One of the problems we face in terms of design research is that there is still a culture of people who confuse silence with tacit knowledge and confuse unreflective affirmation with reflective practice. Critical thinking and systemic investigation form the basis of the theory. Research offers us the tools that allow critical thinking and systemic investigation to bring answers to the field. It is through theory and its provided models that we relate what we know to what we do. Knowledge in design comes in part from practice. Design knowledge and research overlap, but even though design practice is a foundation of design knowledge, it is the action of systematic and methodical investigation that constitutes research. The work that we have been implementing at the Academy, both teaching and investigating research methodologies in Design, has motivated us to try to contribute to clarifying the relationship between design practice and design research, and to focus on the need to define our own models of design research and involve the scientific community to discuss and reflect on the topic. This article aims to provide some clarification on the differences between Research through Design and Research by Design, both through theoretical discussion, based on the production and experience of the authors and the State of the Art, and through the application of these methodologies in research projects at the PhD in Design. We have always pointed to an opportunity for design research to provide contributions to knowledge in design through unique research methods and processes. The main aim of the ongoing work that we have been developing has been in the study of design to improve the process and the analysis of design products resulting from research processes that can generate theories to face the challenges of design: studying the world and then creating things designed to affect change.