This document provides an overview of sources related to educational design research. It lists several special issues of journals that focus on design-based research methods. Books on the topic are also summarized, including their objectives and contributions. Websites providing information on design research are listed. The document also provides examples of design research studies within various domains, such as mathematics education, science education, instructional technology, and literacy education. Finally, it lists several PhD theses that have utilized design research as the main research approach in domains like teacher education, curriculum development, and environmental education.

1. Herrera Vera Manuel

2. References and Sources on
Educational Design Research
OBJECTIVES
Prove usefulness of sources for our own
work
Present an overview of relevant
sources available
Represent important
perspectives and groups
that are actively
working in this domain.
List references of a number of
doctoral theses based on design
research as a research approach.

3. Overview of sources
Special issues of journals and books that
have been published about design(-
based) research. Besides a number of
websites will be listed, design-based
research methods for studying learning
in context
Special issues of journals
• Educational Researcher 32(1),
January/February 2003
The Design-Based Research Collective
(2003). An emerging paradigm for
educational inquiry. Educational
Researcher, 32, 5-8.
McCandliss, B.D., Kalchman, M., &
Bryant, P. (2003). Design experiments
and laboratory approaches to learning:
Steps toward collaborative exchange.
Educational Researcher, 32, 14-16.
Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(1),
2004
Kelly, A. (2004). Design research in
education: Yes, but is it
methodological? diSessa, A.A., & Cobb,
P. (2004). Ontological innovation and
the role of theory in design
experiments. Journal of the Learning
Sciences, 13(1), 77-103

4. • Educational Technology, 45(1), 2005
Dede, C. (2005). Why design-based research is
both important and difficult. Educational
Technology, 45(1), 5-8
Reeves, T.C. (2005). Design-based research in
educational technology: Progress made,
challenges remain. Educational Technology, 45(1),
48-52
• Educational Psychologist, 39(4), 2004
Sandoval, W.A., & Bell, P. L. (2004). Design-based
research methods for studying learning in context:
Introduction. Educational Psychologist, 39(4),
199-201
Tabak, I. (2004). Reconstructing context:
Negotiating the tension between exogenous and
endogenous educational design. Educational
Psychologist, 39(4), 225-233
Overview of sources

5. Books
 Van den Akker, J., Gravemeijer, K, McKenney, S.,& Nieveen, N. (Eds). (2006). Educational design research. London: Routledge.
ISBN10: 0-415-39635-2 (pbk) (163 pages)
The book reflects the various angles from which researchers in the domains of curriculum, instructional technology and
(mathematics and science) education address the need to develop research based solutions (interventions) to problems for which no
guidelines to solutions are available.
 Kelly, A.E., Lesh, R.A. & Baek, J.Y. (Eds). (2008). Handbook of design research methods in education innovations in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics learning and teaching. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN: 978-0-8058-
6059-7 (pbk) (560 pages)
The book involves introducing innovations into real-world practices and examining the impact of those designs on the learning
process. Designed prototype applications and the research findings are then cycled back into the next iteration of the design
innovation.
 McKenney, S., & Reeves, T.C. (2012). Conducting educational design research. London / New York: Routledge. ISBN: 978-0-415-
61804-5 (pbk) (244 pages). Also as hardcover and e-book.
The book integrates multiple perspectives of educational design research throughout this three-part book.
 Reinking, D., & Bradley, B.A. (2008). On formative and design experiments: Approaches to language and literacy research. New
York & London: Teachers College, Columbia University. ISBN: 978-0-8077-4841-1 (pbk) (134 pages)
The book provides a nice introduction into formative and design experiments, a term synonymous for what we call design research
and others design-based research.
 Fishman, B.J., Penuel, W. R., Allen, A.-R., & Cheng, B.H. (Eds.). (In press). Design-based implementation research: Theories,
methods, and exemplars. National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook. New York, NY: Teachers College Record.
The book applies design-based perspectives and methods to address and study problems of implementation

6. Website
Many websites for design research or design-based research
 http://international.slo.nl/edr It has links to a number of
publications related to this book published by SLO –
Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development
 http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Design-based_research It
defines design-based research (DBR), discusses
characteristics and present example approaches
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design-based_research It is a
nice introduction, but has an exclusive North-American
orientation – no references seem to be included about
design (based) research in other parts of the world.
 http://projects.coe.uga.edu/dbr/index.htm
 http://cider.athabascau.ca/CIDERSIGs/DesignBasedSIG/

