The Handbook of Research Methods in Early Childhood Education brings together in one source research techniques that researchers can use to collect data for studies that contribute to the knowledge in early childhood education. To conduct valid and reliable studies, researchers need to be knowledgeable about numerous research methodologies. The Handbook primarily addresses the researchers, scholars, and graduate or advanced undergraduate students who are preparing to conduct research in early childhood education. It provides them with the intellectual resources that will help them join the cadre of early childhood education researchers and scholars. The purpose of the Handbook is to prepare and guide researchers to achieve a high level of competence and sophistication, to avoid past mistakes, and to benefit from the best researchers in the field. This Handbook is also useful to university professors who conduct research and prepare student researchers in early childhood education. It aims to improve the researchers’ conceptual and methodological abilities in early childhood education. Thus, the Handbook can be used as a guide that focuses on important contemporary research methodologies in early childhood education and describes them to offer researchers the necessary information to use these methodologies appropriately. This Handbook is designed to be used by students of early childhood education at all levels of professional development as well as mature scholars who want to conduct research in areas needing more in-depth study. It is hoped that this Handbook of Research Methods in Early Childhood Education will serve the needs of many in the research community. Scholars seeking the current state of research knowledge in various areas should find this volume useful. Similarly, practitioners who are trying to seek knowledge of research and its practical implications should find this volume helpful as well. This Handbook with its individual chapters presents several research methodologies to address a variety of hypotheses or research questions that will contribute to the knowledge of the field in early childhood education.

The Handbook of Research Methods in Early Childhood Education brings together in one source research techniques that researchers can use to collect data for studies that contribute to the knowledge in early childhood education. To conduct valid and reliable studies, researchers need to be knowledgeable about numerous research methodologies. The Handbook primarily addresses the researchers, scholars, and graduate or advanced undergraduate students who are preparing to conduct research in early childhood education. It provides them with the intellectual resources that will help them join the cadre of early childhood education researchers and scholars. The purpose of the Handbook is to prepare and guide researchers to achieve a high level of competence and sophistication, to avoid past mistakes, and to benefit from the best researchers in the field. This Handbook is also useful to university professors who conduct research and prepare student researchers in early childhood education. It aims to improve the researchers’ conceptual and methodological abilities in early childhood education. Thus, the Handbook can be used as a guide that focuses on important contemporary research methodologies in early childhood education and describes them to offer researchers the necessary information to use these methodologies appropriately. This Handbook is designed to be used by students of early childhood education at all levels of professional development as well as mature scholars who want to conduct research in areas needing more in-depth study. It is hoped that this Handbook of Research Methods in Early Childhood Education will serve the needs of many in the research community. Scholars seeking the current state of research knowledge in various areas should find this volume useful. Similarly, practitioners who are trying to seek knowledge of research and its practical implications should find this volume helpful as well. This Handbook with its individual chapters presents several research methodologies to address a variety of hypotheses or research questions that will contribute to the knowledge of the field in early childhood education.

This international handbook gives a comprehensive overview of findings from longstanding and contemporary research, theory, and practices in early childhood education in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The first volume of the handbook addresses theory, methodology, and the research activities and research needs of particular regions. The second volume examines in detail innovations and longstanding programs, curriculum and assessment, and conceptions and research into child, family and communities. The two volumes of this handbook address the current theory, methodologies and research needs of specific countries and provide insight into existing global similarities in early childhood practices. By paying special attention to what is happening in the larger world contexts, the volumes provide a representative overview of early childhood education practices and research, and redress the current North-South imbalance of published work on the subject.

This book examines the methodological decisions made by researchers working in early childhood contexts. Viewed from a researcher's perspective, each chapter explores the journey of the researcher, capturing their decision-making processes in early childhood research. Through themes such as the politics of ethics and how different cultural norms shape research in different localities, Decisions and Dilemmas of Research Methods in Early Childhood Education explores key questions such as: What are the ethical issues arising during early childhood research? Which research traditions and methodologies prevail and why? How are research subjects perceived and positioned within different research contexts? What interdisciplinary tensions or opportunities arise between different ways of working across early childhood research? The book critically unpacks how these decisions are made and by whom during the course of research. Each chapter includes reflections of researchers working across disciplines such as education, health and social work to understand the thinking, forces and actors that shape decisions made during the research process. This is essential reading for researchers working in early childhood contexts in fields such as social work, health, education, criminology, psychology and more.

