module specification

Students undertake a piece of independent research and study an area of particular interest in early childhood studies.

This module offers an opportunity for independent study and aims to enable students to:
 Develop further professionally by pursuing a line of study which arises out of an aspect of her/his work with young children.
 Extend professional competence by developing a critical understanding of the relationship between theory and early childhood practice
 Gain experience of the processes and methodological and ethical issues involved in conducting and completing a piece of research
 Design, execute and evaluate a small-scale research project and experience supervised independent study of an extended nature.
 Develop further professionally by pursuing a line of study which arises out of an aspect of her/his work with young children.
 Extend professional competence by developing a critical understanding of the relationship between theory and early childhood practice
 Develop some of the skills required for post graduate study

Students should normally have already completed, or will study concurrently SE6054 Reading Research and Research Methods in Early Childhood.
Enhanced DBS
Students are expected to undertake 60 hours work placement providing for children in the birth to six age range as part of this module, normally in a group setting.

This is an individual project that allows the student to carry out a systematic investigation of a topic.  The area of investigation is chosen by the student and should arise from personal and professional interest in an area of Early Childhood Studies.  The content of the project may be an extension of work already undertaken on the BA (Early Childhood Studies) course, may arise out of an aspect of the student’s professional concerns, drawing together issues of theory and practice, or may be drawn from other topics within the field of early childhood studies. LO1,LO2,LO3,LO4,LO5

Learning will be supported in face to face and / or telephone tutorials, introductory workshops and seminars (including accessing online resources) and independent study.

Students will be expected to actively engage with additional materials and discussion opportunities that will be available via WebLearn.  A record of tutorials will be kept and signed by both tutor and student.

Reflection and discussion are key to teaching for all students - experiential learning promotes their growing ability to act as a reflective practitioner.

Teaching and learning strategies and methods also focus on workplace skills and professionalism. Observations and action research, closely related to their work, support the growth of practitioners’ professional competence. 

The development of transferable skills in presenting evidence, arguments and points of view to a range of audiences, through a range of media, including the use of ICT also supports individual learning.

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate insight into an aspect of early childhood studies by exploring research questions related to the context of children and childhood.
2. Describe, analyse and constructively critique research and theoretical perspectives related to the research focus, accessing information from a wide range of sources, having regard to the relative validity of the information and its social, cultural and political context. 
3. Demonstrate competence in research skills related to early childhood through designing and  carrying out an independent study using appropriate methods of data collection
4. To critically reflect upon the ethics of studying children and their families by using an anti-bias approach and acting as an advocate for children and their families
5. Discuss, analyse and evaluate research findings using theory to examine data and to develop plausible arguments that are congruent with the chosen research paradigm.

Students will demonstrate that they have met the learning outcomes through the submission of a dissertation.

This should generally contain the following elements:

1. An abstract.
2. A title and contents page.
3. An introduction to the study, outlining the rationale / context for the study.
4. A review of the literature central to the area studied.
5. A discussion of the methods of investigation used.
6. A presentation of the main findings from the data collected discussed in relation  to research and theories relevant to the topic.
7. Conclusions.
9. Acknowledgements, appendices and a reference section.

Students’ individual supervisors will provide formative non-assessed feedback throughout the module. Students will agree a timetable for submitting draft chapters with their supervisor, who will provide written feedback.  The prerequisite module on research methods will also give formal formative assessment, preparing students for the project (8,000-10,000) words.

Core:

Aubrey, C., Davies, T., Godfrey, R. and Thompson, L. (2000) Early Childhood Educational Research: Issues in methodology and ethics, London: Routledge/Falmer, E book

Bell, J. (2014) Doing your research project : a guide for first-time researchers (6th editiion), Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education, E book

Christensen, P. and James, A. (Eds) (2017) Research with children : perspectives and practices, London: Falmer Press, E book

Clark, A. and Moss. P. (2017) Listening to young children: the mosaic approach (3rd Ed), London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, E book

Clough, P. and Nutbrown, C. (2012) A Student’s Guide to Methodology: Justifying Enquiry,(3rd Ed), London: Sage

Costley, C., G. Elliott and P. Gibbs (2010) Doing Work Based Research: Approaches to Enquiry for Insider-Researchers, London: Sage

Denscombe, M. (2014) The good research guide: for small-scale social research projects (5th Ed), Maidenhead: OUP, E book

Greig, A., Taylor, J. and MacKay, T. (2013) Doing Research With Children (3rd Ed), London: Sage

Harcourt, D., Perry, B.  and Waller, T. (Eds) (2011) Researching Young Children’s Perspectives: Debating the Ethics and Dilemmas of Educational Research with Children, London: Routledge

Hewson, C., Vogel, C. and Laurent, D. (2016) Internet Research Methods (2nd Ed), London: Sage Publications

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe,  A. and Siraj-Blatchford, I. (Eds) (2010) Doing Early Childhood Research, (2nd Ed), Buckingham: Open University Press

MacNaughton, G. (2009) Doing action research in early childhood studies: a step by step guide, Maidenhead: Open University Press

Mukherji, P. and Albon, D. (2018) Research methods in early childhood: an introductory guide (3rd Ed), London: Sage

Roberts-Holmes, G. (2014) Doing Your Early Years Research Project (3rd Ed), London, Sage.

Stake, R. (2010) Qualitative research: studying how things work, New York: Guilford Press, E book

Yin, R. (2018) Case study research and applications: design and methods, London: Sage

Websites

British Educational Research Association (BERA) (2018) Ethics and Guidance, available at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/researchers-resources/resources-for-researchers

McNiff, J. (2018) Action research for professional development, available at: http://www.jeanmcniff.com/ar-booklet.asp

London Metropolitan University (2018) Studyhub - Research, available at: https://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/studyhub/research.html
London Metropolitan University (2018) Studyhub  - Literature Review, available at: https://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/studyhub/literature.html

The Social Research Association (2018) Ethics guidelines, available at:  http://the-sra.org.uk/research-ethics/ethics-guidelines/

Journals

Brooker, L. (2011) ‘Taking children seriously: An alternative agenda for research?’, Journal of Early Childhood Research, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 137–149

Skanfors, L. (2009) ‘Ethics in Child Research: Children’s Agency and Researchers’ ‘Ethical Radar’, Childhoods Today, Vol 3, No 1, pp. 1-22

Electronic Databases: (available via London Met Library E Resources)

British Education Index (BEI)

ERIC (Educational Resources Information Centre)