This document provides an overview of design-based research (DBR) as a methodology for educational research. It discusses several key characteristics of DBR, including that it aims to develop theory through iterative design, implementation, and analysis of educational interventions in authentic contexts. The document also outlines typical stages in a DBR process, including developing potential solutions based on existing principles and innovations, implementing those solutions through iterative testing and refinement, and reflecting on how to further develop theories, principles, and solutions.

1. J. Bourdeau, R. Rosenberg, M. Maina, I. Savard
LICEF Research Center
Tele-University, Montreal
June 6th, 2008

2. 1- Qu’est-ce que DBR?
2- Historique
3- Un tour guidé de DBR
4-Trois types, trois projets
Conclusion
Invitation

3. DBR aims at developing empirically grounded theories
through combined study of both the process of
learning and the means that support that
process. (diSessa, Cobb, 2004).
3 caractéristiques principales:
1) Le but est double: comprendre les phénomènes étudiés, et
ajuster le design (interventionniste)
2) Le protocole et le design peuvent être modifiés en cours
d’expérimentation (souple)
3) Un protocole DBR peut réunir des méthodes et techniques
quantitatives et qualitatives (ouvert)

4. Conducting research in authentic, natural educational contexts, rather than
laboratories.
(O’Donnell, 2004, A Commentary on Design Research.” Educational Psychologist, v39 n4 p255-260.)
The desire for research to have a practical impact, by having clear relevance for the
improvement of education- (utility).
(Bell, 2004). “On the Theoretical Breadth of Design-Based Research in Education.” Educational Psychologist, v39
n4 p243-253.
An insistence on theory-guided educational intervention: ‘interventions embody
specific theoretical claims about teaching and learning’ (The DBR Collective, 2003).
A pluralist approach with respect to theories, research designs, methods, and
procedures - includes mixed methods-hybrid where qualitative and quantitative
techniques are used in combination (Bell, 2004)
The use of an iterative design and evaluation cycle: interventions are adjusted as the
research proceeds ( Dede, 2004. “If Design-Based Research is the Answer, What is the Question? Journal
of the Learning Sciences, v13 n1 p105-114.
A focus on how the intervention worked. (DBR collective, 6)

5. DBR est une méthodologie systématique et
flexible dans le but d’améliorer la pratique
éducative par des analyses itératives, du
design, du développement et de
l’implantation dans un contexte réel pour
établir des principes et des propositions
théoriques (Wang and Hannafin, 2005,p. 6)

6. Ann Brown, 1992, Design Experiments
Alan Collins, 1992, A Design Science of Education
AERA 1998, presentation: Using Science and Design Experiments to
Understand Innovative Uses of Technology in Classrooms
DBR Collective, 2001
Educational Researcher Special Issue 2003
◦ DBR Collective’s Manifesto: Design-Based Research: An Emerging Paradigm for
Educational Inquiry
Collins & al: Design Research: Theoretical and Methodological Issues
DiSessa’s video presentation at Kal’s VDS on DBR, 2006
Tom Reeves’ Tutorial ED-MEDIA 2007

7. DBR et le design: Explore, Explain, Design
(Gibbons & Bunderson ) et Designerly ways of
knowing (Cross) Marcelo
DBR et la théorie, Rivki
DBR et les méthod(es)ologies: Jacqueline
DBR: les cycles/étapes, et l’alignement, Isabelle

8. Gibbons, A. & Bunderson C. (2005). Explore, explain,
design. In K. Kempf-Leonard (Ed.), Encyclopedia of
Social Measurement (927-938). New York: Elsevier
Cross, N.
◦ (2001). Designerly Ways of Knowing: Design Discipline
versus Design Science, Design Issues 17(3), 49-55
◦ (2006). Designerly ways of knowing. In Designerly
ways of knowing (pp. 1-13). London: Springer (first
published in 1982, Design Studies 3(4), 221-227

9. Gibbons & Bunderson
"Design" is a term that describes intentional
structuring of artifacts and intervention plans to
bring about predictable outcomes.
Design is both
1) a subject of research and
2) a method of research and knowledge production.