Education inevitably influences society and our future. As literature and experience tells, educational leaders impact not only their institutions, but ultimately the learning outcomes for a large portion of society’s members. Educational leaders are charged with more than creating a viable future for an institution; they are also charged with contributing to and creating a viable, positive human future—not an easy task amid the turbulence and disruption of our times. The Handbook of Research on Educational Leadership and Research Methodology discusses the evolution of educational leadership knowledge, thoughts, and practices by sharing the perspectives, experiences, theories, and philosophies related to educational leadership and research methodologies across all levels of education. Covering topics such as critical race design, toxic leadership, and adult learning, this major reference work is a critical resource for faculty and administrators of both K-12 and higher education, principals, superintendents, chancellors, directors, pre-service teachers, teaching instructors, government officials, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

Research Methods for Early Childhood Education takes an international perspective on research design, and illustrates how research methods are inextricably linked to cultural and theoretical understandings of early childhood, young children's competences and the purposes of education. The book offers a critical and reflective approach to established and innovative research methods in early childhood education, making links between diverse methodologies, methods and theory, with illustrative examples of research in practice. Each chapter addresses a specific methodological approach, linking the methodology to early childhood education with vignettes as examples of research practice in the global north, south, east and west, offering practical examples and critical thinking around new theoretical understandings of early childhood across geographical and cultural contexts. The book critically examines: - the role of the researcher - conceptualisations of how research is undertaken; - the often sensitive nature of conducting research with young children; - how early childhood education is understood; - how young children can be included as active research participants. Throughout, the book emphasises ethical and methodological issues that arise from undertaking research in mono-cultural and cross-cultural contexts. Annotated further reading lists provide a selection of seminal and recent studies that have adopted each methodological approach.

Over the years, educational scholars have proposed different conceptions of the curriculum. It is as if each scholar, researcher, university educator, and practitioner has developed her or his own personal definition. Unfortunately, there is no one single definition that everybody has agreed upon. Table 1 presents a sample of these definitions. A universal definition for curriculum may continue to be elusive and may even change through the years to address changes in the social forces and changes in related school goals. Nonetheless, the approach in curriculum development is consistent. Curriculum developers establish goals, develop experiences, designate content, and evaluate experiences and outcomes. Most curriculum developers consistently use such terms as curriculum planning, curriculum development, curriculum implementation, and curriculum evaluation, and many others to describe curriculum related activities. Unfortunately, without a consistent definition of curriculum, it is difficult for the curriculum developers to identify what it is that needs to be planned, developed, implemented, or evaluated. If curriculum developers rely on the curriculum experts’ definitions, they will find that their definitions identify a product, a program, determine goals and objectives, and learner experiences. However, its heterogeneity may be inspiring if curriculum developers rely on the components of each definition that depict the richness of the field, which in turn, can provide a foundation for contemporary content, concepts, and creativity. A curriculum is an anthology of learning experiences, conceived and arranged based on a program’s educational goals and the community’s social forces. Each curriculum manifests an image of what children "ought to be and become" (Biber, 1984, p. 303) grounded on the awareness of social values and a system that interprets those values into experiences for learners. The concept of curriculum, as a distinctive domain of study within education, arose from the demand to arrange, organize, and translate such awareness into educational programs of study. It integrates the historical study of the goals and content of schooling, analyses of curriculum documents, and analyses of the children’s experiences in school. The first formal curriculum text was published in 1918 (Bobbit, 1918), although in the United States contemporary curriculum study goes back to the early 1890's, when lead committees challenged the form and structure of public schooling. Presently curriculum development is fundamental at all educational levels.

Building on the foundation set in Volume I—a landmark synthesis of research in the field—Volume II is a comprehensive, state-of-the-art new volume highlighting new and emerging research perspectives. The contributors, all experts in their research areas, represent the international and gender diversity in the science education research community. The volume is organized around six themes: theory and methods of science education research; science learning; culture, gender, and society and science learning; science teaching; curriculum and assessment in science; science teacher education. Each chapter presents an integrative review of the research on the topic it addresses—pulling together the existing research, working to understand the historical trends and patterns in that body of scholarship, describing how the issue is conceptualized within the literature, how methods and theories have shaped the outcomes of the research, and where the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps are in the literature. Providing guidance to science education faculty and graduate students and leading to new insights and directions for future research, the Handbook of Research on Science Education, Volume II is an essential resource for the entire science education community.

Traditional classrooms are fast becoming a minority in the education field. As technologies continue to develop as a pervasive aspect of modern society, educators must be trained to meet the demands and opportunities afforded by this technology-rich landscape. The Handbook of Research on Teacher Education in the Digital Age focuses on the needs of teachers as they redesign their curricula and lessons to incorporate new technological tools. Including theoretical frameworks, empirical research, and best practices, this book serves as a guide for researchers, educators, and faculty and professional developers of distance learning tools.