Early Childhood Education - Literature review Example

Name Institution Tutor Date Introduction Effective child development is essential in any society. Good child development improves child’s quality of life and is normally considered essential to life adjustment. Care givers, friends and kindergarten care greatly contribute to positive child development. This paper evaluates three research articles that relate to early childhood development. In order to analyze the three articles effectively, the paper separately summarizes and critique each article. The summary for each article identify research questions to be addressed, the methods used in addressing the research questions, the major findings and implications of the three articles. The critique for each research article is done with the aim of reflecting comments that illustrate thoughtful analysis of advantages and disadvantages of articles. The paper looks at various aspects that excel the research articles and those that discredit them. In the critique, I will demonstrate the ability to think and to support my personal views. I chose the third article since it closely relates to early childhood development. In the third research article, kindergarten child care, achievement and socio-emotional skills are looked at and compared to child development. I also chose the third article since it clearly illustrates research questions, research findings and methods of data collection and analysis. Summary of Research articles The first article addressed the following research questions: How do caregivers offer playful experiences at period of infants’ emotional hardships? How do playfulness affects coping of infants with emotional stress? In order to address these research questions, the researcher chose university-based child care in New York City as research setting. The center was chosen due to its commitment to program’s establishment that was culturally responsive and inclusive. Caregivers and administrators for infants visited all homes of infants at the beginning of the year so as to develop smooth transition for infants. The infants spent some hours at the center and slowly enhanced their staying time. In two weeks time care givers and families met so as to extend planning for infants’ educational and care-giving practices. This first research article utilized qualitative method of data collection. In the research, the voices and practices of participants were expected to be delivered in the text for readers to understand well their actions and perceptions. Collection of data commenced mid month and ended after three months. Observations were taken every morning, from 8:45 to 11:00 am. The schedule incorporated transitional periods such as baby’s arrivals, leaving, snacks, out door play preparation and diaper changes. Observations taken were typed on MS-Word file. Apart from the ongoing conversations and emails’ exchange, all caregivers were interviewed three times. The major finding in the first research article is that caregiver variously reacted to emotional hardships of infants via playfulness in transitional periods. The unique themes were switching of individual mood from empathy to joyful spirit, sensual play, routine to play transformation and identification of children in playful surrounding. The first research article implies that playfulness of caregivers affects emotions of infants. It is believed that as children experience playfulness they normally display happiness emotions. The second article addressed the following research questions: What are features of peer relationships of young children, as reported by parents, and do these features differ among children with and without disabilities? What tactics do parents employ to support their kids’ friendship enhancement and do the tactics vary among parents of kids with and without disabilities? What characteristics, in terms of gender, disabilities severity and sibling, of child affects their peer associations and do these characteristics differ among kids with developmental delay and those without developmental delay? Several methods were used to address the above research questions. The researcher allowed mothers with preschooler children, ageing between three and six years, to involve in the study. An eight-page survey was also employed to assist in answering research questions. The survey entailed thirty eight questions and was divided into four parts. As a method of data collection, the researcher employed email so as to gather information that is useful in answering research questions. Through the use of email, the researcher informed the principals in three preschool programs about the study. The principals later communicated with the teachers and requested them to assist with recruitment. SPSS was used in analyzing the data. The use of SPSS assisted in answering research questions. The data were entered in such a way that it ensured confidentiality among participants. The most interesting finding is that friendship and play chances for kids with developmental delays resemble those of kids believed to be typically developing. Another major finding is that all groups of mothers employed similar support tactics in assisting their kids to develop friendship. Among the major findings, it is also clear that characteristics of a child such as age and gender were not linked with parents’ results. Results, such as presence of close friends, playmates’ number or play dates’ number, that were reported by parents were not linked with child characteristics. The research article implies that many kids failed to have any close friends and playmates. As many mothers, involving in research, reported being helpful in developing their children friendship through employment of various strategies, only a few mothers involved in many active roles. The research article also implies that educators of early childhood have a duty to know friendship enhancement from view point of a parent to assisting parents in developing their kids’ positive relationships. The third article addressed the following research