Authors: Elizabeth Boling, Colin M. Gray, and Verily Tan Abstract: In this study, we address the relative lack of rigorous research on instructional design (ID) practice via an exploratory study in which eight practicing IDs in two consulting environments were observed by pairs of researchers as they went about their normal work activities. In our initial analysis, we sought to discover the kinds of judgments these designers made, characterizing practice on its own terms, rather than through superimposition of existing ID models or frameworks. The Nelson & Stolterman (2012) framework of design judgments, a non-prescriptive, philosophical framework, was used as the lens for this study.