Equity in Research: Moving Beyond Equality to Justice and Fairness

The insights that I have gained about research has been endless to begin with I never knew there were so many components to designing research. It was quite enlightening to discover the differences between the quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method approaches. Then determining which approach best satisfies my research simulation. Furthermore, I gained a greater understanding of the ethical issues involved in research. Like attaining consent and making the participants aware that they have the option to withdraw from the research at any time. I found the week we addressed independent, dependent, and extraneous variables informative, I did not realize how important those factors were incorporate in to the research process. Finally, identifying the different sampling process was appealing as well.

My ideas about the nature of doing research has changed in that I am aware of the components that best support each research design approach. I am now capable of applying the most appropriate design to the particular research simulation that I would be studying. I also realize the importance of also getting consent from the children that are participating in the research project as oppose to just getting consent from their parents.

The lesson I learned about planning, designing and conducting research in early childhood field is that it is very detailed and involved. Every avenue is relevant to the process and there are no short cuts. Prior to beginning this course I suspected that research would be quite time consuming and from this course I gained verification that every portion of the research process is quite intense.

One of the greatest challenges, I encountered was gaining a good understanding of the terminology. I often felt like the information was provided in a foreign language. In order to address this I read over and over again for understanding. I also appreciate the comments left on the discussion board by the instructor.

My perception of early childhood has change in that I strongly feel that children are really affected by all the things in life just as adults. As early childhood providers it is important to prepare ourselves with every aspect of life. In this field we will eventually come in contact with situations that we are not comfortable addressing. However it is in the best interest of the children and their families to obtain the knowledge needed to support them as they experience the different process of life.

Quantitative Research: Deductive Reasoning in Action

Research Around the World

To prepare for this assignment I chose to explore Early Childhood Australia. The Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) contains many research article associated with the early childhood field. One of the most recent research topics I discovered was Curriculum guidelines for early literacy: A comparison of New Zealand to New England. The article forms a comparison of the New Zealand early childhood curriculum which is referred to as (Te Wha-riki) with the curriculum in England called The Early Years Foundation Stage or (EYFS).

Another research article I located was Korean children’s cultural adjustment during transition to the early years of school in Australia. This research used a case study methodology to investigate factors affecting the cultural adjustment of young Korean students after their relocation from Korean to Australian education settings.

The facts, insight, and new ideas about early childhood I gain from exploring this international early childhood website were located in a magazine on the called Every Child Magazine. There was an article that discussed about building on what children know. The article basically explained to identify what children know so that you can help them to believe in themselves a capable, resourceful learner. As a confident learner children develop competencies that help them to be successful. The article identified taking time as a significant factor in smoothing transitions for children; time to get to know each child to find out what they already know and can do. Providing this time is the responsibility of centre directors and school leaders, knowing that it will pay off in terms of children’s long-term learning success

The other noteworthy information I discovered on the website was there is a link available that provides information of Supporting Best Practice in early childhood. This link provides literature on the best ways to support children whether it’s their emotional well being, development, advocacy or professional development. This section is quite informative and will be very useful in the future. Through exploring this site I was even able to locate additional links that provided me with information regarding the simulation topic I chose on How to Support Children in the Grieving Process. Through this resource I gained another perspective on how children perceive death and how parent can support them in the process. I was completely surprise that this particular website contain information regarding this topic. However it does verify that internationally that have concerns in some of the same areas we do.

Reference

Early Childhood Australia: This is the Australian equivalent to the U.S. based NAEYC. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/