7. Selected journal articles and book
chapters
Aken, J. van (2013). Design Science: Valid
knowledge for socio-technical system design.
This article shows how one can develop design
science, valid knowledge produced by rigorous
research to support designing, for the social
world
Akker, J. van den (1999). Principles and
methods of development research1 . In J. van
den Akker J.J.H. van den Akker, R. Branch, K.
Gustafson, N.M. Nieveen, & Tj. Plomp. (Eds.).
The purpose, a conceptual framework and
some characteristics of development research
in curriculum
Eilks, I., & Ralle, B. (2002). Participatory Action
Research in chemical education. In B. Ralle, & I.
Eilks (Eds.), Research in Chemical Education -
What does this mean? (pp. 87-98). The objective
is to establish an accepted methodological
foundation for education research, to fit
curriculum development better to t
Penuel, W.R., Fishman, B.J., Cheng, B.H., &
Sabelli, N. (2011). Organizing research and
development at the intersection of learning,
implementation, and design. Educational
Researcher, 40(7), 331-337he needs of practice.
The approach represents an expansion of design
research, which typically focuses on classrooms,
to include development and testing of
innovations

8. Domain of mathematics education
Some references for
design research
cases in the domain
of mathematics
education.
Bowers, J.S., Cobb, P., & McClain, K. (1999). The evolution
of mathematical practices: A case study. Cognition and
Instruction, 17, 25-64.
Confrey, J., & Smith, E. (1995). Splitting, covariation, and
their role in the development of exponential functions.
Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 26, 66-
86
Lehrer, R., & Schauble, L. (2004). Modeling natural
variation through distribution. American Educational
Research Journal, 41, 635-679.
Simon, M.A. (1995). Reconstructing mathematics
pedagogy from a constructivist perspective. Journal for
Research in Mathematics Education, 26, 114-145

9. Domain of science education
Burmeister, M., & Eilks, I. (2013). Using
participatory action research to develop a course
module on education for sustainable
development in pre-service chemistry teacher
education. Centre of Educational Policy Studies
Journal, 3(1), 59-78. The student teachers stated
that the module was interesting, relevant and
valuable for their later profession as high school
chemistry teachers.
Höttecke, D., Henke, A., & Ries, F. (2012).
Implementing history and philosophy in
science teaching: Strategies, methods,
results and experiences from the
European HIPST project. Science &
Education, 15(1), 1233-1261. The project
benefited from the special skills, creative
potentials and experiences of teachers
and their capacities for evaluating the
materials designed through the
collaborative process.
Kafai, Y.B., & Ching, C.C. (2001).
Affordances of collaborative
software design planning for
elementary students’ science talk.
Journal of the Learning Sciences,
10(3), 323-363. Focuses on which
contexts gave rise to science talk.
Studies a classroom with students
divided into seven teams

10. Domain for source
Abbott, S.P., Reed, E., Abbott,
R.D., & Berninger, V.W. (1997).
Year-long balanced reading/
writing tutorial: A design
experiment used for dynamic
assessment. Learning Disability
Quarterly, 20(3), 249-263.
Neuman, S.B. (1999). Books
make a difference: A study of
access to literacy. Reading
Research Quarterly, 34(3), 286-
311. It examines the project’s
impact and gives support for the
physical proximity of books and
the psychological support to
child-care staff on children’s.
analyses found significant gains
on measures of orthographic
and phonological coding, word
identification.
READING
WRITING

11. Domain of instructional technology
Reinking, D., & Watkins, J.
(2000). A formative
experiment investigating the
use of multimedia book
reviews to increase
elementary students’
independent reading.
Reading Research Quarterly,
35(3), 384-419. The study
finds that the success of the
intervention was related to
the mediating effects of using
technology
Bannan-Ritland, B. (2003). The role of
design in research: The integrative
learning design framework.
Educational Researcher, 32(1), 21-24. a
general model is proposed for design
research in education that grows out
of the author’s research and work in
related design fields.
Reeves, T. (2006). Design research
from a technology perspective. In: J.
van den Akker, K. Gravemeijer, S.
McKenney, & N. Nieveen (Eds.),
Educational design research (pp. 52-
67). London: Routledge. e. It is
proposed that progress in improving
teaching and learning through
technology may be accomplished
using design research as an
alternative model of inquiry.

