Research methodology in child development

1. Research methodology in child development • Researchers in child development work within two methodology traditions: quantitative and qualitative. • Quantitative research deals with ‘hard’, objectively measurable data. • Qualitative research deals with ‘soft’ data about the nature or quality of participants’ subjective experiences, feelings, or beliefs.

2. measures • Observations. • It can take two forms: naturalistic observation and laboratory observation. • In the former type, researchers look at children in real life settings. • The researchers do not try to alter behavior or environment , they simply record what they see.

3. # Whereas in the latter type, researchers observe and record in a controlled situation, such as a laboratory. # By observing all the participants under the same conditions, investigators can more clearly identify differences in behavior not attributed to the environment.

4. Interviews • Structured and unstructured (open-ended) interview. • In a structured interview, each participant is asked the same set of questions. • An open-ended interview is more flexible, the interviewer can vary the topics and order of questions and ask follow-up questions based on responses.

5. Questionnaires • To reach more people and protect their privacy, researchers sometimes distribute a printed questionnaires, which they fill out n return. • It is similar to structured interview. • Interviews and questionnaires both run the risk of a ‘social desirability’ response set.

6. Case studies • It offer useful, in-depth information. • They can explore sources of behavior and can test treatments. • The researcher is free to explore avenues of inquiry that arise during the course of the study. • It provides more information about the development of a single child but not how the information applies to children in general. • It cannot explain behavior with certainty, because there is no way to test their conclusion.

7. Standardized tests • It could be in the form of written and oral. • Researchers use a score that reflects something about an individual, which can be compared to the scores of a large group of similar people to determine how the individual responded relatively to others.

8. Life history records • It provide information about a lifetime chronology of events and activities. • It often involves a combination of data records on education, work, family and residence.

9. Correlational strategy • It describes the strength of the relation between two or more events or characteristics. • Correlation coefficient: a number based on statistical analysis, describes the degree of association between two variables. • It is used to judge the degree of relationship.

10. Experimental strategy • It describes casual relationships by manipulating the factor believed to influence behavior, holding all others constant. • It is a controlled procedure in which the experimenter manipulates variables to learn how one affects another. • Random assignment is used to reduce the likelihood that the results are due to pre-existing differences in two groups. • Laboratory, field and natural experiment.

11. Time span of inquiry • Cross-sectional approach. • Longitudinal approach. • Cross-sectional approach • Individuals of different ages are compared all at one time. • Merits- researchers don’t have to wait for subject to grow up. • Demerits- it doesn’t give information on how individuals change or the stability of their characteristics.

12. Longitudinal approach • Same individuals are studied over a period of time, usually several years or more. • Merits- researchers can evaluate how individuals changes as they grow up. • Demerits - it is time-consuming. - it runs the risk of participants dropping out resulting in an unrepresentative sample.

13. Cohort effects are effects due to a subject’s time of birth or generation but not actually to age. Children differ across generations as their environments change for instance.