Instantiation Validity in IS Design Research

Studies that involve information technology artifacts play a prominent role in Information Systems (IS) research. We argue that special attention needs to be paid to ensuring the validity of such studies. This paper makes three contributions to IS research. First, it introduces the concept of instantiation validity as broadly applicable to IS design research, and distinct from existing notions of validity. Second, the paper identifies several sources of instantiation validity threats that can arise in IS design research. Third, it points to the need for guidelines to address these threats and demonstrate validity in design research.

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