A design-based approach for research into deaf children’s reading comprehension

Design-based methodologies provide a paradigm for educational research which enables us to see beyond what is or is not working, to develop practices and interventions that ‘work better’ (Kelly et al., 2008, p3). This paper explains the design-based methodology and explores the use of this approach to research deaf children’s reading comprehension in order to make a significant contribution to theory and impact on practice. The research context is presented and current paradigms are reviewed. The issues of researching deafness and reading in a way which takes into account the resources of the individuals and the potential of the context are illustrated and a rationale for using a design-based model is presented. The paper examines and reflects on the use of this methodology for investigating deafness and reading comprehension drawing on a current work in progress into Deafness and Reading for Meaning (DreaM) at the University of Leeds.