Issues in Design Science and Research 37 2. The practice of developing a general formalization of knowledge that includes theories, methods, principles, and tools that can be applicable as resources for the knowledge development cycle. The generated knowledge is shared across different design practices and commonly verifiable from an academic point of view. This is further divided into two distinct areas of interest, general design research and domain-specificdesign research (Sato, p. 28). • General design research is the scientific study of the acts of design, which leads to general design theories and methodologies that provide general models of design process and knowledge, and contributes to improvements in the practice of design. • Domain-specific design research is the study of the subjects of design, which leads to the development of knowledge about specific domains of design concern.HCI, for example, is one of the domains of design concern. This categorization of design research is summarized in Table 3.1. General design research is composed of a variety of design theories and methodologies, which are categorized as descriptive or prescriptive. General design research has been identified with two aspects of design research, design theory and design methodology (Tomiyama 2009). According to Tomiyama (2009), design theory focuses on scientific study relevant to a number of such design activities as “design process, design activities, design knowledge, and designed artefacts/products” (p. 49), which contribute to further developmentof design theories and methodologies. Ontheotherhand,designmethodologyis appliedindesignpractice,foreffectively supporting design and process, which is aimed at better design results. Table 3.1 Categorization of design research Aspect of Design research Research type research Knowledge Domains (1) The practice of (e.g.) Information (e.g.) developing information User research development Statistical data for a particular design Marketresearch Contextual project information Experimental data (2) The practice of (2a) General General the- (e.g.) (e.g.) developing a designresearch ory/method Descriptive Human-computer conceptualized body of development models interaction knowledge Prescriptive Information models systems (2b) Domain- Design the- Design Design specific design ory/method methods, (sustainable research development frameworks healthcare, etc.) and principles