My Personal Research Journey

Research is a bittersweet topic. I am not alone, when I say that I am intimidated by the terminology, and methods used by researchers to describe their results. On the other hand, we use research to justify our practice and reassure others that we have evidence to support our intentions. 


Therefore, it is pertinent for educators, practitioners, and early childhood professionals to understand how research is created; we also need to differentiate between good and bad studies, and most importantly learn to implement this knowledge. 


In my research simulation, I am constructing a research study to improve practices in Family Child Care. If you have not noticed, the name of my blog describes my professional passion and purpose: I advocate for family child care providers. It is my belief that with the right support, information and empowerment, FCC providers can become an affordable alternative to high quality child care. 


In a tough economy, parents are making difficult choices between paying for quality child care or paying for food. Simultaneously, subsidy to pay for child care and early childhood programs is getting heavy cuts from governments trying to balance tight budgets. How can we compromise our future generations? Simple, we need to find affordable alternatives.


Although, many studies support the positive outcomes of early education programs in centers, few if any studies focus on family child care as a legitimate alternative. My simulated study will focus on effective professional development strategies to improve quality in FCC day cares. Since, I provide professional development for FCC caregivers in NYC, a study of this nature would help me in my personal practice. A study like this one, could also show policy makers, administrators and regulatory bodies what is needed to successfully improve the quality of this type of child care. 


For example, the study can determine if workshops or Technical assistance or a combination is/are the best strategy to improve overall FCC program quality.

Class 2011 Family Child Care Providers preparing for NAFCC Accreditation

So far, in my literature review, I have found a few related articles looking at common issues with FCC day cares including health practices and high variability of providers' education level. I am looking forward designing this study.


Tip of the week: Use google scholar to get quick scholarly articles and publications.
This a great way to find studies, secondary research papers, and general information on your topic. I use this when I am stuck looking for papers on a particular topic.
1) Go to google
2)Click on more 
3) Then click on 'Even more' 
4)You need to scroll down to find 'google scholar'. If you click on the downward arrow next to search box, you can use advance search to narrow the selections.


Let's say you found an article from a journal, but you need to pay... Easy first look it up in the Walden Library. You might get lucky and find it here. Go to journal from A to Z. Type the name of the journal publication, and hit search. 


The next best thing is to look at the references from these journals, you never know, you might find a great study that will be more relevant to your topic. Even better, many databases have links of the references for fast and easy search.


Happy searching :)


-Angie