12. Domain of curriculum
• It explore the potential of the
computer to support curriculum
materials development within the
context of secondary level science and
mathematics education.
McKenney, S., & van den
Akker, J. (2005). Computer-
based support for
curriculum designers: A
case of developmental
research. Educational
Technology Research &
Development, 53(2), 41-66.
• It improve the consistency of formative
evaluation plans and activities;
motivate developers by elevating their
confidence in using formative
evaluation activities; save time; and
help to provide justifications for
decisions made.
Nieveen, N.M. (1999).
Prototyping to reach
product quality. In J.J.H. van
den Akker, R. Branch, K.
Gustafson, N.M.

13. SOME PHD THESES UTILIZING DESIGN RESEARCH AS A
RESEARCH DESIGN
Various PhD these have been written in which design research has been
applied as the main research approach.
Teclai Tecle, Andemariam (2006). The potential of a professional
development scenario for supporting biology teachers in Eritrea. Doctoral
thesis. Enschede (The Netherlands): University of Twente. Retrieved from
http://purl.org/utwente/55985
Alayyar, G. (2011). Developing pre-service teacher competencies for ICT
integration through design teams. Doctoral thesis. Enschede (The
Netherlands): University of Twente. Retrieved from
http://doc.utwente.nl/77918/1/thesis_G_Allayar.pdf
• Domain of curriculum development, Akomaning, E. (2012). Improving student
internship through collaborative curriculum design in Ghanaian polytechnics.
Doctoral thesis. Enschede (The Netherlands): University of Twente.
• Domain of distance education/mobile learning/networked learning. Shattuck, J.
(2013) Training higher education adjunct faculty to teach online: A designbased
research study. Doctoral dissertation. Athabasca University (Canada). Retrieved
from https://dt.athabascau.ca/jspui/handle/10791/27
•Domain of instructional technology. Porcaro, D. (2011). Omani
undergraduate student reactions to collaborative knowledge building: A
design research study. Doctoral dissertation. University of Georgia
(Athens, GA, USA). Retrieved from
https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/porcaro_david_s_201105_phd.pdf
•Domain of teacher education and professional development of teachers,
•Domain of environmental education • Wynveen, B.J. (2013). Attaining
sustainable behavior among non-environmentallymotivated individuals:
A formative experiment. Doctoral thesis. Clemson University (South
Carolina, USA). Retrieved
from http://etd.lib.clemson.edu/documents/1371151621/
•Domain of literacy education • Tracy, K.N. (2009). A formative
experiment investigating the use of nonfiction texts in writing workshop
to assist fourth-grade readers and writers. Doctoral thesis. Clemson
University (South Carolina, USA). Retrieved
from http://etd.lib.clemson.edu/documents/1252424273/Tracy_clemson
_0050D_10292.pdf

14. Colwell, J. (2012). A formative
experiment to promote disciplinary
literacy in middle-school and pre-
service teacher education through
blogging. Doctoral dissertation.
Clemson University (South
Carolina, USA). Retrieved
from http://etd.lib.clemson.edu/do
cuments/1349104087/
Domain of mathematics education,
Bakker, A. (2004). Design research
in statistics education : on
symbolizing and computer tools.
Doctoral thesis. Utrecht (The
Netherlands): University of
Utrecht. Retrieved from
http://igitur-
archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/2
004-0513-153943/inhoud. htm
Domain of school effectiveness •
Archer, E. (2010). Bridging the gap:
optimising a feedback system for
monitoring learner performance.
Pretoria: University of Pretoria.
Doctoral thesis. Retrieved from
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/availab
le/etd-02022011-124942/
Domain of science education, Tilya,
F.D. (2003). Teacher support for the
use of MBL in activity-based
physics teaching in Tanzania.
Doctoral thesis. Enschede (The
Netherlands): University of Twente.
Retrieved from
http://purl.org/utwente/41462 •
Westbroek, H.B. (2005).
Characteristics of meaningful
chemistry education - The case of
water quality. Doctoral thesis.
Utrecht (The Netherlands):
University of Utrecht. Retrieved
from http://igitur-
SOME PHD THESES UTILIZING DESIGN
RESEARCH AS A RESEARCH DESIGN