Reflections on Design-Based Research: - In Online Educational and Competence Development Projects -

Design-Based Research is an intervention method that researches educational design (products or processes) in real-life settings with the dual purpose of generating theories about the domain and develop the design iteratively. This paper is an integrative review with a personal ethnographic narrative that draws on Design-Based Research literature, and identifies and discusses elements from Interaction Design and Action Research that the Design-Based Research approach could apply, situating the research in online educational projects, where participants are distributed in time and space, and where the learning process expands to everyday work and life practices, as in competence development projects. The elements discussed are: to broaden the concept of users, to include the various roles in the organization; to be explorative and work with potentials, suggestions and alternative designs; and to develop the theory generation and rigour in the analysis phases.