ELSEVIER Decision Support Systems 15 (1995)251-266 Invited Paper Design and natural science research on information technology Salvatore T. March *, Gerald F. Smith Information and Decision Sciences Department, Carlson School of Management Unit~ersity of Minnesota, 271 19th Auenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA Abstract Research in IT must address the design tasks faced by practitioners. Real problems must be properly conceptual- ized and represented, appropriate techniques for their solution must be constructed, and solutions must be implemented and evaluated using appropriate criteria. If significant progress is to be made, IT research must also develop an understanding of how and why IT systems work or do not work. Such an understanding must tie together natural laws governing IT systems with natural laws governing the environments in which they operate. This paper presents a two dimensional framework for research in information technology. The first dimension is based on broad types of design and natural science research activities: build, evaluate, theorize, and justify. The second dimension is based on broad types of outputs produced by design research: representational constructs, models, methods, and instantiations. We argue that both design science and natural science activities are needed to insure that IT research is both relevant and effective. Keywords." Information system research; Design science; Natural science; Information technology 1. Introduction Researchers in Information Technology (IT) have defined information as "data that has been processed into a form that is meaningful to the recipient and is of real or perceived value in current or prospective actions or decisions" [[14], p. 200]. This definition can be grounded in cogni- tivist theories of mental representation [67]. Hu- man thinking involves mental representations that intendedly correspond to reality. These represen- tations are commonly called beliefs or, when highly validated, knowledge. They are produced " This paper is an extension of ideas originally presented in [46] * Corresponding author when people pick up sensory inputs or stimuli from their environment. As new information is acquired, one's beliefs are adjusted to better match the perceived reality. Human knowledge and beliefs inform actions taken in pursuit of goals. Well-informed actions (i.e., those based on true beliefs) are more likely to achieve desired ends. Information is valuable insofar as it helps individuals form true beliefs which, in turn, promote effective, goal-achieving action. Technology has been defined as "practical im- plementations of intelligence" [[20], p. 26]. Tech- nology is practical or useful, rather than being an end in itself. It is embodied, as in implements or artifacts, rather than being solely conceptual. It is an expression of intelligence, not a product of 0167-9236/95/$09.50 © 1995 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved SSDI 0167-9236(94)0004l-7