When I Think of Research.....

While studying about research in this 8 week course I have come to understand some of the vocabulary that researchers use to describe their research.  I now understand that researchers have to be organized and design their research study that will help them toward the end result they believe that the research will lead them to.  Understanding the different types of research designs such as qualitative which is data gathered that helps the researcher to understand what they are studying and quantitative research which is gathering data that explains what the outcome of the data is.  When doing research with children it is not only important to get permission from the parents but it is also important to get ask the child if they are willing to participate in the study.  Research involves a lot of details that need to be organized and kept track of from the beginning in order for the study to come out with the results that the researcher is looking for.

My ideas about how to go about research have changed because I have a better understanding of what goes into conducting a study and the many types of data that can be used in the research study.  As a researcher it is important to understand what type of data is needed to validate your study and when other researcher should be used to help validate the research.  I liked the example of seeing research as telling a story about the topic being studied so that others could read it and understand what the findings are and how the researcher came to that conclusion.

In planning and designing a research study I learned that if you are organized and outline the study starting with the question, choosing the participants, what kind of data you will use and how you will organize that data it will not seem so overwhelming.  You will be able to set up a time line that will help you stay on track with your research.   

Some of the challenges that I encountered where understanding dependent and independent variables in the study.  It was difficult for me to stick to one variable because I would start including an external variable to my study and then I would have to many variables.

My perception of an early childhood professional have changed because now I understand that it is important that we understand how to read and make sens of the research done in early childhood so that we are able to discuss the research with other early childhood professionals and parents.  Understanding the ECE research can also help teachers in the classroom in understanding new methods or how to better work with children and parents.

Research has an important role in the early childhood field and that is why it is important that we are familiar with how to read and understand it.

I have also learned a lot from reading the bolgs of my classmates and learning new insight from their perspectives on research.  I want to say thank you to my classmates for sharing the helpful and  interesting information that you found on the different topics of research in these last eight weeks.  This experience has helped me grow as an early childhood professional.