The purpose of this quick guide is to assist Applied Doctorate students in the Instructional Design Program in determining the best methodology and design for their Applied Doctorate Experience (ADE) dissertation. The guide covers intended target audience, an overview of Design and Development Research (DDR), types of DDR research including product, program, tool research, and model research, 3 stages providing alignment of DDR with NUs Applied Doctoral Record (DDR) deliverables, examples of problem, purpose, and research questions for DDR research, and suggested references.
This quick reference guide will aid doctoral students in instructional design challenged with deciding on what type of applied research study they want to do for their dissertation.
At the core of the instructional design and instructional technology and media field, is the design, development, implementation and evaluation of instructional products, tools, programs, models, and frameworks. In many ways DDR is like Action Research (Goldkuhl, 2012), however, there are many differences. DDR research allows instructional designers a pathway to test theory, models, and frameworks and to authenticate practice. The focus of DDR is on the use, design, development, implementation, and evaluation of products, tools, programs, and models using instructional design models and frameworks. Richey and Klein (2007) defined DDR as “the systematic study of design, development, and evaluation processes with the aim of establishing an empirical basis for the creation of instructional and non-instructional products and tools and new or enhanced models that govern their development” (p. xv). Often the models and frameworks are validated and/or further developed and enhanced through the DDR. DDR is applied research. An area of DDR research that is particularly applicable to ADE students is the creation, implementation, and evaluation of one or more artifacts, such as products, tools, models, new technologies, and learning objects that will aid in solving a complex problem in practice that can be addressed through human imagination, creativity, engagement, and interaction (Ellis & Levy, 2010). These types of problems are found in K-12 education, higher education, corporations, not-for-profits, healthcare, and the military.
The field of DDR is constantly evolving and expanding as technology and media are changing at exponential rates. Richey and Klein (2007) in their seminal work divided DDR into two major categories:
Table 1 provides a summary of common designs used in DDR. Most DDR work falls under the qualitative research category of qualitative case study, however, methodologies such as quantitative and mixed method have been used as well as other qualitative designs, including Delphi.
Type of DDR Research | DDR Focus | Data Collection Methods | Researcher/Designer Artifact Examples |
---|---|---|---|
Product, Program, and Tool Development Research | Full Life Cycle Design and Development Projects | Needs Assessment, Content Analysis, Surveys/Questionnaires, Artifact Development, In-depth Interviews, Observations, Evaluation Methods (Kirkpatrick Level 1-4) | Researcher/Designer Artifact Examples Needs Assessment Design Document Story Boards Program Materials or Product Prototype or Tool Prototype Formative Evaluation: Pilot, Alpha/Beta Test Evaluation Report |
Product, Program, and Tool Development Research | One or More Phases of the Life Cycle | Needs Assessment, Content Analysis, Surveys/Questionnaires, Artifact Development, In-depth Interviews, Observations, Evaluation Methods (Kirkpatrick Level 1-4) | Needs Assessment Design Document Story Boards Program Materials or Product Prototype or Tool Prototype Formative Evaluation: Pilot, Alpha/Beta Test Evaluation Report |
Product and Tool Development Research | Tool Development | Needs Assessment, Expert Interviews, Artifact/Tool Development, Expert Validation (NGT), Participant Interviews, Focus Group Interviews, Evaluation Methods (Kirkpatrick Level 1-4) | Needs Assessment Design Document Story Boards Tool Prototype Formative Tool Evaluation: Pilot, Alpha/Beta Test Formative Tool Evaluation Report |
Product and Tool Research | Tool Use | Participant Interviews, Participant Think Aloud/Talk Aloud Methods, Focus Group Interviews, Evaluation Methods (Kirkpatrick Level 1-4) | Needs Assessment Tool Use Evaluation Report |
Model Research | Model Development | Expert Interviews, Expert Review, Expert Evaluation - Nominal Group Technique (NGT) and Focus Group Interviews | Needs Assessment Design Document Story Boards Model Built Formative Model Expert Evaluation Report |
Model Research | Model Use | Participant Interviews, Participant Think Aloud/Talk Aloud Methods, Evaluation Methods (Kirkpatrick Level 1-4) | Needs Assessment Design Document Model Use Participant Evaluation Report |
Model Research | Model Validation | Expert Individual Interviews, Expert Review, Expert Evaluation - Nominal Group Technique (NGT) Focus Group Interviews |
Needs Assessment Model Validation Plan Expert Evaluation Report |
Ellis and Levy (2010) asserted that DDR must go beyond commercial product development by determining a research problem, based on existing research literature and gaps in the literature that researchers assert must be studied to add to the instructional design knowledgebase.
Product and Tool Research can be further divided into:
Instructional designers and instructional technologists have focused on model research since the emergence of the field.
Model research can be broken into three types:
Model development can focus on a comprehensive model design or on part of a process. Model validation research uses empirical processes to prove the effectiveness of a model in practice. Finally, model use research addresses usability typically from the perspective of instructional designers and stakeholder experts.
NU doctoral students in the Instructional Design Program can use one of the various types of DDR research to complete their doctoral dissertation using the NU ADE template. There will be three stages in this process and in each stage the student will have one or more deliverables using the NU template and posting in the ADR on NU One.
After receiving IRB approval of your ADE Proposal, it is time to design, develop, test, validate, and/or evaluate your artifacts. Below are example steps:
Complete Section 3 of the ADE template presenting the study findings, conclusions, and implications. Next pull all three sections into a dissertation manuscript for approval in the ADR.
While DDR covers a wide variety of approaches, most doctoral students in the ADE program will find case study to be the preferred design. To strengthen trustworthiness of the data, multiple sources of data will typically be used. Using multiple sources of data is called triangulation in research. Figure 1 shows examples of sources of data for DDR.
The goal is to create, use, and/or validate New Artifacts by collecting and analyzing various sources of data including:
The new artifacts may be lesson plans, student guides, facilitator/teacher guides, learning objects, tools, models, programs, and/or products.
Figure: Sources of Data in DDR
Ellis, T.J. & Levy, Y. (2010). A guide for novice researchers: Design and development research methods. Proceedings of Informing Science & IT Education Conference (InSITE) 2010, pp. 108-118. http://proceedings.informingscience.org/InSITE2010/InSITE10p107-118Ellis725.pdf
Goldkuhl, G. (2012). From Action Research to Practice Research. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 17(2). https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v17i2.688
Richey, R. C. & Klein, J. D. (2007). Design and Development Research. Routledge
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