I’ve had access to the system for
three days now, and am starting to get my head around things. This unit
requires me to reflect very early on about what it is I am hoping to do and how
I am hoping to carry it out. I have attended one lecture which was an
introduction to the ‘ologies’, and this helped me to further understand the
meaning of ontology and epistemology, and how these in turn relate to
methodology. When I think about it, my previous preparations for research were
quite limited. I can already see that although the most recent module has set
me up ready for research, it was not nearly as detailed as I’d like it to be in
terms of really unpacking the nitty gritty of how I perceive children; how I
perceive the issue of moving house and how best I think I can gather information
to support this transition. The only way of doing this is going to be by
reading; research papers, methodology books, going to lectures – listening and
learning more about just how children communicate, how I can learn from them
and how this will help me to adapt my methodology. I need to remember that it’s
not set in stone, and doesn’t need to be – that’s prescriptive and goes against
everything I stand for in early years!
My supervisor mentioned that I’ll
probably wish to turn this into a bit of a longitudinal study, as meeting with
a child just once doesn’t really constitute high quality data, whereas a follow
up visit enriches the data greatly. I agree on this, and previously would not
have considered it as an option. But they’re looking at getting me a second
supervisor so I can be a little more research intensive. To this end, I will
have a look at case study based papers and ethnographic research to see what I
can garner in terms of effective methods. I know I’ve bought all these
resources and I’m sure they will be useful, but I don’t want to use them just
for the sake of being stubborn because I thought it was a good idea! The
children involved in the study might not like the idea, and I have to go with
their thoughts and feelings because that’s what it’s all about.
It was also suggested that I
create ‘vignettes’ – stories to give my research a personal context. I will do
this, because the young man at preschool was my starting point and I’ve not
looked back since that moment. Hopefully the passion behind my specific
research project will shine through because of the context.
I have to admit that I’m finding
it hard to work out how to separate the subject specialism from the research
preparation and development because to me, the two go hand in hand. I can’t
really reflect on one without reflecting on the other, but I suppose this is a
skill that I will have to learn. Future research projects are not all going to
be informed by my musings on the context of this particular subject; however,
they will benefit from my musings on how to actually carry out research and do
literature reviews.
All I can say that I truly know
now is that I have much to learn. I want to soak it up like a sponge and I’m so
ready for this!