10. Gibbons & Bunderson
Knowledge-producing processes
natural history science design
technology
Type of natural phenomena are seek to discover and seek to learn principles knowledge
questions observed, described, describe for connecting human producing
they measured, and authoritatively the intentions with the form studies and
address collected to amass a single best coherent and function of human experiments into (1)
body of facts and description of the made artifacts the act of designing,
identify patterns and nature of the attempts to discover (2) the design
trends underlying efficient structuring processes and
Questions seek the operations that lead principles and processes generative principles
growth of collections to observed that will produce a for design, and (3)
based on the patterns phenomena variety of solutions to a study of the
and trends in order to problem, from which the structural properties
support or question most suitable may be of designed things.
new models and selected on the basis of
hypotheses problem-specific criteria
type of Exploratory Explanatory Normative (MM) Normative (MM)
knowledge
they
produce

11. Gibbons & Bunderson
concept designates three synergistically related knowledge-
producing enterprises.
knowledge-producing enterprises are necessary conditions for
each other, each producing results that become mutually and
self-inputting, providing a continuous stream of research
questions in all three areas.
enterprises are discriminated on the basis of the kinds of
questions they address and the types of knowledge they
produce, but not definitively on the research techniques
employed.

12. Gibbons & Bunderson
Seek two kinds of theoretical knowledge
◦ a descriptive explanation of the processes operative in a domain (e.g.
in education: descriptive progression of learning or growth) , and
◦ technological or design knowledge about how to create and
implement the tools-both measurement instruments and the
treatment control technologies.
Are attempts to discover
◦ new artifact- and intervention-related principles
◦ or to improve the effectiveness of existing artifacts or intervention
plans.
Take place in live settings, and are iterative, cyclical applications
of a process of principled design, implementation, evaluation,
and redesign.
Often aid in exploring a domain and possible treatments, and
thus may be largely qualitative producing narrative accounts of
intense, iterative, often ideographic observations over each cycle.

13. Nigel Cross
phenomenon of study appropriate methods values
sciences the natural world controlled experiment, objectivity, rationality,
classification, analysis neutrality, and a concern
for ‘truth’
humanities human experience analogy, metaphor, subjectivity, imagination,
evaluation commitment, and a
concern for ‘justice’
design the artificial world modeling, pattern- practicality, ingenuity,
formation, synthesis empathy, and a concern
for 'appropriateness'
Technology involves a synthesis of knowledge and skills from both the sciences and the humanities, in
the pursuit of practical tasks; it is not simply 'applied science', but 'the application of scientific and other
organised knowledge to practical tasks ... ' (Cross, et al., 1981).

14. Nigel Cross
Problem
Ill-defined, ill-structured, or 'wicked' (Rittel and Webber, 1973).
Not problems for which all the necessary information is, or ever can
be, available to the problem-solver.
Not susceptible to exhaustive analysis, and there can never be a
guarantee that 'correct' solutions can be found for them.
Solution
A solution-focused strategy is clearly preferable to a problem-
focused one: it will always be possible to go on analyzing 'the
problem', but the designer's task is to produce 'the solution'.
It is only in terms of a conjectured solution that the problem can be
contained within manageable bounds (Hillier and Leaman; 1974):
◦ What designers tend to do, therefore, is to seek, or impose a 'primary
generator' (Darke, 1979) which both defines the limits of the problem and
suggests the nature of its possible solution.

