Reflection: Research by design: Design-based research and the higher degree research student

Abstract

One of my first thoughts upon being asked to revisit this article (Kennedy-Clark, 2013) was to reflect upon how much research has been done on design-based research as a methodology. So, in this response, I will draw upon some of the main ideas that are coming from recent studies and consider this in the context of Higher Degree Research (HDR). When I was first introduced to design-based research, it was the methodological approach being used in a grant-funded research project at the Centre for Computer Supported Learning and Cognition (CoCo Lab) at the University of Sydney, Australia, where we were building an educational virtual world that was based on Harvard's River City. At the time, most of the literature on design-based research was grounded firmly in the learning sciences and came from leading researchers in the field, such as Barab and Squire's (2004) seminal text and from research groups such as the Design-Based Research Collective (2003). As my PhD was in this field, the approach seemed to provide more opportunities to improve my understanding of the study than other, perhaps more traditional, approaches. It also seemed relevant as design research is a methodological response to address issues in education rather than being drawn across from other research domains.The methodology seemed to provide space for the messy and sometimes "wicked" problems that are faced by educators in that it harnesses the relative strengths of multidisciplinary teams, long-term projects, iterative design, and multiple sources of data. What stood out in this approach from other methodological approaches relevant to education, such as action research, was its emphasis on theory building as part of the output as well as practical solutions. This emphasis on design to solve problems is not a new notion in educational research. For example, Schön (1983) noted that educators are designers who design artefacts to solve problems thus implying that design is at the core of education. The chapter by Plomp (2007), offered, at the time, the best rationale for using the methodology in my own PhD research and is the chapter that I first direct HDR students to who are considering using a design approach. Plomp (2007) explained that "the need for a research approach that addresses complex problems in educational practice has been argued by researchers in various 'corners' of the domain of education from the lack of relevance of much educational research for educational practice" (p. 9). Further, Plomp's (2007) discussion of design-research and provision of a range of models is relevant to HDR contexts in that it provides students with a visual representation of research studies that can translate across to other contexts. For example, Mafumiko's (2006) dissertation offers a practical outline of how design research could be used in a doctoral dissertation circumventing the need for multidisciplinary teams by drawing upon panels of experts as part of the design phases; thus providing a concrete strategy for HDR students who are working as s...

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