Saturday, June 25, 2016

When I Think of Research.....

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

I have gained a lot of valuable insights after taking this course.  I learned a lot of information that helped me understand the research process in detail.  I now have a better understanding of how to select a topic, how to formulate a research question and hypothesis, how to collect data, how to analyze data, and most importantly how to ensure the study is valid.


In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

My ideas about research have changed a lot.  When I first started this course I thought it was going to be a boring research class where you had to write a lot of papers.  My perception quickly changed after I learned how to effectively do research without wasting a lot of time.

What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

I have learned that when conducting research in early childhood, the researcher should plan carefully to eliminate wasting his/her time as well as the participants. The researcher should always use credible sources to make sure the study will be valid.  The researcher should remain ethical at all times. This will help protect the children and families during the research process. The researcher should also remain transparent throughout the process.  These key points will help ensure the success of the overall study.

What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?

The greatest challenge that I encountered during this course was narrowing down a research topic.  I originally chose autism which is a very broad topic.  I had to narrow down to very specific subtopics that could be researched in a reasonable time frame.  I was able to overcome this challenge by reading through some articles that were related to my topic, and I had to decide what information I wanted to learn from the study.

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

My perception of early childhood professionals who perform research has changed tremendously.  Those researchers deserve a lot of credit for the work they do. They spend countless hours doing the research and analyzing the data.  That can be time consuming which means they are probably away from their family a lot.  It takes a special kind of person to be a researcher because you truly have to be dedicated to the area of study to make sure the study goes smoothly.



Saturday, June 4, 2016

Research Around the World

For this week’s assignment, I explored early childhood in Australia through the website www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au . Early Childhood Australia (ECA) has been advocating for children in Australia for many years. As I read the research topics on the early childhood website I realized that the issues and concerns in early childhood are similar across the globe. The Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) is Australasia’s foremost scholarly journal and the world’s longest-running major journal within the early childhood field. The topics  range from Supporting literacy learning in the early years, Mothers’ perspectives on learning through play in the home, Inclusive pedagogy from a child’s perspective, and Recognition of family engagement in young children’s literacy learning.  The insights I learned about early childhood was from the parent resource tab. There was a lot of helpful information for parents under that tab. The other noteworthy information I found was about Early Years Connect which is a professional development package which has been designed to support early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators working with children with complex additional needs. This includes children with a disability, significant development delay and complex social, emotional and behavioral needs.