October 13, 2011

Because of time constraints I have worked at finishing my Distributed Research Assignment and now am working on the lecture and reading materials. I wish I would have interacted with the readings either before or during my assignment. While reading the research articles I kept wondering how working with children could be quantified, they are so diverse in abilities, development and personality. Reading the Ellis article gave me a better understanding of a recommended way to gain reliable results from children. One of the most unexpected findings of the class readings has been the interpretive value of research. The researcher is not an invisible entity observing and reporting results. The researcher is part of the process and has a large effect on the result, specifically in qualitative research. My reading for the Distributed Assignment found that different studies produced different results when trying to research similar issues. There are tons of variables when working with children, but I think the researcher and their treatment of the subjects and how they approach the study is just as great a factor.