A commentary on design research

Abstract

The call for design research, design-based research, or design experiments arose from the recognition of the complexity of classroom interventions and dissatisfaction with existing methodologies for exploring the outcomes from such interventions. The goal of the proposed design research was to describe how interventions worked and was less about documenting that they worked. The concerns voiced are not new, and the emergence of proposals for alternatives was a natural outgrowth of trends in the field of educational psychology. Advances are only beginning to be made in the articulation of a design research methodology, and some of the criticism and recommendations for progress are described. The articles in this issue provide examples of design research and point to some issues that still require attention. Among these are the need to clarify the nature of design research and the role of context in such research.