Qualitative Research Methodology in Early Childhood Development Report

This report provides an overview of qualitative research methodologies within the context of early childhood development. It explores various methods, including interviews, case study analysis, content analysis, and ethnographic research, highlighting their application in understanding children's experiences and perceptions. The report discusses the advantages of qualitative research, such as providing in-depth analysis and the use of diverse methods like focus groups and photovoice. Conversely, it outlines disadvantages, including the time-consuming nature of case studies, challenges in data management, and the potential for subjective interpretation. The paper concludes by emphasizing the effectiveness of qualitative research in identifying research data and enabling descriptive analysis, acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses associated with this methodology in early childhood development.

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2020
Early Childhood Development
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Qualitative Research Methodology in Early Childhood
Development
Qualitative research methodology makes use of the descriptive method for searching
information on the basis of interviews, case study analysis, content analysis and ethnographic
research (Fletcher, 2017). This can be used in early childhood education in which the perceptions
and experiences of children can be evaluated through their place and physical activity. Here, the
paper has discussed the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research methodology in
early childhood development.
The advantages of this research are that this can provide the in-depth analysis of the
childhood experiences through the proper record of the attitude and behaviors which can be
unsuited to the quantitative analysis. Also, this can use of make use of the range of methods
under it which comprises of focus groups, literature review and observational technique. While
making use of the qualitative method for the early childhood development, the researcher can
gain the insights of the way child is thinking and believing (Jarvie, 2012). Focus groups are the
effective method for research as the children are comfortable in making discussions in groups
and express themselves accordingly. Additionally, other methods of qualitative method which
prove the valuable studies based on the perpetual and scale representation of the context of the
way child feels and behaves. One of the qualitative research methods used is photovoice which
gives proper information about the childhood experiences as the children are comfortable in
clicking their own photographs and later this can provide the visual representation of the way
child experience the physical activities which can later be articulated (McClintic & Petty, 2015).
Moreover, this method is best suited for comparative analysis between the two countries.
The disadvantages of using this qualitative method is that there is cost associated with
conducting case studies which is also time consuming as this contains large of number of
participants. This is also regarded as the complex method as this makes use of detailed reports
with the implementation of examples. While doing qualitative research, the researcher faces the
difficulty in terms of good research respondents. This is because of the fact that children who
lack the ability to make the responses are not able to participate in any of the methods. There are
challenges for the research method as researcher is required to follow the child’s rights. The

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disadvantages also include that the researcher finds it difficult to manage and coordinate large
amounts of data (Queirós, Faria, & Almeida, 2017). This creates the subjective data which is
subjective and is hard to interpret. This requires the personal knowledge about the interpretation
of the data and also requires the repetitive and requires the additional research where critical
decisions are made.
Conclusively, qualitative research method can be the effective for the identification of the
various research data can be used for the exact data. This can enable the researcher with the
descriptive analysis of the various methods being used. This has alternative strengths and
weaknesses associated with this methodology for the early childhood development.

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References
Fletcher, A. (2017). Applying critical realism in qualitative research: methodology meets
method. International journal of social research methodology, 20(2), 181-194.
Jarvie, W. (2012). Qualitative Research in Early Childhood Education and Care Implementation.
International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 6(2), 35–43.
McClintic, S., & Petty, K. (2015). Exploring early childhood teachers’ beliefs and practices
about preschool outdoor play: A qualitative study. Journal of early childhood teacher
education, 36(1), 24-43.
Queirós, A., Faria, D., & Almeida, F. (2017). Strengths and limitations of qualitative and
quantitative research methods. European Journal of Education Studies.