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.