15. Nigel Cross
The scientific method is a pattern of problem-solving
behaviour employed in finding out the nature of what
exists, whereas the design method is a pattern of behaviour
employed in inventing things of value which do not yet
exist. Science is analytic; design is constructive. (Gregory,
1966)
The natural sciences are concerned with how things are ...
Design, on the other hand, is concerned with how things
ought to be. (Simon, 1969)
To base design theory on inappropriate paradigms of logic
and science is to make a bad mistake. Logic has interests in
abstract forms. Science investigates extant forms. Design
initiates novel forms. (March, 1976)

16. Nigel Cross
Donald Schön challenged the positivist doctrine underlying
much of the “design science” movement, and offered instead
a constructivist paradigm.
He criticized Simon’s view of a “science of design” for being
based on approaches to solving well-formed problems,
whereas professional practice throughout design and
technology and elsewhere has to face and deal with “messy,
problematic situations.”
Schön proposed, instead, to search for “an epistemology of
practice implicit in the artistic, intuitive processes which some
practitioners do bring to situations of uncertainty, instability,
uniqueness, and value conflict,” and which he characterized
as “reflective practice.”

17. Nigel Cross
Despite the positivist, technical-rationality basis of The
Sciences of the Artificial, Simon did propose that “the
science of design” could form a fundamental, common
ground of intellectual endeavor and communication across
the arts, sciences, and technology.
Design as a discipline, therefore, can mean design studied
on its own terms, and within its own rigorous culture. It can
mean a science of design based on the reflective practice of
design: design as a discipline, but not design as a science.
This discipline seeks to develop domain-independent
approaches to theory and research in design.

18. Theory building is a must! (diSessa, Cobb, 2004)
◦ We must develop theoretical constructs that empower us to see order, pattern, and regularity
in the complex settings in which we conduct DE.
Theory building is integral to the work of advancing knowledge building within a domain
(Palincsar, 2005)
DBR is an important methodology for understanding how, when, and why educational
innovations work in practice
DBR is a lens or set of analytical techniques that balances the positivist and interpretivist
paradigms and attempts to bridge theory and practice in education
DBR is a blend of empirical educational research with the theory-driven design of learning
environments
DBR methods aim to uncover the relationships between educational theory, designed artifact,
and practice
(Brown 1992; Collins, 1992; DBR Collective)
The primary aim of DBR is to develop DOMAIN-SPECIFIC THEORIES in order to understand the
learning process (Mor, 2006)

19. What is theory?
◦ A set of related propositions that attempts to explain, and
sometimes predict a set of events (Hoover 1992, p. 66 In Richey, 1997)
◦ Explanations of phenomena or events that help us understand
and deal with the world (Seels, 1997)
Role of theory
◦ Providing patterns for the interpretation of data
◦ Linking one study with another
◦ Supplying frameworks
◦ Allowing us to interpret the larger meaning of findings (Hoover 1992 In
Seels 1997)
Criteria (Richey, 1997)
- accuracy
- validity
- utility

20. Theories have always displayed a principal part of the power and
elegance of science.
They embody generalization, bringing order to a vast array of
seemingly disparate phenomena that come to be seen as special
cases of some theory.
They enable us to discriminate between relations that are
necessary and those that are contingent.
They delineate classes of phenomena that are worthy of inquiry
and specify how to look and what to see in order to understand
them.
“Teaching us how to see”—is particularly evident in the type of
theory in DBR

21. Formal systems of laws and propositions (built
around suggested relationships among variables)
Narrative explanations and predictions
Models (verbal, visual or mathematical)
Set of laws
Form of an organization and summary of existing
knowledge
Form of hypothesis
Describe and often predict events

22. Domain theories- describe learning situations involving
students, teachers, learning environments and their
interactions.
Design framework- is a “design solution” that provides a set
of “design guidelines for a particular class of design
challenge”
Design methodologies- are prescriptive in nature, serving as
guidelines for how to implement a set of designs, what kind
of expertise is required and who should provide the
expertise. As a result of the iterative design process,
researchers also continuously refine design interventions to
make them more applicable to practice

23. Domain theories Design framework Design methodologies
(RR, 2008 ? ) (IS, 2008 ? ) (MM, 2008 ? )
Generalization of some Generalized design General design procedure.
portion of a problem solution. Describe the Provides guidelines for the process rather than
analysis. This theory characteristics that a the product. Describes:
might be about learners design artifact must have a. A process for achieving a class of designs
and how they learn, to achieve a particular set
teachers how they teach, of goals in a context b. Forms of expertise requires
learning environ. and how c. Roles to be played by the individuals
they influence teaching representing those forms of expertise
and learning
Descriptive
Prescriptive
Prescriptive

