Discovering the Significance of Scientific Design Practice: New-Science wrapped in Old Science?

This paper discusses and defines the achievement of significance in design science research. We review the values and processes of old-science and how this mode of science attacks the complexity of scientific knowledge production through analysis. We then explain how new-science attacks the complexity of scientific knowledge production through synthesis. The work argues that significance of the new-science contribution in design science can be obfuscated when wrapped in old-science. This understanding helps reveal how new-science, such as design science research, constitutes its significance. This discussion translates an old-science framework of theory significance into a new-science framework and uses two published cases to illustrate the framework. The results offer a grounding on which design science research can realize its potential as both new-science and old-science.