Acknowledgements
About the Authors
List of Figures
Glossary of Research Methods and Approaches
Series Editor's Foreword
Introduction
Part I: Cross-Cutting Themes
1. Conceptualizing Early Education in a Global Context
2. Ethics and Early Childhood Research
3. Reviewing Literature as a Methodology
Part II: Early Childhood Education Research Methods in Context
4. Participatory Research with Young Children
5. Participatory Research with Adults
6. Ethnographic Research in Early Childhood Education
7. Multimodal Perspectives on Early Childhood Education
8. Mixed Methods in Early Childhood Education Research
9. Experimental Research and Randomized Control Tests
Conclusion
References
Index

Research Methods for Early Childhood Education takes an international perspective on research design, and illustrates how research methods are inextricably linked to cultural and theoretical understandings of early childhood, young children's competences and the purposes of education.

The book offers a critical and reflective approach to established and innovative research methods in early childhood education, making links between diverse methodologies, methods and theory, with illustrative examples of research in practice. Each chapter addresses a specific methodological approach, linking the methodology to early childhood education with vignettes as examples of research practice in the global north, south, east and west, offering practical examples and critical thinking around new theoretical understandings of early childhood across geographical and cultural contexts.
The book critically examines:
- the role of the researcher
- conceptualisations of how research is undertaken;
- the often sensitive nature of conducting research with young children;
- how early childhood education is understood;
- how young children can be included as active research participants.
Throughout, the book emphasises ethical and methodological issues that arise from undertaking research in mono-cultural and cross-cultural contexts. Annotated further reading lists provide a selection of seminal and recent studies that have adopted each methodological approach.