Why design-based research?

"Design-based research boils down to trying to understand the world by trying to change it" (Hoadley, 2005, p.46)

This study, which investigates the ways in which an online environment supported professional development for e-learning, considers both the development of the environment through the use of educational technology and the outcomes for the community members who engaged within it. A methodology for the research was required which was able to encompass all elements of the research within a flexible framework.

The research aimed to produce not only a rich description of the intervention, but also the design principles used to create and evaluate the intervention, enabling it to be useful to other

practitioners. As Reeves, Herrington, and Oliver (2004) explain, “Educational technology is a design field, and thus, our paramount research goal should be solving teaching, learning, and performance problems, and deriving design principles that can inform future development and implementation decisions” (p.62). Design-based research could support this approach through what Reeves, McKenney and Herrington (2011) described as “the twin objectives of developing creative

approaches to solving human teaching, learning, and performance problems while at the same time constructing a body of design principles that can guide future development efforts” (p.55). This present research aimed to find a solution to a problem and as Reeves et al. (2011) stated, design- based research “is not ‘done’ until desirable results are attained, results that represent progress in solving the problems with which the research projects began” (p.59).

Underpinning the intervention in this research, and supporting the development of design principles drawn from the context of this study, was Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of legitimate peripheral participation. The methodology chosen for the research needed to reflect this focus on theory. While theory may be perceived as an afterthought in other research approaches, (Reeves, et al., 2011), design-based research looks to theory in its initial development of interventions. In the context of this research, the theory needed to inform the practical application of this intervention to provide a ‘real’ solution. Design-based research has been characterized as “extended (iterative), interventionist (innovative and design-based), and theory-oriented enterprises whose “theories” do real work in practical educational contexts” (Cobb, Confrey, diSessa, Lehrer, & Schauble, 2003, p.13), a fitting description for this present study and one which highlights the practical nature of this research.

To have a positive impact on the educational context in which this research takes place, the methodology chosen would also need to provide the facility for practical application. Bell, Hoadley and Linn (2004) indicate that, “researchers need to understand how new forms of technology can be productively embedded into larger systems of human activity … Design-based approaches provide for such contextualization and integration of technology in educational practice” (p.76). The strong link between practice and research identified by Reeves et al. (2011) is an aspect of design-based research which could provide contextualisation and the potential for it to have an impact.

To increase the possibility of achieving these desired results, the implementation of this intervention was to be a collaborative effort by the developer and the community members at all levels of the organization. As well as increasing the likelihood of success, collaboration could increase the

involvement and, to some extent, ownership of the intervention by the people involved. McKenney, Raval and Pieters (2012) suggest, from the perspective provided by their design-based research project, that the “learning gained from participating stays with the institution even after the research project concludes”(p.11). Collaboration through the adoption of a design-based research methodology in this study would also support the learning being retained in this present context. Some of the requirements and limitations of this present research would only emerge as it took place. Bannan-Ritland and Baek (2008) explained that, “the continual redefinition of constraints and the generation of new goals in the design phase highlight how pragmatic, dynamic, and generative processes are integrated in design research” (p.299). The methodology chosen for this research needed to be broad enough to accommodate the context and the collaboration, and flexible enough to incorporate iterative cycles of development and possible changes of direction which might be necessary to create an intervention which provided a working solution.

A design-based research approach was chosen for this research to enable the development of design principles as well as the implementation of an intervention which provided a solution to the teaching and learning issue in this context. Design-based research, combining both quantitative and

qualitative methods, enabled a focus on uncovering the relationships between the educational theories, the designed intervention, and the professional practice of this community. Wang and Hannafin (2005) defined design-based research as “a systematic but flexible methodology aimed to improve educational practices through iterative analysis, design, development, and implementation, based on collaboration among researchers and practitioners in real-world settings, and leading to

contextually-sensitive design principles and theories” (p.6). Bereiter (2002) simply stated that “what defines design research is its purpose: sustained innovative development” (p.325). This present research also sought to provide an innovative solution which was able to be sustained by the community members within their context.