Abstract
In recent information systems research, design science that puts importance on practical relevance attracts many scholars' attention. Some IS researchers expect design science to overcome the positivist approach that lost practical relevance in exchange for scientific rigor. Does dismissing positivism, however, truly make design science more relevant? Even if IS researchers would broaden their methods such as compensatory multi-method or multilevel analysis, they are still under traditional philosophy of science as usual. This paper shows how rigorous scientific methods of positivism can ensure scientific relevance to intervention through an examination of behavioral science and action science. The latter has established by Chris Argyris as the new philosophy of science aimed at intervention into practice. In particular, three fundamental methods of positivism are examined: description, causal explanation, and hypothesis testing.
