Thinking of Research

For the past eight weeks I have realized that carrying out a research takes a lot of systematic approaches in order to get to the bottom of an issue or better still to increase the knowledge or resolve a troubling problem and give a better understanding to a situation.

My ideas about research has changed in a way that I have come to know  that in carrying out  researches  there are certain ethics that we need to adhere  to in order not to go beyond certain boundaries. This could be respect for  certain cultures, making sure the subjects of a research knows all about the research and what it entails before the research could be carried out on them.

One amazing thing I learnt about research in this course is the Risk/Benefit Equation that needs to be weighed before a research could be carried out and this is a very important factor that guides the decision making in carrying out a research and it states, “The greater the benefit to be gained from the piece of research the more risks are acceptable”.

The lessons I have learnt about planning, designing and conducting a research in the early childhood field is that carrying out a research in this field is guided by different paradigm and methods basically driven by the researcher’s interest and beliefs, but most especially a research should be planned, designed and carried out in a way that it will get the pass mark of being valid, reliable and free from biases.

Some of the challenges I encountered during this past eight weeks is Identifying a major topic that is researchable and within the scope that I can work with, creating a subtopic and also having to put my subtopic in an hypothetical manner.

As a result of this course I have come to a level that I now know that in early childhood profession it’s all about giving the best when it comes to approaches in research, taking care of children and giving a family a helping hand, and bringing up children in a holistic way. It’s always about giving the best, and in the process of getting the best we have to collaborate with one another.(All stake holders in early childhood field.)

It has been quite an educational journey, having to learn alongside with every one of my colleagues, your discussion posts and questions have helped me understand this course better; it wouldn’t have been easy without you all. I hope to cross parts with you all again God willing and I wish you all a greater understanding in other courses to come