questions: Do variations in child care experienced by part and full day kindergarten exist? Are the type and extent of kindergarten care associated with academic attainment and socio-emotional skills of children? Does the relationship vary by Kindergarten type? Do the variations prevail in the relationship? In addressing the above research questions, several methods were employed. The researcher collected data from Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten (ECLS-K) cohort. The variables for analysis were children’s achievement level, social skills and behaviors, extent and type of child care, home environment and characteristics of family and child background. In addressing research questions, the research undertook summaries of the entire child care involvement for part- and full-day kindergarten. The researcher then presented the results in tabular form. In this research article, it was found that center care, in the kindergarten year, was associated with enhance in math attainment, rather than reading test scores. It was also found that center care, in the kindergarten year, relates to externalizing problems and reduced personal skills and self-control. The research article implies that the early changes in socio-emotional skills and attributes can last long than initial thought. It also implies that center care in the kindergarten year can be associated with externalizing attributes, self-control and personal skills. Critique of the research articles Article one One of the major strengths displayed by article Care givers’ playfulness and infants’ emotional stress during transitional time is grounded on how the literature reviewed was able to provide an insight of what has been researched or studied concerning the topic in question. Newby (2010) highlights that; one of the basic purposes of a literature review is to determine what has been done already in relations to the research problem in question. For instance; the article reviewed a study conducted by Barnett (1984), which highlights the significance of play for pre – school children after they were left with their mothers. By reviewing such studies the writer of the article demonstrates his familiarity with the existing body of knowledge on the topic. This therefore increases the confidence of the reader in the professional ability of the researcher. The limitation of the literature review is that it is not extensive enough. This is because only a few studies are reviewed concerning the topic in question. As a result in my opinion, the lack of substantial review of various studies on the topic results to a scenario whereby getting more detailed knowledge of the topic under study becomes difficult. The sample population was adequately described, for instance the article provides adequate information concerning the participant care givers; Emily and Irene. The author provides the educational background of the care givers, their level of experience in terms of handling children and even their level of interest in early childhood. The additional information that I would need to know is why the two infants; Isabel and Matt, were selected as the sample population among the eight children. The strength of the methodology used in the study is that by applying the qualitative research approach, the study was able to effectively test the hypothesis of the study. Qualitative research usually aims at providing in- depth data concerning a particular hypothesis based on the fact that intensive interviews will be done, observation done keenly and continuously (Punch, 2009). For instance in the context of the study we see that collection of data through observation begun on the first day and it was done continuously for three months. The ethical considerations of this particular study include physiological harm to the sample group of the study. A researcher is not required to undertake a study that can affect the physiological health of the sample ground. In the context of the study we see that the physiological health of the children was taken care of effectively. Whenever the care givers saw that the children were sad, they were first of all comforted before any kind of play activity was presented to them. The strength of the researcher’s discussion of the findings is that the researcher was able to effectively discuss how he arrived at the findings. For instance the discussion demonstrates how the caregivers begun their playfulness by switching their own moods from compassion to a cheerful spirit, then the caregivers were able to responded to infants’ emotional difficulties, through playfulness during transitional times. The weakness of the discussion of findings is that it may actually be difficult to generalize the findings to other settings or populations; this is based on the fact that the sample group of only two children and two caregivers was used. In my opinion this sample group is very small. The findings of the study are therefore not very generalisable due to the small sample group used in the study. This is because generalizability is usually influenced by a large sample group which is able to provide adequate data. In order to modify or extend this research, I would increase the sample group. This research supports my long –held believe that children are in most cases influenced by the attitudes held by their caregivers. If the caregivers are happy then children grow up being happy. Article Two One of the basic strengths of the literature review of this particular article is that it reveals procedures, strategies and measuring instruments that have been useful in undertaking investigation of the topic in question. For instance the researcher reviews a study conducted by McCollum and Ostrosky which suggested that parents can support the development of their children’s peer relationships through strategies such as parent’s roles as supervisors and positive child- parent interactions. The researcher also reviews other useful studies such as those of Ainsworth and Wittig (1969) which were used to parent-child interactions during one-hour