When I Think of Research...

Before this, I never really thought about research as something that I would be particularly interested in. I knew that research is important to the field of early childhood- we can learn so much from it-but I did not know how it worked, I had always assumed that it had a lot to do with analyzing data and crunching numbers…I did not even really think of how exactly it was conducted or that there are so many different approaches to it! Now I know that there is so much more to research than that; I have gained new insights on research and the process behind it. I learned that there are many different types of research studies and methods to choose from, many different ways to approach a research question/topic, and many different types of data and ways to collect it. Ultimately, I learned that research is actually really interesting and I have gained a new appreciation for it!

I was surprised at how complex the process of doing research is. My previous beliefs about how research is done have changed as I now know what is involved in the process. I knew that there were some things that needed to be planned for-such as resources, participants, and location-but there were many more that I did not know of-such as validity, sampling, and equity challenges.  One thing that I learned was that research does not always involve a hypothesis and that sometimes it can be open-ended. Even if the research study does not have a hypothesis or the hypothesis is proven wrong, we are still gaining valuable information.

The main lesson that I learned about research is that it is important to choose a design that best fits the research question. You can have a good research question but without a good research design the research may fall apart. Careful planning will help the researcher choose the best design and methods to use and will make conducting the research feasible.

The main challenge that I encountered while learning about research was the new terminology. It was a little hard for me to wrap my head around some of the terms and it took time for me to figure out what the independent and dependent variables were- I had to go over them again and again! To overcome this challenge, I utilized resources, mainly the articles by Lepuschitz (2011) and Mac Naughton et al.’s Doing Early Childhood Research.

My perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of studying research; I have gained a new respect and understanding for the research area of this field. Typically when I think of the early childhood field, I think of educators, directors, advocates, etc., but researchers provide the backbone for the field-from them we gain new strategies, techniques, and information. 

I have enjoyed learning about research and it was made much more fun and easier thanks to my colleagues who have shared their knowledge, opinions, and insights with me. Thank you so much, I am looking forward to learning more with you! 

Research Around the World

Looking at research done internationally is really beneficial to learning about research in general. You can see what topics other researchers in other regions are focusing on, what methods they are using and what their current research issues and ideas are. There also may be opportunities for collaboration and gaining new insights from an international perspective. This week, I looked at the Early Childhood Australia website, http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/.

The Early Childhood Australia website has a section on their Research in Practice (RIP) Series. This is a resource for early childhood professionals and parents and it looks as though it has a lot of useful information. Unfortunately, the books in the RIP Series (and most of the articles in the journals) were not available for free-you need to be a subscriber or purchase the books/journals individually. Browsing through the index, I saw that some of the topics covered include diversity, coping with change, communication and relationships with families, aggression, and overall well-being in children.

The website also had a link for the Every Child Magazine as well. I was pleased to see that there were sample articles available and after browsing through this section I found some really interesting information and articles. Some of the topics in this section include supporting bilingual learners, social-emotional development, legal issues in early childhood care, ethics, and health.

I noticed that many of these topics on the Early Childhood Australia website similar to ones that early childhood professionals here in the US look at too. There were some topics that I have not heard much about here, such as indigenous issues and males in the early childhood profession. I thought that these sounded pretty interesting; overall this website had a wide variety of international research topics!

I gained some new insight into different early childhood topics that I have not really focused on before. Browsing through this website and reading some of the available articles gave me new information on a wide range of topics. I was surprised at the focus that Early Childhood Australia has on diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion-there were many articles on these topics in different sections of the website. It seems as though a lot of the current research is based on indigenous issues and the inclusion of Aboriginal children and families. I also thought it was noteworthy that there was a “statement of regret and commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families” in the position statement section; this seems to tie in with the focus that Early Childhood Australia has on diversity and indigenous issues. 

Looking at this international research website was very informative. Although a lot of the research and topics can be generalized to children worldwide, there were some sections in particular that are solely for Australia. To me, this was really interesting because it gave me an idea of what some of the early childhood issues unique to Australia are and an idea of the Early Childhood Australia’s perspectives. Overall, I enjoyed looking at the Early Childhood Australia website and am happy to have a new international research resource to add to my collection of resources!