LEGIT Methodology: Towards Capturing Legal Compatibility of Design Science Artifacts

Higher legal standards with regards to the data protection of individuals such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are increasing the pressure on developers of IT artifacts. Typically, when developing systems, we subsequently evaluate them with users to elaborate aspects such as user experience perceptions. However, nowadays, other evaluation aspects such as legality and data policy issues are also important criteria for system development. For this purpose, we introduce LEGIT (legal design science evaluation), which provides developers with guidance when considering legal requirements. We use the case of the GDPR to illustrate the feasibility, applicability, and benefit to the development process. With this novel method adapted from law research, we are able to derive actionable guidance for developers to evaluate developer efforts in increasing legal compatibility. To illustrate our methodological approach, in this paper, we describe the key steps of the method with respect to the evaluation of a learning assistant. We develop an AI-based learning assistant for university students to demonstrate the application of the novel evaluation method. We briefly discuss how this procedure can serve as the foundation for a new evaluation method of legally compatible systems in design science research.