When I Think of Research…

When I think of Research…

     When I think of research there are many things that come to mind now. After having completed this course I have more knowledge about doing research and also more knowledge about reading and understanding research studies. I can definitely say that I have a new found respect for all those who have conducted research and spent hours, months, and years collecting, organizing, and analyzing data.

     Through this course my ideas about doing research haven’t changed but have actually gotten stronger. I knew research was a lot of hard work and planning and throughout this course and the research simulation I have been proven correct.

     I definitely learned that organization is very important when it comes to doing research. As a researcher you must always be two steps ahead of yourself. You must plan and foresee everything that might and will happen throughout your research. When designing our research you must think of every detail from beginning to end and every detail of the details. You must have all of this information because of consent information you might need from participants and other things that you must have ready before starting your research.

     Throughout this research simulation the challenges I encountered were being able to think ahead and organize everything I would need for the entire research study. Being able to think about it as a whole was a bit difficult. Another challenge was deciding on a specific topic to study and do my research simulation about. What I had to do was just take everything as it came and really focus on the task at hand. Knowing that I had to be more organized and think ahead helped me get through it all.

     I don’t believe my perceptions of early childhood professionals have changed as a result of this course but I do believe that as an EC professional I can rely more on research and know that there is a strong background and study behind the information being given. Although not all research is trustworthy, the one that is can be a great help and support for any EC professional.

Research Around the World

         

          For this week’s assignment I chose to explore the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) website (http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php). Through this website I found some research articles that students at this university have been working on. I was very surprised to see that many of the same topics that are currently affecting the early childhood programs here in the U.S. are the same as the ones being researched over there as well. Some of these topics included:

• Pilot Study of the Adaptation of an Established Measure to Assess the Quality of Child Services in a Selected Orphanage in Zambia: The Inclusive Quality Assessment (IQA) Tool
• Parents’ and Other Caregivers’ Perception of Early Childhood Development Needs and Quality: A Study of the PLAN-Assisted in Bawjiase, Ghana
• Improving the Quality of Childcare Through Parenting Enrichment and Training of Trainers

          One article in particular that caught my eye was one titled, Strengthening the Capacity of Grandparents in Providing Care to Children Less than 8 Years Old Affected by HIV/AIDS. This article made me realize the severity of children who are left orphans or in this case in the care of their grandparents because of the HIV/AIDS virus. The children might also have the virus and have a very trying life ahead of them.

          I enjoyed exploring this website and seeing that all over the world we are struggling with the same issues. Through this we can see what others have done, what results have yielded from their studies and have more information on what works and what doesn’t.