© 2016, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 4.45 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 22 Towards a Software Engineering Research Framework: Extending Design Science Research Murat Pasa Uysal 1 1 Department of Management Information Systems, Ufuk University, Ankara, Turkey ---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract - Software Engineering (SE) may be regarded as a relatively young discipline, which has been driven by technical innovations, trends and practices. Although a great many research studies explored solutions, fundamental problems in SE domain still exist. Most of the SE research efforts adopt the principles of quantitative, qualitative paradigms, or both, there are also models, such as Design Science Research (DSR), which can address some of the issues in SE research domain. However, there is a need for a research model, which considers the prescriptions of research paradigms as well as the theoretical and trans-disciplinary foundations of SE as an applied discipline. In this paper, therefore, we propose a research framework by extending the DSR method and leave its empirical and theoretical support to the future studies. Our effort may be considered as a preliminary attempt rather than a complete solution. Key Words: Software Engineering, Research Method, Design Science Research 1. INTRODUCTION When compared to other academic disciplines from an evolutionary point of view, Software Engineering (SE) may be regarded as a relatively young discipline. Technical innovations changing from time to time have been a major driving force for SE trends and practices. It has been usually driven by industrial needs, and thus, language- centered computer programming has been dominant in SE [1]. However, the fundamental problems in SE still exist today [2]. Therefore, a wide range of topics, such as programming paradigms, methods, models, tools and techniques, which are also combined with people and technology, have been in the research interest of academicians and practitioners. In this context, some of the studies specifically focus on the research methods that aim to frame and explore theories and knowledge base in SE. These studies are based on quantitative research methods (e.g. controlled or quasi experiments, survey, case study, etc.), qualitative research methods (e.g. ethnography, action research, etc.), which have been extensively adopted and approved in Social and Natural Sciences. Indeed, SE already integrates theoretical and methodological perspectives drawn from other disciplines [2-3] and there are also other research approaches that may suit to the characteristics of SE as an applied discipline. The Design Science Research (DSR) is an instance, and thus, there are a variety of studies advocating its application to the Information Systems (IS) research domain [4-8]. DSR would be suitable and applicable to SE, however, our claim is that it may be extended. The rationale behind this assertion is based on two reasons. First, the need for the elaboration and clear indication of the role that a theory and its constructs play at a SE research. The investigation of the theory use in SE experiments reveals that a quarter of the studies use theory for only explanatory or motivational purposes, and it indicates no evidence of theory-driven SE research [9]. Second is a process model that can integrate the prescriptions of other research paradigms while regarding the unique characteristics of SE as an applied discipline. Of course, describing the possible research methods in detail and how to adopt them for SE is far beyond the scope of our study. Thus, we only attempt to offer a research framework inspired from DSR, and leave its empirical and theoretical support to future studies. The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 introduces the DSR. Section 3 presents the proposed research framework, and finally, the paper is concluded in Section 4. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056 Volume: 03 Issue: 02 | Feb-2016 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072