Patterns of testing theory with human subjects: A design science perspective

© 2019 Association for Information Systems. All rights reserved. This paper addresses the challenges of theory testing. Adopting the design science paradigm, we address this challenge by delimiting the line that separates theory building from theory testing by conceptually characterizing its essential aspects: the relationships between humans, organizations and technology, which led to the development of a conceptual framework for theory testing. Practically, the methods, processes, instruments, and tools needed to acquire and analyze data for theory testing is considered, leading to the development of a pattern system. Card sorting was used as an evaluation strategy for the conceptual framework and the pattern model.