Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/useful-research-for-early-childhood-caregivers/5017920/
Many of our decisions affect children’s well-being and development. We want all we do with children to affect them positively and to contribute to their development. When our decisions affect our own or other people’s habitual actions, these decisions have a much greater effect on children’s development, positively or negatively. It is important to make these key decisions with all available knowledge about how they will affect children’s development.Scientific research is the systematic acquisition of knowledge by the scientific method. The scientific method begins with an idea, a hypothesis, about how things work. Next comes the systematic collection of evidence and the analysis of the evidence to see if it confirms or disconfirms the hypothesis. The more evidence there is that confirms a hypothesis, the more likely that this hypothesis is valid and true. When evidence does not confirm a hypothesis, it casts doubt on it.
Here’s a simple example of using the scientific method in working with children. I want to see if my 21⁄2-year-old granddaughter Katelyn understands simple requests. I ask her to show me her doll, and she does. I conclude that she understands simple requests. To increase my confidence that I came to the correct conclusion, I ...