When I Think of Research

Dear colleagues, all I can say is that this class was truly a challenge for me. But despite the challenges, I have learned a lot.

The insights I have gained about research from taking this course is that research is necessary and is responsible for the many policies and procedures that are in place in the early childhood field. Also when research is executed fairly and justly all parties involved benefit. I now understand that research design (quantitative and or qualitative) is determined by the purpose of the research i.e., to measure phenomenon or to understand it. Another insight I have gained is that although I have always understood how important it is to ask open ended questions during the interview process, I never viewed the researcher as someone having power (McNaughton, Rolfe, and Siraj-Blatchford 2010). However, if research is going to credible and if participants are going to be represented fairly and justly, that power must be redefined and shared with the participants (McNaughton, Rolfe, and Siraj-Blatchford 2010).
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There is so much more that I could write about, but I will move on to the next question.   In what ways have my ideas about the nature of research changed?   My ideas about the nature of research has changed tremendously, because now I realize that there is a lot of forethought and planning that goes into research. I realize that the credibility of research is dependent upon many things, including the researcher’s epistemology (belief system of what is considered to be truth) the methods of data collecting and triangulation methods.

The lesson I learned about planning, designing and conducting research in early childhood is that studies show that research does not have to be on a massive scale, but can be small. I also learned that children as participants in a study are credible, providing the techniques used are age appropriate (McNaughton, Rolfe, and Siraj-Blatchford 2010).  

Some of the challenges I encountered was grasping the wording in the text book. I seemed to have struggled with the sentence structure in the text. Other challenges related to understanding research, included understanding the differences between quantitative and qualitative research designs. I also found putting the definitions into my own words challenging at times. Ways that I met these challenges is that I read the text over and over and sometimes read it out loud. Sometimes I would step away from the text and revisit it at another time. 

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course? Some of the ways my perception of the early childhood profession has changed since taking this class, is that the early childhood field needs research in order to make improvements.  In closing I want to say thanks to all of the encouraging comments you made during our discussions. Some of you made this class sound so easy when I found it to be quite challenging. I wish you all the happiest of Holidays.  

Cheryl Byrd


 References
 

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010) Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory & practice. (2^nd ed.) New York, NY: Open University Press McGraw Hill