Design research (or design-based research) is a methodological framework that focuses on the ‘tomorrow’; that is, the design of education as it could or should be (Bakker, 2018). Informed by a theoretical approach, an educational design-researcher designs materials (such as sequential learning tasks) and uses research tools to analyse their effectiveness in practice, using the analysis to further develop the materials. In fields such as medicine and engineering, product development typically arises through design, research and iteration, but this approach is not often seen in education (Burkhardt & Swan, 2017).
In the past 20 years, design research in education has become more established as a methodological framework, evolving from multiple international versions (Bakker, 2018). Importantly, Cobb et al. (2003) note that in design research the theory must do ‘real work’ because theoretical approaches must be applied to design specific learning materials but are also applied to the analysis of the learning that occurs. Although an outcome of educational design research may be learning materials that can be shared and used, the iterative process of designing and developing the materials, and the subsequent analysis of learning means that theories about learning can be further developed.
