When I think of research...

For my simulation, I am interested in the impact of stressed caregivers on children’s stress levels.  Essentially, I want to find out how the caregiver and child are perceiving stressors around them and the potential impacts they may have.  I am hypothesizing that higher levels of stress in caregivers will negatively impact children’s stress levels.  I believe that my proposal will benefit any individual who works with children, however the research question was driven from an educator’s perspective.  Early childhood educators are experiencing the challenge of supporting children and families that are on various sides of the spectrum of stress.  Chronic stress levels in children can impact brain development and classroom interactions and can additionally be affected by race and socioeconomic class.  Early childhood educators and policy makers need to consider the connection between early childhood stress and trauma and the impacts they may have on the child’s potential to succeed in a classroom setting.  Ultimately, children and families receive the positive benefits from a well-educated, non-biased support system, which is what I hope this research study provides. 

The goal of this research is to contribute to the public effort of producing information that can be understood with the possibility of being duplicated and lending itself to judgements about quality and validity (Trochim, Donnelly, & Arora, 2016).  Stress is a current topic of interest for all individuals that work with children and families.  Creating public knowledge about the topic through this study will contribute to the research enterprise, providing information to encourage use in other public research projects to support a larger scale of knowledge in the education sector (Trochim, Donnelly, & Arora, 2016).  This research should encourage early childhood professionals to develop a valid understanding and knowledge base of the different kinds of stress to adequately provide effective programs and practices to support children and families they serve.

As we have progressed through our research proposals and the course, I feel my level of professionalism has evolved.  I have deepened my understanding in a sector of my professional field that I had not had the opportunity to do before.  Obtaining knowledge in research language and methods has ensured that I can support myself and others professionally in finding and producing effective answers to the professional problems that occur in early childhood settings.  The biggest boost to my professionalism is the confidence I have gained from the experience.  I am beginning to feel like I am becoming the expert I have been striving to be and am continuing to grow every day.  I look forward to the next challenge from Walden.

Lastly, I want to thank you-my people!  We went through this journey together and learned from each other.  I enjoyed debating research methods and approaches, gaining new perspectives every week from the diverse responses from our classmates.  Your contributions to the class have been just as impactful on my learning experience as the assigned course content-so thank you!

Reference

Trochim, W. M., Donnelly, J. P., & Arora, K. (2016). Research methods: The essential knowledge base (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.