As we come to the end of this session, this course has taught me more in-depth about research and the terminologies associated with the research. This course has helped me to know how to conduct an authentic research.
The idea about research has changed and broadened thereby elevating the helpful need to have more access to a wide range of information. With enough information children’s advocates will know the areas that need the help of the government and organizations in order to know what resources to allocate to develop early childhood education.
The method of supporting a research study to answer a particular question or solve a problem is a means to achieve validity in a research. In designing the research there should be a topic of interest, indication of how the researcher would study the participants (such as through observation or interview or both), determination of the settings of the research, like defining the participants, and identifying the type of design that would be used (e.g. qualitative, quantitative and the mixed method). We need to find out ways to collect research data.
The challenges that I encountered in this course are to know that learning and development of a child in acquiring new skills, abilities, and knowledge are challenging for the researcher to meet as she targets the goal for the research. Parents who need translators of English to other languages present linguistic barriers especially in consenting for their children.
This course has specifically taught me that no matter what situation children or families find themselves in we need to find out solutions to their problems and establish ways to make differences and update laws that need changes. I have conditioned myself to listening and paying close attention to the needs of parents and their children because when those problems are solved I feel fulfilled about helping an individual or a family in need. Research enables professionals to find out ways of helping children, their parents and family members to get evidence- based service programs to benefit people of diverse culture and background thereby enabling them to become educated, trained, and upright citizens of a community.
I have enjoyed this class and I am looking forward to the rest of my college experience.
Reference
Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe , S.A. , & Siraj - Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing Early Childhood Research: International Perspectives on Theory & Practice (2nd ed.). New York
Chika,
ReplyDeleteI agree research is a valuable resource when working with children and families. Keeping an open mind helps the professional to be able to search for other methods of meeting a specific need. This course has reminded us to not only keep an open mind but taught us how to critically evaluate the resources we may find. As professionals we need to be cautious to only use valid and ethical research as a base for our work.
I appreciate all that you have shared throughout the course.
Meredith
Chika,
ReplyDeleteResearch is a beneficial tool to any field of profession, especially early childhood. We have learned a great deal these past weeks on how to implement research and how critical it is to learning more about children. There will always be challenges in regards to research but as long as we work to overcome them the results will be worth it. Thank you for all your insights and ideas you have shared.
Rica
Chika
ReplyDeleteI think that even if an early childhood professional has no designs on conducting research, understanding research design and the research process helps us be better informed consumers of publications and materials.
~Lora
CHIKA
ReplyDeleteYour idea of approaching diversity from a celebratory perspective as a goal for the EC field is a great idea. This approach lightens up such a serious topic. Good idea.