Designing a mobile application for the trading of used books at a university: a DSR approach
Abstract
With the widespread rapid development of computers and wireless communication, mobile computing is fast growing as the communication and sales platform of choice. This study portrays the development of an artefact to assist with the selling and buying of used books among students at a specific university. Design science research (DSR) is the methodology implemented in the study and it is utilised to aid in the comprehension, design and creation of the artefact. The chosen artefact is a mobile application. The South African Human Sciences Research Council uncovered that numerous students enlisted at South African tertiary establishments were from extremely poor families (Letseka, Cosser, Breier, & Visser, 2010). Letseka et al. (2010) indicated that the Higher Education SA (HESA) confirmed that the dropout rate in South African universities had escalated to as much as 40%. Various sources indicate that expensive textbooks is one of the factors that contribute to students being unable to attend universities, also influencing movements such as the #FeesMustFall campaign (Nelson, 2014; Ackroyd, 2015; Mothibi, 2015; Krugel, Viljoen, Joubert, & Kirsten, 2016; Tsimong, 2016; Lethoba, 2017). Selling and buying used textbooks may alleviate financial stress experienced by students. A large number of South African universities do not have an electronic platform to encourage the process of selling and buying used books among students. The students of a specific university sell and buy used books by means of paper-based posters on notice boards. This study discusses existing literature on DSR, in addition to mobile applications and human- computer interaction (HCI). The literature review formulates the descriptive and prescriptive knowledge used in the creation of the artefact. The artefact was designed using a combination of the six activities of the DSR approach. The explored literature provides an overview of mobile application and human-computer interaction principles in order to inform the design of the artefact. Mobile applications and HCI experts were interviewed as part of a requirements analysis to direct the initial design of the artefact. Suggestions were made to address the problem domain and the artefact’s development. The design of the artefact was further informed using mobile application design principles and HCI design principles. The artefact was developed through multiple design cycles into a mobile application prototype that can aid in the selling and purchasing of used books among students at a specific university. A focus group was conducted in a semi-structured and open ended manner to evaluate the artefact prototype for usability. Participants were able to exchange ideas and freely express themselves. The focus group was held at the university for which the mobile application was developed. It consisted of participants who were students at the university, from different fields of study and different ages. As a result, participants were able to offer comprehensive individual answers. The study is concluded by elucidating its findings from the feedback obtained, highlighting limitations and looking into future possibilities for research. The DSR methodology is found to be a problem-solving research paradigm, where the researcher is interested in obtaining new knowledge through artefact development. DSR is the process followed in this study to better understand the rigorous design process to create a mobile application. The study is presented according to a design science research approach. The chapters are logically structured according to the phases of the DSR process model (Peffers, Tuunanen, Rothenberger, & Chatterjee, 2007).