Abstract

While not underestimating the role of more conventional approaches in the field of educational research, this paper discusses Design-Based Research or DBR as a useful paradigm and a prolific approach to applied research in the area of distributed leadership in the context of developing countries like Pakistan. Some details of this approach in the light of a literature review and the findings of a DBR study conducted in a low-fee private elementary school in Pakistan are presented to advocate and promote its usage by educational researchers in developing countries. Arguments are presented in favour of DBR as a valuable research framework for improving the educational practices by addressing issues and problems at the ground level. It is important that we make research more useful for the real world educational settings and culture of developing countries and try to put theory into practice by developing suitable context-specific designs of educational practice, systems and products. There is a great scope for DBR to be as generative as other established modes of educational inquiry.