play sessions and how this can contribute to the child’s ability to make friends. The limitation of the review is that no conceptual framework was developed, however based on the nature of the question of study there was need for a conceptual framework. The sample of the study was adequately described. This is based on the fact that the researcher was able to match mothers who had children that develop normally and mothers with children with developmental delays, based on aspects such as demographic information such as; age, ethnicity, education level, marital status, and family income. The other aspect I would want to know is whether the selected mothers have ever participated in other research studies. The strength of the methodology used which is the quantitative approach is that it provided a more convincing finding of the topic in question. In my opinion I believe that outcomes that are statistically tested are more viable and convincing. The limitation of the methodology is that the point of view of the many of the subjects being studied in this case the parents was ignored , only the researchers point of view was used mainly essentially from the quantitative findings. The ethical consideration of the study was the physical and the psychological health of the children with developmental delays. This was actually not addressed by the researcher based on the fact that no attempt was made to control the severity of disability. The strength of the researcher’s discussion is that he backed his findings effectively with quantitative findings. The weakness of the discussion was the integration of the views of only a few parents. The findings were less generalizable based on the fact that no attempt was made to control for severity of disability. In order to learn more I would extend the study by undertaking a comparative analysis of other similar studies in order to find out if the findings arrived at are similar. This study actually challenges my long held view that children with disability should not be used as a sample group in a research study, based on their vulnerable physical and the psychological health. Article Three The strength of the literature review is that the researcher provided an in-depth presentation of previous studies on the topic. The limitation of the review is that too much literature was reviewed this may actually confuse a reader. The sample population is described adequately. This is because researcher was able to provide information on the age of the children and even their gender. The further information I would want to know include the learning abilities of the children. These aspect may influence the findings somehow. The strength of the methodology used in the study is that; through the use of descriptive statistics the study was able to provide accurate findings which were further linked to the research question. The limitation of the methodology is that it can not effectively evaluate the emotional aspects of the sample group. The ethical consideration of the study was the physical and the psychological health of the children with developmental delays. This was well addressed. The strength of the of the discussion of the findings is that they are comprehensive enough in the sense that the study was able to determine the various issue that arise during child development and child care. The weakness of the discussion of findings is that there is possibility of the findings being bias based on the fact that the background of the child and parents were integrated earlier, which may have impacted on the outcome of the variables. The modification of the research can be undertake by using other tools for data analysis such as STATA and excel. The findings of the research support the view that quantitative research cannot fully or adequately be applied in educational research; as a result interpreting the finding should be undertaken with care. Conclusion From the discussion, it is evident that both the qualitative and quantitative approaches greatly contribute in understanding of early childhood education. The qualitative approach in the first article illustrates how caregivers’ playfulness assists infants in stress reduction during transitional time. This approach describes methods of data analysis in a descriptive manner. In qualitative research, the research can describe events and individuals without utilization of numerical data. The quantitative approach in the second article illustrates the importance of friendship development among children. This approach normally deals with numbers so as to prove some facts. Quantitative approach relies directly on initial plans and readily evaluates and interprets the outcomes. The use of quantitative approach assists in improving decision making power. Several researches relating to early childhood education can be found in internet and public libraries. Evaluation a range of research can be done by using both qualitative and quantitative approach. When quantitative and qualitative approaches are combined, they normally offer a general picture of the research under study. Quantitative approach can be used to fill the gaps that arise in qualitative approach. It is believed that when using both approaches the findings from one approach can be compared against the findings obtained from the other approach. Work Cited Jung, J. Caregivers‟ playfulness and infants‟ emotional stress during transitional time. Early Child Development and Care, 181(10), 1397-1407. 2011 Yu, Ostrosky and Fowler, S. (2011). Childrens friendship development: A comparative study. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 13 (1). 2011 Claessens, Amy. Kindergarten child care experiences and child achievement and socioemotional skills. 27(3). 2010 Weathington, Bart and Cunningham, Christopher. Research Methods for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. John Wiley & Sons. 2010 Newby Peter. Research Methods for Education. Pearson Education, Limited, 2010. Punch, Keith Introduction to Research Methods in Education. SAGE Publications. 2009. Read More