There has been much advancement in the field of data and information quality (DIQ) since two decades ago. However, despite a large number of the theoretical and empirical studies in this field, there is a lack of understanding about the mechanisms and dynamics of forming, adjusting and changing organisational users’ (information consumers) assumptions and expectations based on which they perceive the quality of information required for making decision in order to perform a task within an organisational environment. Although it is already known that information consumers perceive the quality of information according to the requirements of the organisational task and the context of use, how the task requirements affect information consumers’ expectations of information quality has been a black-box in the body of literature. The main objective of this research is to contribute to the literature of DIQ by exploring the role of the setting of a task within an organisational context in the formation, development and change of information consumers’ underlying expectations of information quality. Information consumers’ assumptions and expectations are called information quality (IQ) frames by this research. Moreover, this research examines the role of IT artefacts, which are used to support performing the task, in these dynamics. As an organisational task is usually performed by a group, the role of the task group of which information consumers are members is investigated by this research. Having adopted a multi-case study design, this thesis has targeted seven different task groups in seven different organisations from multiple industries. This in-depth qualitative research also employs interviews as the main source of data and documents as the secondary source of data. The collected data and empirical evidence is analysed using the thematic analysis and pattern coding. This study’s theoretical contributions to the body of literature are as follows. Firstly, the findings indicate that information consumers should not be simply categorised into domain-specific experts or novices for understanding the mechanisms that affect their IQ frames. Regarding the domain of the task, an information consumer might have domain-related experience that differentiates him from both an expert and a novice. Moreover, this study found that the organisational-specific experience plays a significant role in these dynamics. Secondly, four different settings of a task within an organisational context have been recognised and the insights have been provided into the likely impact of each setting on IQ frames. The findings show that the setting of a task that affects IQ frames is enforced by the interplay between the degree of situatedness of the task and the degree of its explicitness. Thirdly, this research contends that the role of other members of a task group contributes directly to the setting of a task rather than directly influencing their colleague’s IQ frames. Fourthly, this thesis confirms that the organisational resource limitations and the time pressure, which were already mentioned in the literature, affect how information consumers perceive the quality of information but the empirical evidence reveals that other types of pressure such as the pressure of a competitive market has a similar role, therefore, it is argued that in general the organisational pressure impacts the way information consumers perceive information quality. However, this thesis argues that this influence is mediated by the setting of a task. In other words, the organisational pressure can increase the degree of situatedness of a task within an organisational context. Finally, the findings of this study indicate that information consumers’ interpretation of how an IT artefact enables a task within an organisational context is the key mechanism through which the IT artefact can participate in forming, adjusting or changing their IQ frames. The interpreted type of an IT artefact, its interpreted capabilities, the organisational intervention and the IT support by IT technicians of an organisations are the main four factors that govern the influence of the IT artefact on information consumers’ IQ frames. In addition, the computing environment in which the IT artefact operates in, information consumers’ level of IT knowledge and prior experience of using the IT artefact can be involved indirectly in these dynamics. The theoretical contributions of this research have led to the development of a framework for IQ frames and the underlying dynamics have been explained in detail. In addition to the theoretical contributions, this study has a number of practical implications for organisations and management regarding the importance of the organisational settings in how information quality is judged by organisational users (information consumers).

