Proving or improving? Design research and the link between educational research and practice

Herrington, J. (2010) Proving or improving? Design research and the link between educational research and practice. In: Educational Design Research: Local Change & Global Impact Conference, 26 - 27 March 2010, University of Georgia, U.S.A.

Abstract

Educational research is often considered a ‘poor cousin’ to scientific research in universities. Further, research conducted in our field has often been accused of having a weak link to practice, where research findings are ‘thrown over the wall’ from the ivory towers of academia. Design research has strong potential to change the way we conduct educational technology research.

In this presentation, drawing largely on the work of Thomas C Reeves, a description of the characteristics of design-based research are given, together with examples, and an argument for the more widespread adoption of this approach to enhance the quality and impact of research in education