When I think of research.....

I now consider that not all reseaerch is valid. I used to think that if an article said it had valid statements to back up its claim then it was valid research. I now know that this is not the case, research has many criteria that it must meet in order to be credible.

My ideas about the nature of research have changed since the beginning of class because I am more educated on what constitutes valid research. In conducting research I am not as anxious in some ways because I know there are many things to consider when doing research but I am more comfortable in the process.

Lessons that I have learned about planning, designing, and coducting research is that planning is important and equity and social justice should be considered from the start. Design is important as there are different styles to consider depending on the goal of your research. There are lessons to consider when conducting research because if equity issues are not addressed your research could become invalid.

Challenges that I encountered were mostly in the beginning. Once I was able to get my research question to work then it was smoother. I also had several extraneous variables to consider in regards to how my reseaech would avoid bias and social groupings to name a few. I rectified these issues by using self-reflexivity to minimize biases.

My perceptions about the early childhood profession have been modified in the fact that I have learned how ever changing this profession is, and that it is more complex than I previously thought. I had no idea that research was a cultural invention of the white Western male upper middle-class society. Learning all of this has made me more leery of the validity of research that I read so I have learned to test and check all research before believing.