Some
of the insights that I gained through this course are how complicated research
can be and how easy it is to get in over your head with research. Due to the many different research
designs that are possible, research is more than the scientific process that I
learned in school. Not only are
there many different research designs, but a researcher also must be concerned
with the validity, trustworthiness, reliability, and the generalisability of
their work (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, and Siraj-Blatchford, 2010). Another insight I gained was how
easily a researcher could be overwhelmed by the research without a narrow
topic. When I started the course,
I thought I had a good topic. Over
the weeks, I saw how broad my topic was and the importance of narrowing the
research to a single characteristic that I was looking for.
My
ideas about the nature of doing research have changed because I have learned
that research is more than just testing a hypothesis. I came into this class with a rudimentary idea of
research. The research I had been
exposed to was through the scientific method and tested a hypothesis. This research was usually on a small
scale and not very complicated.
Through this course, I have learned how complicated research can become
because it is not always testing a clear hypothesis. It is extremely easy for a researcher to go off on a tangent
from the original research topic.
Planning
and designing the research in early childhood is essential. When young children are involved,
things rarely go as planned.
Having a plan and design helps the researcher stay on tract with their
research goal. As I mentioned
earlier, a lesson that I learned about conducting research is that one is not
limited to simply testing a hypothesis.
Research in early childhood is an evolving design from start to finish.
The
two biggest challenges for me was learning the new terminology and
comprehending the different research designs. Since I had limited experience with research, many of the
terms used in the book and the articles we read, I had never come across
before. The definition portions of
our assignments helped me overcome this challenge by making sure I learned new
terminology. The same was true
with the different research designs.
These were a new concept to me and seeing how my research simulation fit
into these designs helped me gain a better understanding of them.
The
biggest way my perception of early childhood professionals has changed during
this course is my respect for early childhood researchers has increased
profoundly. Research in general,
and even more so in early childhood, is so much more complicated that I
originally thought. To know the
results of what has come out of the research conducted by these people is
astounding. One of my personal and
professional goals since I started in the field of early childhood has been to
help professionalize the field, and that is what these professionals are doing
on a daily basis.
Finally,
I would like to thank all of my classmates who have helped me throughout this
class. Your posts and responses to
my posts have been a huge help in understanding the concepts of this
class. Going from where I started
in this class to my understanding of research now has been a lot of work and I
it would not have been possible without everybody’s support. Thank you very much.
Reference
Mac Naughton,
G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood
research: International perspectives on theory
and practice (2nd ed.). New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill.
