Understanding Quantitative And Qualitative Research In Early Childhood Education

What are the fundamental elements of good quantitative and qualitative research? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach? What does research offer early childhood education? Are quantitative and qualitative approaches compatible? This book presents the research process and its components in a straightforward, easily accessible manner. Using real examples from early childhood education, authors William L. Goodwin and Laura D. Goodwin "bring to life" for the first time the various methods of research and how they may be studied and applied. They explore the major aspects of both quantitative and qualitative paradigms and techniques, stressing the compatibility and complementary nature of the two approaches that are so often seen as mutually exclusive if not downright contradictory.

This second edition invites readers to be informed consumers of both quantitative and qualitative methods in early childhood research. It offers side-by-side coverage and comparison about the assumptions, questions, purposes, and methods for each, presenting unique perspectives for understanding young children and early care and education programs. The new edition includes updated examples and references as well as a new chapter on equity issues in research. By using this book, students will be able to read, evaluate, and use empirical literature more knowledgeably. These skills are becoming more important as early childhood educators are increasingly expected to use evidence-based research in practice and to participate in collecting and analyzing data to inform their teaching.

Understanding Research in Early Childhood Education: Quantitative and Qualitative Methods prepares readers to be informed consumers of early childhood research. Rather than following the traditional format of covering quantitative and qualitative methods separately, this innovative textbook offers side-by-side coverage and comparison about the assumptions, questions, purposes and methods for each, offering unique perspectives for understanding young children and early care and education programs. Understanding Research in Early Childhood Education is broadly based across the major research paradigms, and numerous examples are offered throughout the text. Through the use of this book, students will be able to more knowledgeably read, evaluate, and use empirical literature. These skills are becoming more important as early childhood educators are increasingly expected to use evidence-based research in practice and to participate in collecting and analyzing data to inform their teaching.

This second edition invites readers to be informed consumers of both quantitative and qualitative methods in early childhood research. It offers side-by-side coverage and comparison about the assumptions, questions, purposes and methods for each, presenting unique perspectives for understanding young children and early care and education programs. The new edition includes updated examples and references as well as a new chapter on equity issues in research. By using this book, students will be able to read, evaluate, and use empirical literature more knowledgeably. These skills are becoming more important as early childhood educators are increasingly expected to use evidence-based research in practice and to participate in collecting and analyzing data to inform their teaching.

This bestselling book is still the best choice for helping early childhood teachers understand the process of assessment and evaluation to benefit young children. With the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act, testing, accountability, and standards are now pervasive throughout early childhood education. Completely revised to address the issues that have been raised by these new policies, the Second Edition features completely new chapters on: assessment of children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, addressing the new makeup of today's classroom; assessment of children with special needs, focusing on the relationship among assessment, curriculum, and instruction; and the addition of a helpful glossary of terms and an annotated listing of assessment instruments used in early childhood education.

This book is designed to help you gain confidence in analysing and interpreting quantitative data and using appropriate statistical tests, by exploring, in plain language, a variety of data analysis methods. Highly practical, each chapter includes step-by-step instructions on how to run specific statistical tests using R, practical tips on how to interpret results correctly and exercises to put into practice what you have learned. It also includes guidance on how to use R and RStudio, how to visualise quantitative data, and the fundamentals of inferential statistics, estimations and hypothesis testing.

This book examines the methodological decisions made by researchers working in early childhood contexts. Viewed from a researcher’s perspective, each chapter explores the journey of the researcher, capturing their decision-making processes in early childhood research. Through themes such as the politics of ethics and how different cultural norms shape research in different localities, Decisions and Dilemmas of Research Methods in Early Childhood Education explores key questions such as: What are the ethical issues arising during early childhood research? Which research traditions and methodologies prevail and why? How are research subjects perceived and positioned within different research contexts? What interdisciplinary tensions or opportunities arise between different ways of working across early childhood research? The book critically unpacks how these decisions are made and by whom during the course of research. Each chapter includes reflections of researchers working across disciplines such as education, health and social work to understand the thinking, forces and actors that shape decisions made during the research process. This is essential reading for researchers working in early childhood contexts in fields such as social work, health, education, criminology, psychology and more.

Provision of education for children under five has recently become a political concern. At the same time, this relatively small field has been attracting increased research attention, with many early years practitioners seeking routes to initial and higher degrees. This book offers essential guidance for researchers and newcomers to the field, outlining opportunities in research as well as useful, sensitive and appropriate methods for researching childhood education.