Mind the (Is/ought) Gap: A Call for an Applied Ethics of Design-Based Research

Abstract

Design-based research typically aims to mediate certain actions that learning scientists perceive as worthy or good, meaning that it is an inherently ethical activity. However, the ethical considerations that motivate learning scientists are oftentimes left implicit. In this paper we call for an applied ethics of DBR, which would make the ethical reasoning that is fundamental to our work a more systematic part of our scholarship. We begin by explaining why moral responsibility for learners’ actions can be viewed as shared between learners and the learning scientists who designed their learning environment. We then posit that coherentism, which combines top-down and bottom-up methods of moral justification, is the most apt approach to an applied ethics of DBR. Finally, we conclude by highlighting one way in which an ethics of DBR might transcend the learning sciences community to advance ethical theory more broadly.