When I Think of RESEARCH......

When I think of research I think of a "puzzle" and start to think where and how do I start.  I have never been good at doing research or writing about research.  Throughout this course I have learned how to narrow down a topic to focus on one area that multiple areas.  It also takes a lot of time and can be beneficial to others to read and learn about the results, especially in the early childhood field and not all research is helpful.

 

When I received my text book titled “Doing Early Childhood Research,” I thought what have I gotten myself into which frighten me and will I make it through this class.  I have done research before but have always had a hard time looking up the information or is the information for my project was beneficial to me.  Now I know how to scan articles and understand how the article is written up to provide the information I need for my research project. 

Planning, designing and conducting research reminds me of a huge puzzle. Therefore, when planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood field it is essential to have validity of the data and knowing the importance of the ethics in any research project. 

The challenges I encountered was trying to figure out the important information to add into my research simulation and writing out the hypotheses.  With the step by step charts each week and the comments from the teacher, I was able to complete and understand what information was important and how to write out my hypotheses for my research simulation.

As an early childhood professionals I will most likely never conduct research but will look into other research to gain information that will benefit me in the early childhood field.  It is important to continue learning and reading about new research for early childhood education in order to stay up with new insight to improve child’s developmental progress. 

 

This class was very beneficial to me and learning more about research.  Thanks to all my classmates for the comments through our discussions and blogs, you all have added more insight to my understanding of research.

WK5 "The Research in Practice Series" Early Childhood Australia.....

I looked into what Early Childhood Australia does for research and they have what is called Research in Practice Series (RIP). 

The site states, “The Research in Practice Series is a practical, easy-to-read resource, offering effective new approaches for those challenging issues which arise in the care and education of young children. Early Childhood Australia's Research in Practice Series is an essential resource for those involved in the early childhood field. The books are idea-rich and to-the-point. The Research in Practice Series focuses on the practical, 'hands-on' aspects of early childhood – making them ideally suited to early childhood workers. However, the wide range of topics covered throughout the series offers something to anyone interested in children's early years.”

I love the fact that the research page provided book that anyone could purchase and that they are all “idea-rich, to-the-point, and hands-on.”