When I think of research...

When I think of research I feel that I struggled with the research concept over the last eight weeks. Although I struggled with this class I feel like I learned alot especially in regards to qualitative and quantative methods.   I learned alot about how to develop a research study and the steps I will need to take to develop my own research study.  To be honest I do not think that I want to do a research study after taking this class.   I enjoy reading research but actually conducting a study does not have any interest to me.  I feel that it was important for me to understand the foundations of research and through this class I was able to gain the knowledge of these foundations that pertains to early childhood research. 

Research Around the World

I decided to look at the Early Childhood Australia website at http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/. 

It was difficult to find research topics on this website.  I found their position statement on what Australia needs to do to ensure that they have a high quality early childhood sector.  Within the ninety one page document there was a lot of research to back up their recommendations. 

I really enjoyed reading the Code of Ethics, the National Quality Standards and their newsletter.  The newsletter  was an easy read and I feel that parents could get a lot of benefit from reading the information.  They had an easy receipe that you could do at home and there was an informative article within the newsletter on the cultural aspect in Australia. 

I think that it is important to know that when articles are put on this website there is a certain criteria that must be met for every article that is accepted from this organization.  The following criteria is as follows:

• Every resource must:
• be in the best interests of children
• be evidence-based
• be appropriate for the market
• have broad application
• be culturally inclusive
• use accessible language – avoiding jargon and not patronising
• have demonstrated a balanced approach
• be related to current issues
• address the appropriate age range
• be attractively designed and presented
• clearly acknowledge any commercial interests and/or biases.

It is important to note that  some of the links did not work on the website.  This is very discouraging when navigating through a website.