My Thoughts about Research

First of all I would like to thank Dr. Davis and my colleagues for the feedback and support you all gave me throughout this challenging course.

The Building Research Competency course has been a big challenge to me because when I started it I realized that had very little knowledge about research. Throughout this course I deepened my insights about the steps of the research process, the qualitative and quantitative designs, and I realized the existence of a mixed method design. I also learned that the differences among the three methods make each one of them more or less appropriated to be used with certain research topics.

Before taking this course I used to think on research as a complex and tedious process. The course changed my mind because research it is not tedious, as the process it is it just needs to be followed step by step, like putting a puzzle together. After understanding each step the whole process makes sense and releases my thoughts of tediousness. On the other hand, I still consider that research is complex because it needs to be grounded in strong foundations or many difficulties can be encountered throughout the process, jeopardizing the research and undermining the validity of its results.

Because “the most advantageous method of ensuring that services are appropriate to the client is to consult them” (Whiting, 2009, p.32), planning, designing, and conducting research in the early childhood field is a delicate task that has to be conducted by researchers who are always attached to the professional ethics. The researchers need to take into consideration the safety of children, families, and paraprofessionals, avoiding having their interest in the data as their main goal (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010).

Nowadays I know that being a professional involves being a researcher too. I am more conscious that through my ethical work with children, families, and paraprofessionals I can make findings that help me improve my practice, which result in benefits to the field.

Best wishes in upcoming courses and look forward to work with you all again!!!

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.

Whiting, L. (2009). Involving children in research. Paediatric Nursing, 21(5), 32–36.

Research around the World

The Early Childhood Australia (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/) is an association that advocates ensuring quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years.  The webpage has a link called Research in Practice Series (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/research_in_practice_series/about_rips.html), which is an easy to read and practical resource that offers effective new perspectives to people related to the early childhood field.  Some of their research topics are related to:

·         Being Belonging and Becoming

·         School readiness and children's transitions

·         Sustainability, global warming and climate change

·         Baby and toddler sleeping

·         Child health and childhood obesity.

 

The Early Childhood Australia webpage has also a useful index where sample chapters of their titles in the Research in Practice Series can be reached. Sadly, there are subscription fees that need to be paid in order to have access to the articles but some sample chapters can be reviewed for free.

In addition, I found a link called National Quality Standard PLP (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/nqsplp/). It is a new initiative developed and implemented by Early Childhood Australia in 2011–2012. The support for early childhood professionals is their primary goal and this support is through online interactive forums, e-Newsletters, e-Learning Videos, as well as a social media community on Facebook, Twitter and other online platforms.

 

It was interesting to see that the research topics are about the same in Australia and USA. This means to me that every early childhood professional has the same interests regarding early childhood, which is their wellbeing. I also found amazing the important role that the internet has supporting the early childhood professionals when providing them the preparation they need as researchers.