artefact for Meta-Abstract Design Knowledge in Design Science ResearchProceedings of the 2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences10.1109/HICSS.2012.51(4074-4081)Online publication date: 4-Jan-2012
  • (2011)A Conceptual Framework for Design Science ResearchPerspectives in Business Informatics Research10.1007/978-3-642-24511-4_27(345-354)Online publication date: 2011
  • (2007)A Design Science Research Methodology for Information Systems ResearchJournal of Management Information Systems10.2753/MIS0742-122224030224:3(45-77)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2007

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