24. DBR: Méthodologie?
◦ Design-based research (DBR) is a research paradigm that
intertwines research with practice and fits well with the
purposes of education (Bell, 2004)
DBR et autres méthodologies
◦ Development Research
◦ Design Experiment
◦ Design Research
◦ Formative Research
Cycles et étapes

25. DBR is:
◦ an emerging method (Kelly, 2004)
◦ a methodology (Wang, Hannafin, 2005)
◦ a framework (diSessa, 2007)
Method- is a procedure, a process, a set of steps to follow. A way of doing
something, especially a systematic way; implies an orderly logical
arrangement (usually in steps)
Methodology- what, who,when a given activity should be preformed? It is a
structure geared toward a goal. The way in which information is found or
something is done. The methodology includes the methods, procedures,
and techniques used to collect and analyze.
Framework- model: a hypothetical description of a complex entity or
process; "the computer program was based on a model of the circulatory
and respiratory ... the underlying structure; "restoring the framework of the
bombed building"; "it is part of the fabric of society" . A structure
supporting or containing something

28. 1 2 3 4
Développer des Réfléchir à la
Effectuer des
théories, des solutions production de théories,
Analyser des cycles itératifs
sur la base des de principes de
problèmes pratiques de tests et de
principes de conception conception
en collaboration raffinement
existants et mettre en évidence
entre praticiens des théories,
et des solutions
et chercheurs des solutions
des innovations d’implémentation
en pratique
technologiques
Raffinement de théories, de problèmes, de solutions et de principes de conception
5
(Adaptée de Reeves, 2006)

29. Corroboration (Popper)
Une proposition sfx = réfutable,
n’est pas vérifiable par l’expérience,
on ne peut pas affirmer qu’elle ne sera jamais réfutée…
C’est vrai jusqu’à preuve du contraire!
La théorie (étape 2 DBR) précède l’observation (étape 3 et 4 DBR).
Une théorie (ou proposition théorique) est scientifique si elle
se divise en deux sous-classes d'énoncés de base :
1) la classe des énoncés qui la contredisent, appelés falsifieurs
potentiels (si ces énoncés sont vrais la théorie est fausse);
2) la classe des énoncés avec lesquels elle s'accorde (si ces
énoncés sont vrais, ils la corroborent).

30. « Methodological alignment » = s’assurer que les méthodes de recherche que
nous utilisons testent bien ce que nous pensons qu’elles testent.
La notion d’alignement est essentielle à notre compréhension de la validité de la
recherche.
La validité d’une recherche = notre interprétation des résultats corrobore la
théorie et les hypothèses examinées:
◦ “2 autres types de validité en recherche dont nous devons nous soucier”:
1) La validité de traitement – les traitements que nous créons sont bien
alignés avec les théories qu’ils représentent.
2) La validité systémique— l’ensemble de la recherche doit créer 1) un test
juste pour les théories mais aussi 2) une façon de communiquer ces
théories qui respecte les inférences utilisées pour les prouver.
Pour atteindre une vraie validité systémique
◦ Nos recherches doivent informer nos théories,
- Qui doivent informer la pratique

31. La conception des
théories, des
solutions
Dans le DBR, l’implication des mêmes acteurs dans:
1) la formulation de la théorie,
2) l’implémentation des interventions, et
3) la “mesure” des produits
favorise un meilleur alignment méthodologique.
DBR est, en fait, une tentative de combinaison
du design intentionnel des l’exploration empirique de notre
environnements d’apprentissage compréhension de ces environnements
avec et de leur façon d’interagir avec les
individus.