Information technology (IT) plays an increasingly important role for individuals, organizations, markets, and society as a whole. IT systems are artefacts (human made objects) designed for various purposes. Given the multiple-purpose characteristics of computers, such artefacts may, for example, support workflows, perform advanced calculations, support human communication and socialization, enable delivery of services and digital products, facilitate learning, or simply entertain. The diverging application areas for IT present a challenge to designers who, as a consequence, have to address increasingly divergent design situations. There have been numerous arguments suggesting that the IT artefact has been 'taken for granted', and needs to be understood and conceptualized better within information systems (IS) research. This thesis is based on the pragmatist notion that one important value of IT resides in its potential to support human collaboration. Such a belief has implications for the development of (1) knowledge aimed for action, change and improvement; (2) knowledge about actions, activities and practices; and (3) knowledge through action, experimentation and exploration. A view of the IT artefact is outlined, showing it as part of a social and technological context. IT artefact design is explained in relation to the induction of social change. The notion of stakeholder-centric design is advocated, along with practical theory to promote a situated understanding of use qualities and design ideals. A set of meta-theoretical implications for design-oriented IS research is proposed. The research process consisted of five inquiries into different IT-reliant social contexts. In the first four inquiries, social and communicative qualities of IT artefacts were assessed, governed primarily by Dewey's notion of inquiry as a theory of knowledge. The fifth inquiry was a large-scale action research project, including interventions into the social setting, and the design and implementation of a new IT artefact into that setting.

There is a increasing number of enrolled students in higher education, which leads toless personal time with the teachers, and therefore supplementary technologies needs to takeplace. This paper investigate how Testbased learning with feedback affects the learningoutcomes in a group of students, by measuring their perceived value. The research also investigateswhat design principles to follow, when working with E-learning and Testbasedlearning with feedback. For this this research an IT-artefact will be created which the studentwill be able to use as a practice tool. With the IT-artefact they will be able to answera number of question, in a subject, and get personalized feedback depending on their score.The quantitative research will then evaluate whether the students perceived thoughts aboutthe IT-artifact and the learning method itself. The result shows eight design principles onhow to design an E-learning tool where student should learn through Test based learningwith feedback. The result also indicates that the perceived feeling of learning is good eventhough a big number of respondents never participated in the survey. / Antalet studenter på Universiteten växer ständigt. Detta leder till minskad relationmed lärare och för att upprätthålla kvalite behövs andra lösningar. En sådan lösning äre-läromedel som bygger på testbaserat lärande med feedback. Arbetet undersöker vilka designprincipersom ska följas när man utvecklar ett E-lärmomedel med testbaserat lärandeoch feedback. För undersökningen kommer en IT-artefakt att skapas där studenter kan testasina kunskaper på ett ämne för lärande syfte. De besvarar ett antal frågor, och beroende påderas resultat får de tillbaka personlig feedback. Den kvantitativa undersökningen kommersedan att analysera studenternas uppfattning av IT-artefakten som hjälpmedel. Resultatetbeskriver åtta olika designprinciper för hur man ska designa ett E-läroverktyg där studenterska kunna testa sina kunskaper. Resultatet tillsammans med tidigare forskning tyder ävenpå en uppfattad känsla av ökad inlärning.

This design science research proposes an IT artefact consisting of a website and a client application with the focus of letting users receive programming tasks which they will then try and solve, and have their solutions evaluated, thereby giving affirmation on their programming skills. The study sprung from the need to give programming novices confidence in their abilities to write sufficient code solutions to programming tasks. A delimitation was made to concentrate on the concepts covered by the course Fundamentals of Programming given by the Department of Informatics of Media at Uppsala University. The proposal successfully affirms its users coding confidence by assessing and communicating through gamified elements the correctness of the code solution to the user, thus enabling the heightening of the users motivation to continue learning programming skills. / Denna designvetenskapliga studie föreslår en IT artefakt bestående av en webbsida och en klientapplikation med fokus på att ge användare programmeringsuppgifter som de sedan ska försöka lösa och sedermera få evaluerade med feedback kring om deras lösning gav korrekt output. Studien utgick från behovet att ge programmeringsnybörjare bekräftelse på deras förmåga att skapa tillräckliga lösningar på koduppgifter. En avgränsning gjordes till att fokusera på de koncept som täcks av kursen Grundläggande programmering som ges av institutionen för Informatik & Media via Uppsala universitet. Förslaget bekräftar framgångsrikt användares kodningskunskaper genom att utvärdera och kommunicera resultaten via gamifierade element till användaren, vilket kan öka användarnas motivation att fortsätta utveckla sin programmeringsförmåga.

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