ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a case example of the sort of theory construction through design. It explains how designing and field-testing an intervention that aimed to help students connect the past to the present led to the development of a theory of positivistic versus critical historical reasoning. Design-based research (DBR) holds a different sort of potential. Compared to randomized controlled trials or other experimental methods that test whether a given design works as intended, DBR is far more open-ended. While design researchers have expounded on the methodology’s potential for generating theory, they have been more reticent about the analytic tools that might facilitate that process. Grounded theory methodology emerged from sociology, a field that operates most comfortably in natural settings, but many aspects of the approach readily apply to DBR. The chapter outlines the conception and design of the DBR study that will serve as a case example of ontological innovation.
