When I Think of Research...

When reflecting back on all that I have learned over the past two months, I am amazed at how little I truly knew about research and the knowledge that I have gained throughout this course. I simply assumed that all research was considered equal, but had no clue that there were different research methods that can be used (qualitative, quantitative, and combination of these). When I first glanced through the textbook, I realized that there were a lot of research terms that I was unfamiliar with, but as I progressed through the course and put these terms into practice through the creation of my research simulation, I realized that I knew more about research than I gave myself credit for. One major lesson that I have learned about research is that it is never complete. A researcher can spend a significant amount of time planning out exactly how they will proceed, and then follow that plan. But, during the analysis of the data collected, the researcher could possibly notice that their data is telling a different story than originally intended, leading to an entirely new direction of research. At that point, the researcher creates a new plan and follows through with it, revising the plan in order to match the direction laid out by the data. As an early childhood professional, I am looking forward to conducting research of my own within the field. There are many questions about the field that I still do not know the answer to. As I gain experience in the field, I am sure that many of those questions will be answered through practice and observation. However, many more questions will be formed and after completing this course, I now have the tools and knowledge to take that first step in research.