Dilemmas of development research in addressing

complex problems in educational practice

Prof. Francisco Janurio (MSc, PhD)

Department of Science and Mathematics Education
Faculty of Education, UEM
francisco.januario@uem.mz
 Structure of the presentation

Introduction
Examples & characteristics of development
research studies
Outputs of development research
Dilemmas of development research
Conclusion

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 Introduction
What is the problem in educational research?
The complexity of educational problems where no
ready-made solutions are available

Why is this happening?

(i) the insufficient quality of much educational
research and
(ii) the lack of relevance of much educational
research for educational practice

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 Introduction
What can we do?
Development Research (DR): a systematic study of
designing, developing and evaluating educational
interventions towards solutions to educational
problems (McKenney, 2001; Plomp, 2006; Van den
Akker, 1999).

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 Examples and characteristics of
DR studies
Examples of intervention studies at
institutional level:
Tecle (2006): The potential of a professional development scenario for
supporting biology teachers in Eritrea
Motswiri (2004): Supporting chemistry teachers in implementing
formative assessment of investigative practical work in Botswana
Mafumiko (2006): Micro-scale experimentation as a catalyst for
improving the chemistry curriculum in Tanzania
Januario (2008): Investigating and improving assessment practices in
Physics in secondary schools in Mozambique
Fringe (s/d) in an ongoing study is undertaking a critical reflection as
the essential principle for professional development of academic staff
of Higher Education in Mozambique.

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 Examples and characteristics of
DR studies
The research process in DR is usually cyclical
where analysis, design, evaluation and
revision activities are iterated until a satisfying
balance between ideals (the intended) and
realization (the achieved) has been met.

Identify and Development of Iterative cycles of Reflection to

analyse prototype solutions: testing & refinement produce design
problems by informed by state-of- of solutions in principles &
researchers & art theory, existing practice enhance solution
practitioners in design principles & implementation in
collaboration techn. innovations practice

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 Outputs of development research
a. Interventions
Educational design researchers aim at developing programs, products, and
processes (interventions) that can be used in practice and are empirically
underpinned solutions to the problems identified.

b. Design principles
Development research aims at producing knowledge about whether and why
an intervention works in a certain context. This type of output is called design
principles or intervention theory.

c. Professional development
One of the features of DR is the collaboration of researchers and practitioners,
which increases the chance of the intervention to become practical and
relevant for the context and the probability for a successful implementation.

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 Dilemmas of development
research
The researcher is designer and often also
evaluator and implementer Measures to
compensate for this potential conflict of
interest:
make research open to professional scrutiny and critique; e.g. use practitioners and
other researchers as critical friends
shift from a dominance perspective of creative designer in the early stage, to a critical
researcher perspective in later stages
have a good quality of research design; e.g. apply triangulation to increase the quality of
data and of analysis, employ empirical testing of both the usability and the effectiveness
of the intervention, and carry out a systematic documentation, analysis and reflection of
the design, development, evaluation and implementation process and their results

have attention for validity and reliability of data and instruments

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 Dilemmas of development
research
b. Real-world settings bring real-world problems. To tackle this:
- use collaboration and mutual beneficial to gain participants trust
- understand the context in which the research is taking place (i.e. consider an
insider perspective).

c. Adaptability. Van den Akker (2005) suggests that the synergy between
research and practice can be maximized by:
being prepared, where desirable, to take on the additional role of designer,
advisor, and facilitator, without losing sight of his/her role as researcher.
being tolerant with regard to the often unavoidably blurred role distinctions
and remaining open to adjustments in the research design if research process
so requires.
allowing the study to be influenced, in part, by the needs and wishes of the
partners, during what is usually a long-term collaborative relationship.

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 Conclusion
Development research projects at system level
are still scarce.

The IAPRCB community, through DR, can be a

vehicle for tackling their complex educational
problems in their respective institutions and
countries.

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 Kanimambo

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