It was was 3 years ago that I took Dr. Reeves’ doctoral course on design based research. We students in the class worked in groups, under his guidance, built this DBR EPSS (http://projects.coe.uga.edu/dbr/index.htm). We were discussing the differences among several similar terms or phrases: design experiment, design based research, experimental research, and experimental design. However, today I cam across Dr. Monica Tracey’s  (2006) article on ID model construction and validation and for one moment the concepts of developmental research was mixed with the concept of DBR in my head. So I think it is necessary to make sure myself clearly understand the difference between this two:

According to the DBR EPSS,

Design-based research is research on how theory and innovative learning environments converge to support human learning and performance. The dual purposes of design-based research are to 1) develop theoretical design principles that are grounded in systematic inquiry about the process of teaching and learning, and 2) develop innovative tools, technologies, methods, and resources that put these design principles into practice.
(Generated by Thomas Reeves, Richard West and Chandra Orrill during EDIT 9990 online discussion)

Whereas Rita Richey (1994) defined developmental research as

Developmental research, as opposed to simple instructional development, has been defined as the systematic study of designing, developing, and evaluating instructional programs, processes, and products that must meet criteria of internal consistency and effectiveness. Developmental research is particularly important in the field of instructional technology. The most common types of developmental research involve situations in which the product-development process is analyzed and described, and the final product is evaluated. A second type of developmental research focuses more on the impact of the product on the learner or the organization. A third type of study is oriented toward a general analysis of design development or evaluation processes as a whole or as components. A fundamental distinction should be made between reports of actual developmental research (practice) and descriptions of design and development procedural models (theory). Although it has frequently been misunderstood, developmental research has contributed much to the growth of the field as a whole, often serving as a basis for model construction and theorizing. One figure illustrates the discussion.