When I Think of Research...

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

After taking this course, I have gained a basic understanding of what research and research design is. I learn that research is a tool that we can use to get to know the new understandings, insights and knowledge of issues in the early childhood field; I learn that though conducting a research is a complex process, it will make a positive difference in children, families and the early childhood field; I learn that high-quality/ethical research should be "ethical, purposeful, well designed, transparent, contextualized, credible, careful, imaginative and equitable" (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010, pp.10); I learn that we should adopt design approaches accordingly, whether quantitative design, qualitative design or mixed-method design, to best meet the needs of the research, the researcher and most importantly the participants; I learn that in early childhood research, any means, methods, or designs should do no harm to participants/children; I learn that some considerations, including power relations, deficit models of research, homogeneity and reflexivity, should be taken to ensure equity in research design; etc..

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

I would consider issues in early childhood field not only from the perspective of being an early childhood teacher but also from that of being a researcher.

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

I have learned some lessons about planning, designing and conducting research in early childhood. About planning, there are some steps to follow to ensure the research is " informative, ethical, meaningful, persuasive and significant ", including selecting a topic, searching and reviewing the literature, formulating a specific research question, designing the research, collecting data, analyzing data; drawing conclusions and writing research reports. While planning, some ethical issues should be considered, such as informed consent from participants and children, maintaining confidentiality about children and their families, the risk/benefit equation, cultural issues. About designing, I learn that we should narrow down our topic into a researchable questions; we need to consider "what is to be researched, how, when and where the research is to take place, who will participate, what data will be collected and how these will be analyzed" (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010, pp.110); I learn some important terms regarding research design, such as experimental designs, quasi-experimental designs, non-experimental designs, independent variables, dependent variables, extraneous variables, etc.; I learn about quantitative design, including the four common assumptions--objectivity, reliability and validity, reductionism and generality; I learn about qualitative design and the way to collect data, through observations, interviews and so on; I learn about what equity means in research. About conducting research, though I learn about the research process and the research design issues, there is more for me to learn about in action.

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

The challenges that I encountered during this course are as follows. It is quite difficult for me who is non-native English speaker to understand some complicated concepts, terms and contents in this textbook; It is also quite challenging to put what I have learned into practice-- making a research simulation. As for these challenges, I read over and over again our textbook and searched on the internet to find out ways to understand our textbook better and try to internalize and output the knowledge.

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

Thanks to this course, I start to treat myself as an emerging researcher, who would try to make a positive difference in children, families and the early children through viewing children from the perspectives of being a research as well as an early childhood professional.

Last but not the least, I would like to say "THANK YOU" to my instructor and my colleagues. Thank you, Dr. Todd, for giving us detailed comments on our posts and assignments, for offering your valuable insights and advice to better improve my understanding of this course and for your understanding of my personal situations and giving me extension. Thank you, my colleagues! Throughout this course, your discussion posts and responses deepened my understanding some issues that are challenging for me; you helped clear my vague understandings and offered some insights that I did not consider before. Thank you for having you in this course and good luck to everyone in the following courses.

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.