The work of instructional design (ID) requires new content learning, which often requires various types of published or secondary research as well as direct elicitations from the cooperating subject matter experts (SMEs) about the topic. For instructional design projects, both design and development, a range of information is required: who the target learners are; what content knowledge is required (as knowledge, skills, and abilities); what pedagogical designs may be most effective; what technologies will be required for the build; what learning sequences, objects, assignments, and assessments are needed; what legal and technological standards need to be abided by. This work describes research strategies for instructional design, research documentation, research citations, and applying the many acquired research insights to the instructional design and development work.