The transformation from practitioner to scholar is one of the most significant developmental transitions in doctoral education — the shift from applying knowledge that others have generated to producing original knowledge that advances the field. ED8829 facilitates this transformation for doctoral learners in the Instructional Design and Development specialization, developing the research literacy, theoretical grounding, and scholarly disposition needed to contribute meaningfully to the IDD knowledge base through dissertation research and beyond.
Fundamentals of IDD research
Research traditions and methods in instructional design scholarship
- Research paradigms in IDD: ED8829 examines the major research paradigms through which IDD scholarship generates knowledge. The post-positivist paradigm seeks objective, generalizable knowledge about instructional phenomena — applying quantitative methods (experimental and quasi-experimental designs, survey research, psychometric measurement) to answer questions about the conditions under which instructional approaches are more or less effective, and for which learners. The interpretivist/constructivist paradigm seeks deep understanding of the meaning that instructional designers, learners, and organizations make of instructional experiences — applying qualitative methods (case study, ethnography, grounded theory, phenomenology, narrative inquiry) to answer questions about the processes, contexts, and experiences that shape instructional design practice and learning. The design research / design-based research (DBR) paradigm — particularly relevant to IDD — generates both instructional interventions and design theories through iterative cycles of design, implementation, evaluation, and redesign in authentic learning settings
- Research methods commonly applied in IDD: The course examines the specific research methods most commonly used in IDD scholarship. Experimental and quasi-experimental designs test the comparative effectiveness of instructional approaches — comparing learning outcomes between instructional conditions (traditional lecture vs. worked example vs. problem-based learning), testing the effect of specific design variables (modality, interactivity level, feedback timing, cognitive load management strategies). Usability and user experience research examines how learners interact with instructional materials and technology — applying eye tracking, think-aloud protocols, and interaction log analysis to understand where learners struggle and where design decisions affect navigation, comprehension, and engagement. Survey and questionnaire research examines learner perceptions, motivations, satisfaction, and self-efficacy across instructional conditions. Qualitative approaches investigate the processes and contexts of instructional design practice — how designers make decisions, what organizational factors shape design choices, how design teams collaborate
- Design-based research in IDD: ED8829 examines design-based research as a methodology particularly well-suited to IDD dissertation research — because DBR produces both practical products (instructional designs that actually work in real contexts) and theoretical contributions (design principles that explain why the design works and under what conditions it can be generalized). The iterative, collaborative, context-embedded nature of DBR aligns with the iterative, collaborative, context-sensitive nature of instructional design practice
Dissertation topic development in IDD
ED8829 directly supports dissertation readiness by developing the capacity to identify, specify, and justify dissertation research topics that make genuine contributions to the IDD knowledge base. The course examines what counts as a "gap in the literature" — the justification that dissertation research addresses a problem that existing scholarship has not adequately addressed — and how to identify genuine gaps versus topics that have simply not been studied by the specific methods the learner prefers. A genuine literature gap exists when: the phenomenon is important but understudied; existing studies are methodologically inadequate to generate reliable findings; studies have been conducted in other contexts but not in contexts directly relevant to the research question; or theoretical frameworks exist but have not been empirically tested or applied to the specific population, intervention, or context of interest. The course also examines research question development — the formulation of specific, answerable questions that focus the dissertation on a manageable scope while making a meaningful contribution. Research questions that are too broad (How does e-learning affect learning?) cannot be answered by a single dissertation; questions that are too narrow (Does adding one animation to one specific module affect completion time for one specific course for one specific learner population?) produce findings too limited to contribute meaningfully to the field. ED8829 develops the dissertation proposal skills — topic statement, literature synthesis, theoretical framework articulation, research question specification, and methodology justification — that prepare learners for the dissertation proposal process.
Contributing to the IDD knowledge base
ED8829 develops the scholarly identity dimension of doctoral preparation — understanding the IDD knowledge base, its current state, its most important ongoing debates, and the specific spaces where new scholarship can make the most meaningful contributions. The course examines the major journals in the IDD field (Educational Technology Research and Development, Instructional Science, Journal of the Learning Sciences, Computers and Education, Distance Education, The American Journal of Distance Education, TechTrends) and the conventions of scholarly contribution in these venues. The course examines the current state of debate in IDD on key questions: What are the most effective multimedia design principles for diverse learner populations? How should instructional design adapt to artificial intelligence-enabled personalization capabilities? What is the role of emotion, motivation, and engagement in instructional effectiveness? How should IDD practitioners approach the design of informal, mobile, and social learning environments? What is the relationship between instructional design theory and learning science research? The course develops the capacity to situate dissertation research within these ongoing conversations — positioning the dissertation not as an isolated study but as a contribution to a scholarly discourse that the candidate is joining as a new participant.
E-learning research applications
ED8829 examines the distinctive research landscape of e-learning — the area that has produced the most growth in IDD scholarship over the past two decades and that raises the most pressing unresolved questions for the field. The course covers the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2009) and its extensive research program — examining the evidence base for multimedia design principles (coherence, signaling, redundancy, spatial contiguity, temporal contiguity, segmenting, pre-training, modality, personalization, voice, image principles) and the boundary conditions that determine when these principles apply and when they do not. The course examines research on online learning effectiveness — the controversy over whether the "no significant difference" findings (Russell, 1999) that online learning produces equivalent outcomes to face-to-face instruction represent a genuine finding or a methodologically flawed comparison. The course covers research on adaptive learning systems — how AI-enabled personalization changes instructional design challenges and opportunities, and what research approaches are appropriate for studying the effectiveness of adaptive systems whose content varies by learner. ED8829 situates dissertation research in the e-learning context — helping learners with IDD specialization identify research questions that emerge from genuine challenges in online, blended, and technology-enhanced instructional environments.
ED8829 assignments include literature reviews, research proposal drafts, research critique papers, and dissertation topic presentations
Our instructional design and doctoral research specialists deliver expert support for ED8829.
Get Help With ED8829
Literature reviews, research proposals, research critiques, dissertation topic development, methodology justifications.
Place Your OrderView All ServicesRelated courses
Frequently asked questions
ED8829 develops the judgment to identify dissertation topics that are both personally meaningful and genuinely scholarly — a combination that sustains the multi-year commitment that dissertation research requires. The characteristics of strong IDD dissertation topics include: significance (the topic addresses a problem that matters for instructional design practice or theory — not every dissertation changes the world, but every dissertation should be able to explain why its findings would matter to someone); feasibility (the research can actually be conducted within doctoral timeline and resource constraints — data must be accessible, IRB approval is obtainable, the scope is manageable for a single dissertation); contribution (the research adds something new to the knowledge base — a new context, population, methodology, theoretical application, or empirical test of an existing claim that advances understanding); alignment (the topic connects to the learner's professional context, career goals, and existing expertise — a practitioner with deep experience in healthcare e-learning who studies healthcare e-learning will produce a richer, more credible dissertation than someone studying a domain they entered only for the dissertation); and personal passion (the topic must sustain interest and motivation through the years of dissertation work, which requires genuine intellectual curiosity about the research questions). Common pitfalls in IDD dissertation topic selection include: topics that are too applied (replicating a best-practice instructional approach without contributing theoretical or empirical knowledge); topics that are too basic (replicating well-established findings without adding new knowledge); topics that are too ambitious (requiring samples, resources, or access that doctoral students cannot realistically obtain); and topics that are too narrow (addressing questions so specific that findings cannot be generalized or contribute to broader knowledge). ED8829 develops the scholarly judgment to navigate these pitfalls — identifying research questions that are significant, feasible, and genuinely contributory to the IDD knowledge base.