When I think of research...

            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 (2^nd ed.).  New York,

            NY:  McGraw-Hill.