Design Research in Information Systems
Before mentioning my thoughts on design research, I must guide you to this superb description of design research on isworld.org .
Design research is somewhat similar to any other research. The only difference is that researchers come up with an artifact then test it as apposed to coming with a hypothesis.
I do believe that design researchers should focus on the concept and not the design itself. This may require just a mockup instead of a prototype. So, there should be a balance between the focus on the question needing an answer and between how elaborate is your design. For a question as: how much information should be displayed on the main page to support decision making? would not require a prototype. A mockup with multiple screens should allow us to perform required tests.
Design research is not good for every thing. But, it looks like a good tool to be used when the goal is to narrow the gap between what is known and practice.
