Lesson 6

RESEARCH DESIGN
IN
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Determine the importance of research in child development;
2. Discuss the different research design used in child
development; and
3. Identify challenges in the conduct of child development
research
IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Child Development
• is a science that aims to understand and explore how a child
develops, the factors affecting it, the changes in the factors that
might affect children's behavior, and the behavioral patterns of a
child among others.
• It is well known that the social, physical and emotional development of
a child in related to his/her overall development as he/she grows to be
an adult Therefore, understanding and exploring the several domains
(psychomotor, linguistic, socioemotional, cognitive, etc) that largely
affect the child's development should be studied and explored.
• Researches in child development may shape and improve policies that can
be considered and implemented to enhance the well-being of a developing
child.
• To ensure the reliability of these studies, a systematic, science based

process should be employed which includes:
RESEARCH DESIGN
• The approach by which one answers the research problem is essential. After the formulation of the
research problem, the next step involves choosing the most appropriate research design and then the
proper combination of data collection methods.
•The design is critical to the study as it gives organization and structure to it.
In choosing the design, the researcher should consider the following:
•The main idea of the study, the respondents and samples, the purpose of the research, its scope and
limitation and data collection and analysis
RESEARCH DESIGN for CHILD DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH
01 Descriptive 02 Correlational 03 Experimental

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
Descriptive research designs are targeted to observe and record behavior. In this design, many or most
data collection methods can be used. As an example, a researcher wants to explore how children socialize
interact and communicate with each other in a free play. The researcher will then find how he/she can
observe and record children at play. This type of research describes the phenomena and the behavior of
the respondents and then uses them to predict how people will behave in a given scenario.
CORRECTIONAL RESEARCH
In correlational research, a numerical measure known as correlation coefficient
is computed. This value is based on the level or degree of association between
two variables being considered. A positive correlation coefficient means a
direct relationship, while a negative coefficient means an inverse relationship.
Further, a negative coefficient means that as one increases, the other variable
decreases. On the other hand, a positive correlation coefficient signifies that as
one increases, the other variable also increases.
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
An experiment refers to a carefully regulated while all others are held constant
(Santock, 2011). In this design, behavior or procedure where one factor of
variable influences the behavior being studied variable being investigated
directs a change in another variable. It exhibits causal relationship.
2 types of variables
• Independent variables - are the ones causing a change.
• Dependent variables - are the ones that manifest a response to the change.
RESEARCH TIME SPAN
In this specific discipline, factors such as the relationship of age to

some other variables are studied. Here, the researchers may have
two approaches: first, one can record specific parameters from
different individuals with different ages and then compare them;
and second, the researchers may study or collect certain parameters
from the same respondents over time
CROSS-SECTIONAL APPROACH
In this strategy, individuals of different ages are compared at one

time. The main advantage of the cross-sectional study is that
researchers may have results in a short span of time as they do not
need to wait for the child to grow. It is efficient in terms of data
collection, but it does not have much to show how an individual
child changes. It does not explore the stability of the child's
characters.
LONGITUDINAL APPROACH
Research will gather data from the same respondents over time. In
this strategy, data collection may take from days to years.
This approach can provide rich data on stability and changes in the
development of a certain individual, the influences of earlier events
and experiences on the child's later development, though this is very
time- consuming and expensive. Also, the span of the study
sometimes causes many participants to drop out that might cause
biases in the results of the study.
THANK YOU!

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RESEARCH DESIGN

be considered and implemented to enhance the well-being of a developing

• To ensure the reliability of these studies, a systematic, science based

01 Descriptive 02 Correlational 03 Experimental

In this specific discipline, factors such as the relationship of age to

In this strategy, individuals of different ages are compared at one

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