Design-based Research (DBR)

De acordo com Wang e Hannafin (2005) a definição de Design-based Research passa por enunciar as seguintes características: "é uma metodologia sistemática mas flexível, com o objectivo de melhorar as práticas educativas através de uma análise iterativa, design, desenvolvimento e implementação, baseada na colaboração entre investigadores e os profissionais em contextos reais, levando a teorias e princípios do desenho em contexto."(p.6)

“Pragmatic, Grounded, Interactive, iterative and flexible, Integrative, and Contextual” (p. 7).

Pragmatic: its goals are solving current real-world problems by designing and enacting interventions as well as extending theories and refining design principles (Design-Based Research Collective, 2003; Van den Akker & et al., in press).

Grounded: design based research is grounded in both theory and the real-world context (Wang & Hannafin, 2005).

Interactive Iterative and Flexible: in terms of research process, design-based research is interactive, iterative and flexible. Design-based research requires interactive collaboration among researchers and practitioners. Without such collaboration, interventions are unlikely to effect changes in the real world context (DBRC, 2003; Reeves, Herrington, & Oliver, 2005; Wang & Hannafin, 2005). Also, design-based research usually takes a long period of time because theories and interventions tend to be continuously developed and refined through an iterative design process from analysis to design to evaluation and redesign (Bannan-Ritland, 2003; Design-Based Research Collective, 2003; Van den Akker & et al., in press; Wang & Hannafin, 2005). This ongoing recursive nature of the design process also allows greater flexibility than do traditional experimental approaches.

Integrative: design-based research is integrative because researchers need to integrate a variety of research methods and approaches from both qualitative and quantitative research paradigms, depending on the needs of the research.

Contextual: design research is contextualized because research results are “connected with both the design process through which results are generated and the setting where the research is conducted” (Wang & Hannafin, 2005, p. 11).

Fonte: http://projects.coe.uga.edu/dbr/explain01.htm - A Peer Tutorial for Design.based Research

Segundo Collins et al. (2004), Design-based Research pretende responder a diversas necessidades e questões relacionadas com o estudo da aprendizagem, a saber:

- a necessidade em responder a questões teóricas sobre a natureza da aprendizagem em contexto;

- a necessidade em desenvolver abordagens ao estudo do fenómeno da aprendizagem em situações reais, em vez de as submeter a práticas laboratoriais;

- a necessidade em ir além das limitadas e tradicionais formas de avaliar a educação;

- a necessidade em obter resultados através de uma avaliação formativa.