32. DBR se base sur l’idée que l’universalité est rare
dans les phénomènes étudiés en éducation.
Et parce que la méthode entame les étapes
expérimentales en examinant des contextes
individuels,
les chercheurs DB généralisent leurs constatations
seulement provisoirement
en en faisant une science locale

33. Les chercheurs en DBR doivent documenter:
◦ leur perspective ou point de départ MAIS AUSSI
◦ toutes stratégies d’intervention pertinentes utilisées
par les participants observés
ET par le chercheur lui-même
En documentant les pratiques de planification de
l’apprentissage du point de vue de ceux qui ont pour
but de favoriser l’apprentissage, nous allons peut-
être établir le cadre d’une forme de recherche
plus utilisable
et plus valide

34. “When one foregoes experimental controls, how can one
generalize to other settings regardless of how rich are
the local descriptions?” (Kelly, 2004, p.120).
DBR’s goal is to design something that not only
develops theory, but also is valuable to others. This
criterion not only requires the deep understanding of
one particular context, but DBR must also show
relevance to other contexts. This type of generalization
has been referred to as a petite generalization (Stake,
1995)
A Humble Theory rather than Grand Theories grain size,
different scales (diSessa):

35. DBR:
◦ trying to understand the world by trying to change it
◦ creating and testing theories in complex situations
◦ building theoretical empirical propositions about
learning with technology
Une innovation? Prendre Design Science comme
source d’inspiration au lieu de la sociologie ou
la psychologie
Reconnaissance :
◦ AERA, JLS (NSF?)
◦ ICLS2008? ….que dit le conférencier d’ouverture?

36. From Design Experiments to Formative
Interventions
Human learning takes place in increasingly complex,
continuously changing activity settings which makes
traditional well controlled experiments difficult and render
their ecological validity questionable. On the other hand,
various modes of action research typically lack in
methodological and theoretical rigor. Design experiments are
an increasingly popular attempt to resolve this dilemma.
However, I will show that the notion of design experiments
reproduces crucial limitations of traditional research design
and fails to address the foundational issue of agency of the
research subjects

37. Bibliographie
◦ Brown, A. , Design Experiments, Journal of the Learning Sciences(2), 141-178, 1992
◦ Collins, A. (1992). Toward a Design Science of Education. In E. Scanlon and T. O'Shea.
New Directions in Educational Technology
◦ DBR Collective, Educational Researcher, 2003
◦ A.Collins; D.Joseph & K. Bielaczyc, Design Research: Theoretical and Methodological
Issues Journal of the Learning Sciences (13, 1) 15-42, 2004
◦ Gibbons
◦ Ross, S. et al, Research Designs, in Handbook of Research on Educational
Communications and Technology
◦ Van den Akker, J., Gravemeijer,K., McKenney, S. & Nieveen, N., Educational Design
Research.
http://www.lrc.ctu.edu.vn/VietnamCourse/VietnamCourse/EducationalDesignResearch.pdf
◦ Anthony Cocciolo’s Lit. Review: http://anthony.thinkingprojects.org/wp-content/dbr.doc
◦ Terry Anderson’s biblio: http://cider.athabascau.ca/CIDERSIGs/DesignBasedSIG/dbrreferences
◦ Simon, H. The science of the artificial, (1969), MIT Press (Design Science)
Webographie
◦ The DBR Collective, http://www.designbasedresearch.org/
◦ A PEER Tutorial on DBR, Georgia U. PhD students:
http://projects.coe.uga.edu/dbr/index.htm
◦ http://www.lkl.ac.uk/projects/designresearch/

38. Séminaire le 18 juin
Y. Mor,
-Institute of Education, U. of London
-Chercheur à London Knowledge Lab
Article: Design Approaches in Technology-
Enhanced Learning (TEL)

39. • Exhibit all aspects of a design study, except that, in
seeking explanatory and design theories, reliance
on narrative methods is supplemented with
invariant measurement of the growth or change
constructs spanning the domain.
• The measurement instruments evolve over the
cycles of design; they implement, evaluate,
redesign, and come to embody an increasingly
adequate descriptive theory of the processes
operative in the domain.
• In addition, the technological devices designed to
introduce and control the treatment effects are
forthrightly described using the emerging layers
and languages of technology in that domain.