Doing Early Childhood Research: Theory and Practice

There are a growing number of courses on early childhood education at university level. This has placed new demands on both students and staff as research is a key feature of many of these courses. Research training is an important element in both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in early childhood education and there is a genuine need for an accessible textbook that addresses the particular research issues which are a feature of this important field.

Doing Early Childhood Research introduces the most common qualitative and quantitative methods in the early childhood context. The contributors cover a wide range of conventional and newer approaches including observation, surveys, action research, ethnography, policy analysis and poststructuralist approaches. The reader is shown step by step how to select a topic, review the literature, design their research project, analyse data and produce a report.

Throughout the emphasis is on practical application of the methods and the text is illustrated by a wide range of examples and case studies. Each chapter includes checklists, explanations of key concepts, annotated further reading and questions for reflection.

Written by leading international early childhood researchers, this book is a standard introduction to research in the early childhood field.