Doing Early Childhood Research

I am in my final week of Doing Early Childhood Research. My course is about to come to a close and I have a newfound respect for early childhood research and researchers. I have gained many insights into early childhood research as a result of taking this course.

Ways in which my ideas about the nature of doing research have changed are that I realize research is a very involved, complicated process. In the past, I was naïve enough to believe that it was as simple as asking a question, making some observations and coming to some personal conclusions. I learned that there are generally two types of research: deductive research and inductive research. Deductive research is when the researcher develops a hypotheses, tests it and the results are based in data (Mac Naughton, Rolfe & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010 pp. 364-365) whereas inductive research is when researchers do not go in with any preconceived ideas and simply make observations and try to explain human behaviors or why we do the things we do, how we relate to one another, etc.

I discovered that research should be: ethical, purposeful, well designed, transparent, contextualized, credible, careful, imaginative and equitable (Mac Naughton, Rolfe & Siraj-Blatchford, p. 10).

The lessons I have learned about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood are again, that the process takes a lot of planning and forethought. Personal biases can influence research and results and there are many considerations to take into account. I also learned that my personal interests should guide my research and that most researchers are simply asking questions that they want answers to.

The one thing that made an impression on me was treating children with respect with regard to research. In the past, asking the parent’s permission seemed enough with respect to researching children. This perspective has changed. I feel that I have always shown respect to little children and that is part of the quality teaching of a good early childhood educator. However, asking their permission and thoughts on whether or not they want to participate in the research was a new idea for me.

Some of the challenges I encountered in this course was simply understanding the jargon with regard to research during my course reading. I had to read and re-read material. I had to look up words in the Glossary, Dictionary and Google terms and ideas. I also read additional research that might have related to what I was reading so that I could get a better handle on the text.

Some of the ways my perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course are that early childhood professionals are not simply babysitters or even just teachers. I also realize that hundreds of early childhood professionals, teachers and researchers have gone before me to help put into place the many ways in which we understand children, relate to them, teach them and learn from them.

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood

research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY:McGraw-Hill.

International Early Childhood Research

This week I am investigating international early childhood websites. I chose the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan, Africa website located at http://www.ecdvu.org/index.php

“The ECDVU is committed to promoting ECD in The Majority World through innovative education, networking, publishing and other forms of scholarly activity. For example, the ECDVU has played a key role, with other regional and international partners, in the development of a triennial series of African International ECD Conferences (1999, 2002, 2005, 2009).” http://www.ecdvu.org/welcome.php

“The ECDVU program was founded and is directed by Dr. Alan Pence, UNESCO Chair for Early Childhood Education, Care and Development; Professor, School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada”. http://www.ecdvu.org/welcome.php

Three questions were raised:

1.     What are some of the current international research topics? Some research topics the ECDVU addresses are Understanding Children, Families and Communities Over Time and Across Cultures. They have in-depth research and reports from these countries: Eritrea, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda and Zambia. This extensive research addresses such topics as: poverty, nutrition, health, child survival, water and sanitation, education indicators, parents’ responsibilities, community’s responsibilities, government’s responsibilities, child abuse, wage earning, religion, demographics, child labor, and enrollment of children in school.

2.     What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website? I was surprised to find that even in the poorest countries around the world, parents and community leaders are concerned about children’s education. It seems to be common knowledge that education affords one a better life and that the earlier children begin their education, the better. These war-torn, ravaged countries still take their parental, community and governmental responsibilities very seriously with regard to children and early childhood education.

3.     What other noteworthy information did you find on this website? Other noteworthy information I found a plethora of statistics related to poverty and the situation of children and families in Africa. According to http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/documents/Nigeria_Country_Report.pdf “malaria, diarrhea, acute respiratory tract infections (ARI), and the vaccine preventable diseases are the main causes of child morbidity and mortality. Fifty percent (50%) of infant deaths are prenatal deaths caused by neonatal tetanus, low birth weight, and complications during labour and deliver. An emergency threat to young child is HIV/AIDS, which can be transmitted from an infected mother to her child in the womb, at the time of delivery, or through breast milk. The morbidity and mortality patterns already mentioned are determined not only by factors intrinsic to the individual but above all by external factors, including the extent to which adequate health care services are available and accessible. Other external factors, such a poverty, the environment, water supply and sanitation, malnutrition, educational levels, cultural attitudes, and gender relations also have important ramifications for health and survival” (Situation of Women and Early Childhood Development in Nigeria, p. 10). It’s very difficult to acknowledge that children in other parts of the world are dying in large numbers from things like preventable diseases, for which there are vaccines.

*On a personal note, I have sponsored a child through World Vision in Lesotho, Africa for almost 15 years. I was excited to read the report on Lesotho from this website. I felt a very personal connection with the region.

Resources:

Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan, Africa. (August 13, 2007). Retrieved from: http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/creports.php

Situation of women and early childhood development in Nigeria. (2001). Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan, Africa. Retrieved from: http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/documents/Nigeria_Country_Report.pdf