Design Research vs. Instructional Systems Design: Implications for Educational Technologists

For the past two decades, design research has gained attention as an emerging research paradigm in the educational technology field as well as in the field of education generally. Design research deals with both design and research and shares some similarities with other research approaches or educational disciplines. As an emerging paradigm, design research requires further discussion and clarification regarding what it is and how it can be effectively executed. Instructional Systems Design (ISD) is one of the major disciplines in the educational technology field. Both ISD and design research deal with enactment of design in educational settings. In this paper, how ISD and design research are different and similar is clarified, particularly with respect to goals, assumptions, conceptualization of design, participation, methods/processes, implementation, role of evaluation, criteria for success, and scalability...