Design-based Research as a Tool for Educational Emancipation

Abstract

Design-based research is a purely practical method, whose purpose is to deal with practical problems of teaching through a repeated process of design, implementation and assessment. It is realized in three consecutive phases (design and initial intervention, problem analysis and design of solution) which are repeated until the best didactic solution to the problem is produced and until a theory is constructed, which will emerge from real data and evidence from the field, i.e. the classroom. It includes the interested parties, namely the students, in the research design, and aims at promoting change, therefore is similar to action research. By learning to use this method from the undergraduate level, future teachers will be able to solve issues related to their practice in a scientific way, and the outcomes of their research can be disseminated, since the purpose of this research is theory production.