Abstract
The need for transfusable blood for medical treatments and emergency procedures is constant, and currently blood donation organisations in South Africa are operating with a maximum of two or three days of blood supply. The aim of the research, of which the methodology will be presented in this paper, was to investigate which app features existing and potential South African blood donors preferred in a blood donation app, to allow such an app to act as a facilitator towards increased blood donation. The paper will discuss the reasoning of employing a research strategy based on design science research (DSR), and how the use of an exploratory sequential mixed methods design complemented this research strategy, which was grounded in the landscape of user experience (UX) and design thinking. The research consisted of three data collection phases: Phase 1: a qualitative analysis of app store reviews of existing blood donation apps; Phase 2: a qualitative asynchronous online interview, which was informed by the findings of the first data collection phase; and Phase 3: a quantitative online questionnaire which incorporated findings from the first two data collection phases, to robustly consolidate the research findings. Each of the three data collection and data analysis phases will be deliberated on and each phase’s contribution to the research findings will be discussed. The research findings resulted in an artefact of ten user-preferred app features for a conceptual blood donation app. This artefact will be briefly presented and contextualised through the research design, illustrating the opportunities that reside in applying research methodology pragmatically, to answer real-world business questions.