When I think of Research...

When I think of research, I think of being a part of doing something worthwhile for the betterment of someone else. Through this course Building Research Competencies, my knowledge of how to conduct research has been greatly enriched. I understand the importance of selecting a topic and the need to include a literary review. I have learned how to narrow a topic to formulate a research issue/question and then select a research design that will enable me to collect data specific to the topic.

The process of sampling populations was a bit intimidating at first, now I understand that selecting representative samples is quite complex and entails decision-making around not only the characteristics of the participants, but also how many of them should be included ((MacNaughton, G., Rolfe, S.A. & Sarij-Blatchford, I., 2010).

My perspective of research is no longer just about finding solutions to problems or causes to effects but about getting to know and understand what moves people to do what they do, their interests, motivations, and passions. The lesson I learned about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood is to do everything intentionally; meaning be clear about what I want to discover, who will participate, when, and where.

I was introduced to a vast amount of information concerning research, the challenges I encountered are not being able to digest it all and make it workable in real life setting. The way I deal with overwhelming situations is to read and re-read until I can explain what I read to someone else-then I can implement it.

As a result of this course, I have a new found respect for research. In the beginning it was something I would shy away from; but now, I feel like it is part of my duty to learn more, find out more, and share more of what I learn with those I interact with daily. I want children to benefit from childhood in the most meaningful way possible. So from this course, I have learned to embrace research and use it as a tool to understand people better.

 Reference

MacNaughtion, G., Rolfe, S.A. & Sarij-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practices. (2^nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. P. 177-78.