ABSTRACT
Design research has been described ideally as a process of continuous cycles of design, enactment, analysis, and redesign (Design-Based Research Collective, 2003), where the design experiments entail both “engineering” particular forms of learning as well as studying systematically those forms of learning in the context defined by the means of supporting them (Cobb et al., 2003). In practice, though, this research process can be unbalanced and end up with an emphasis on either the design process or theory development. In a professional production environment, there typically will be a strong focus on finishing a product and not necessarily on generating theoretical insights. In academic projects, the focus will be on what new knowledge the project can provide and not necessarily on whether a product is produced and deployed.
