Application-oriented basic research
Internationally, a range of research approaches have manifested themselves, such as action research, instructional design, design-based research or design experiments. In this context, equivalent German-language discourse employs different terms, including terms such as Entwicklungsorientierte Bildungsforschung (Eng: development-oriented education research), Aktionsforschung (Eng: action research) or Fachdidaktische Entwicklungsforschung (Eng: specialist didactic development research). These approaches all intend to provide research-based recommendations, concepts, materials, media formats, etc., for teaching and learning processes.
Focus on economic teaching and learning processes
Every academic project at IÖB is based on a procedural understanding of subject-specific teaching research. Domain-related educational processes and their requirements, such as results in the institutional context of schools, are the subject matter of this research.
Research methods and approaches
IÖB partly carries out purely theoretical projects focussing on the conceptual foundations and on developing innovative concepts, materials or formats for the teaching and learning process in Economics. Projects are, however, increasingly drawing on empirical methods in research into teaching and learning. These methods include, for instance, evaluation design, experiments, Delphi studies, tests, intervention studies or qualitative content analyses. Research methods as well as qualitative and quantitative education research, depending on the research question under investigation, are used to generate new knowledge on teaching and learning processes for Economics.
