Teachers and parents depend upon professional researchers to provide them with explanations and strategies for managing behavior, encouraging positive dispositions, and enhancing learning.  Research methods include Case Studies, Descriptive Studies, Correlational and Experimental Studies.  Research designs can be cross-sectional , in which children of different ages are studied at one point in time, or longitudinal, which follows a group of children of a specific age for several years.

There are advantages and disadvantages to different methods and designs, and certain kinds of information is most easily obtained using certain approaches. 

Familiarize yourself with recent child development research projects by using a search engine such as Google to locate a recent article or report.  Tell what you found in the Academic Forum for this module, and tell why you think the researchers chose the method and/or design that they did.

Other aspects of research that much be considered are validity, reliability, ethics, and unbiased sampling. 

A research study is said to be valid when it actually studies what it sets out to study, such as the effect of temperature on sleep.  If the researcher does not clearly identify and take into consideration other factors, such as sounds, presence or absence of a pillow or comfort object, or age of child, the study will not result in valid findings.

Reliable research findings can be replicated, or repeated, by other researchers, and will result in very similar results.

Ethics require that no children are involved in research projects that could cause them any negative effects, such as would be the case if some children were given an opportunity for learning to read and others were restricted from doing so.   For that reason, most child development research is naturalistic, observing children in their normal setting, rather than experimental, in which variables are manipulated by the researcher.

It is also important that the researchers use a sample of children for their research study that matches the children to whom the research findings will be applied.  There should be no bias, or unevenness, in the selection of research participants or the carrying out of the inquiry.