Assignment: Entering the Research Process
Part 1: Reading Research
Professionals in all disciplines keep their knowledge of the field current. There are various ways to accomplish this, such as attending conferences or networking with other professionals. However, the most efficient way to learn about new developments on an ongoing and relatively cost-effective basis is to read published research articles. Yet, this option is heavily underutilized by a great number of professionals in all fields. The common reason stated across disciplines is that for those who are not trained researchers, such publications are too difficult to read because of the complex language and the statistics involved.
While these assumptions are factually correct, they do not need to keep you from being comfortable and fluent reading research. The solution is to learn to identify and then focus on strategic pieces of information within each article. "A Practical Guide to Reading Research Articles," in the resources this week, is a tool to help you learn this process. This assignment provides you with an opportunity to use this reading as a tool to practice and hone your research reading skills. Step-by-step instructions will guide you through the reading process so that you learn to apply this tool in a systematic manner.
Follow the steps below to complete this portion of the application assignment:
- Review the article "A Practical Guide to Reading Research Articles"
- Keep the Appendix in the course text nearby and use it as a guide to terminology that might be new to you and that you may encounter when reading research articles
- Chose one of the research articles listed below.
- Click on the link below and follow the instructions.
"Analysis of a Research Article"
Research Articles
Note: Some research articles, especially those that report on studies using qualitative methods, are written in less formal styles and usually do not need special reading skills. The focus of this assignment is exclusively on learning to read studies that use quantitative methods and a formal style of describing the research process.
Article: Lisonbee, J. A., Mize, J., Payne, A. L., & Granger, D. A. (2008). Children's cortisol and the quality of teacher-child relationships in child care. Child Development, 79(6), 1818-1832.
Article: Over, H., & Carpenter, M. (2009). Eighteen-month-old infants show increased helping following priming with affiliation. Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell), 20(10), 1189-1193.
Article: Sayfan, L., & Lagattuta, K. H. (2009). Scaring the monster away: What children know about managing fears of real and imaginary creatures. Child Development, 80(6), 1756-1774.
Article: Strand, P. S., Cerna, S., & Downs, A. (2008). Shyness and emotion-processing skills in preschoolers: A 6-month longitudinal study. Infant & Child Development, 17(2), 109-120.
Article: Slaughter, V., & Griffiths, M. (2007). Death understanding and fear of death in young children. Clinical Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 12(4), 525-535.
Part 2: Beginning Your Research Simulation-From General Topic to Subtopics
Through simulations people become familiar with processes, try them out safely, and understand them more clearly. This week, you begin the creation of a "Research Simulation" that will build continually throughout this course. The overall intent of this assignment is to provide you with the practical, hands-on experience of doing research. This experience will also enhance your ability to be a critical consumer of research.
The first step in conducting research is identifying a research topic. You took this first step when you reflected on and shared the general early childhood topic in which you are interested in the Discussion. Take time to consider this topic again. As you begin this series of research simulations, your first task, too, is to narrow this general topic into three subtopics. For instance, if the topic you are interested in is social-emotional development, you might narrow it down to these three subtopics:
1. Ways to foster healthy social emotional development in toddlers
2. How the arts help children develop social-emotionally in healthy ways
3. The influence of sibling relationships on preschool children's social-emotional development.
Listen closely to yourself, to the questions you want to ask about young children or families or early childhood in general, and choose sub topics that reflect and are supported by your professional and/or personal passion.
For this Assignment, prepare a document that contains the following elements:
1. Restate your general early childhood research topic
2. Articulate three related subtopics
3. Explain:
- Your professional and personal reason(s) for choosing these three subtopics
- Three ways you anticipate that researching these topics might be significant for young children, their families, and/or the field of early childhood.