The biggest insight I gained about conducting research is that it takes a lot of planning and preparation to format a worthy research study. I had no idea that so much time and attention needed to be paid to determining the design alone. Learning about the different aspects of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches was sometimes overwhelming but also intriguing.
In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?
I could not say that my ideas about the nature of doing research have changed. I had no preconceived notions about conducting research prior to this course. However, what I can admit is that I thought I had a strong grasp on how to read and use research prior to this course. I now realized that while I had a reasonable understanding of research I now have a much stronger understanding of what I am reading and I can determine if the research meets my needs more quickly.
What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?
Much like I mentioned in my section above about the insights I have gained, I learned a valuable lesson about the amount of time and effort that goes into conducting research. Each of the steps of planning, designing, proposing, and conducting research must be considered thoroughly before any one of them can be carried out. I also learned that there is a lot of research available about conducting research. Simply typing a prompt (about how to conduct research) into the search bar reveals many published research articles on the topic. So, while the task might be daunting there is also a world of information available about how to go about each of the steps of the research process.
What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?
One challenge I encountered was of my own creation. I am a bit of a perfectionist and, some would say, an over-achiever when it comes to my own academics. I was continually trying to perfect my ability to conduct actual research even though I am not nearly ready to take on a study of my own.
One example was in developing the research question for each of the weeks in which we were required to develop one. I did a lot of additional research on how to format questions for different types of research. I fumbled, I typed, I deleted, and typed again. One article I found finally helped me to align my efforts with my actual experience. "Good questions can grow out of initial curiosity or ideas for a qualitative study, but at the early stages most questions are rough drafts" (Agee, 2009, p. 433). This helped me to put into perspective my experience with developing research questions- it started in week 1 of this course. I was able to let go of needing to develop the perfect research question and instead to focus on learning more about how to develop one. I had to cut myself some slack!
What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?
I don't think my perception of early childhood professionals has changed. Rather, I have grown a deeper respect for those who take on the task of doing the research so that I can use it in my own work. So that we all can use it in our daily work with children, families, and other professionals in the field.
References
Agee,
J. (2009) Developing qualitative research questions: A reflective process. International Journal of Qualitative Studies
in Education, 22, 431-447. DOI: 10.1080/09518390902736512
