Positive Research in Children

There are many reasons why someone partakes in performing a research study.  Research studies enlighten us on many facts relating to the character of a human beings.  Studies from the quality of programs in early childhood education, the use of medication and the results, and more are used in finding imperative information on a particular subject.  Studies can be performed to answer curiosity, to document medical facts and findings, societal change, and more.  In my opinion if the research study does not cause harm, then we have indeed gained a positive impact.  Knowledge of whether there was no change, change, or different result is vital and should be considered positive research.  If one is willing to take the steps to perform a research study, then there is a question somewhere we need to understand.  As no study is every exact, because that would be plagiarism. Therefore all studies in my view are positive, even if no change or knowledge was gained.  Research studies have created great insight into many areas of children.  We can go back to the findings and see what we have gained or what has changed.  Studies from years ago hold value to this day, as their findings are accurate and led to understanding today.

            A positive research study that is from the past I reviewed a few years ago gave me hope in raising my children.  As a mother where is the real handbook for raising children?  Yes there are many helpful books, articles, sites, and more that help guide us through the years of younger children.  What I have found to be the most difficult of all is every child is different and many factors weigh on those character traits that make each child unique.  I have three boys and they are similar in some ways, but most often they are completely different.  Nevertheless when science and research present facts that our biological body is particularly hard-wired to work a certain way, then we have many answers to the questions we may ponder,  For example a positive study that is dated, but is in fact vital information in todays study of many fields, such as psychology, sociology, science and more.  Howard Gardner is an accreditive researcher in many studies.  His earlier work was the question of multiple intelligences, which sheds great light into the world of development.  The study he completed in 1998 on the impact of peers in the lives of children verse parents gave me peace of mind to say.  As I described above being a parent is not easy and we learn with each child, each experience, and more.  Knowing the findings in this study conclude that parents and peers are complementary.  “Parents are more important when it comes to education, discipline, responsibility, orderliness, charitableness, and ways of interacting with authority figures.  Peers are more important for learning cooperation, for finding the road to popularity, for inventing styles of interaction among people of the same age” (Myers, 2013, p. 147).  Knowing that children need their peers in contributing to development of their self-identity and more.  Also understanding that in the end we can contribute to the environments our children encounter, for the most.  Understanding how we as parents can impact our children is vital in my eyes, so any knowledge I can obtain is valuable.  Research can inform us of many facts that we ponder or can gain from.