When I Think of Research

The insights about research that I have become a part of my life especially, when I read the text entitled, “Doing Early Childhood Research: International Perspectives on Theory & Practice.” The author’s bring a lot of insights about research from places like Melbourne, Australia and London, England. This course has made me more vigilant when reading any research study, and especially those with children, indigenous people, refugees, the elderly, those with health problems and anyone who is classified as belonging to a ‘minority’ group. I also learned that research is from paradigms and not all paradigms are alike.

If I were to change any of my ideas about the nature of doing research, I would be more qualitative than quantitative in my data gathering, however, I would also use a lot of mixed-method approaches too.

I have learned when doing early childhood research planning is an essential starting point to ensure that ethics are taken into consideration and policies are enacted when children are the participants. Planning also helps to select the type of design to use for the research project.

The design should have equity and no legitimate or dominate approaches when conducting early childhood research. The design also involves how the data is analyzed and have reliability, validity, and generalizability included in the project.  A researcher’s ontological and epistemological orientation can also affect the type of design that is used.

Conducting research in early childhood should be subjective and not objective. There has to be consenting adults to approve the research and give their permission for their children to be participants. When conducting research in early childhood, the child’s best interest should be the first priority. Questions such as were the participants given informed consent? Is there any deception in the research? Will there be confidentiality and privacy in the research? And, is there a risk-benefit equation with the research, and if so it should be determine if the research should be allowed or not.

I feel as though there has to be more research done in early childhood classrooms and with the early childhood professionals especially in this day and time, because of an ever changing society. It starts in the very beginning of an early childhood professional’s career, if you have any biases, then you have already defeated yourself and the children. No one can really be an expert in early childhood research, because, there are so many perspectives and different views in early childhood research.  

In conclusion, as an early childhood professional, I have to build myself up with continuous training each year so I can meet the challenges of each individual child and family. I now feel more confident in meeting those challenges thanks to this course, because, now I feel competent in “Building Research,” that would help me to bring positive social change to the early childhood field.

I would also like to thank Dr. Klein, and all my classmates for the support in this course. It has made me see the serious side of research as well as the not so serious. By reading the discussions, replies, and comments I am learning so much, as I had hope to when I first enrolled in Walden University. This is not goodbye, just a loooooooong hello. I hope to see all of you at graduation.

Wishing You All Well
Larry D. Jackson



Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 24, 2013 at 7:18 PM

    Larry,
    I have learned a lot from your posts throughout this course. You have continued to provide valuable insight that has helped me look at research from different perspectives.

    Tara Fleishman

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chelsea EzzeAugust 24, 2013 at 8:43 PM

    I think it's great that you would use more qualitative research than quantitative research. Quantitative research is important, but there are only select topics that you would use numerical data for. I would also use qualitative, which is what I used in my research study. It has been great having a class with you and good luck in the rest of your masters career. I hope that I get the chance to have a class with you again!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ANDaniels87August 27, 2013 at 6:25 PM

    Larry,
    I have really enjoyed reading your post throughout this course. Your input has helped me gain a deeper understanding of the research process. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
    Ashley

    ReplyDelete

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