DBR: Questions & Literature Reviews

I think that McKenney and Reeves (2012) do a good job of explaining Design-Based Research (DBR) in our textbook. They are very thorough in describing the phases of the DBR process. The researcher investigates an educational problem or issue, then enters the design phase, then implementation (with iterations, and then goes into the evaluation phase. My confusion comes from considering who would do this kind of research. A doctoral candidate who is hoping to finish his/her dissertation in a reasonable amount of time is likely to shy away from a process that includes multiple iterations perhaps over the span of a couple of years. I can also imagine that many research institutions also prefer to spend their time and resources on projects that will not take so long to get to the publication stage. I wonder if some DBR studies are supported by vendors (individuals or companies) that are trying to get a product, such as a new professional development program, to the market. Those vendors might have the capacity in terms of resources and time to embark on a long range project which might help substantiate their own product in the long run?

According to McKenney and Reeves (2012), conducting a literature review should help the researcher to gain insight into how to shape the data collection for the study, and it should help the researcher identify important elements for data analysis. Conducting the literature review for my study helped me do both of those things. I had been thinking that a survey would give me enough data in order to improve the online professional development program for new teacher induction. However, as I read more about studying professional development (online or face-to-face), it became clear that in order to get the rich, descriptive data that I would need to be able to improve the online professional development and suggest design principles that others could use, I would need to conduct interviews with at least a subset of the participants in this induction program. Those interviews would lead to the detailed data needed to identify themes, provide rich descriptions, and and make decisions based on the real perceptions of the participants.


McKenney, S. E., & Reeves, T. C. (2012). Conducting educational design research. New York: Routledge.