Understanding Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Early Childhood Education

What are the fundamental elements of good quantitative and qualitative research?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach?

What does research offer early childhood education?

Are quantitative and qualitative approaches compatible?

Understanding Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Early Childhood Education presents the research process and its components in a straightforward, easily accessible manner. Using real examples from early childhood education, authors William L. Goodwin and Laura D. Goodwin “bring to life” for the first time the various methods of research and how they may be studied and applied. They explore the major aspects of both quantitative and qualitative paradigms and techniques, stressing the compatibility and complementary nature of the two approaches that are so often seen as mutually exclusive if not downright contradictory.

This book is among the first to address research in the realm of early childhood and will be highly valued in graduate and undergraduate courses and seminars in early

William Goodwin is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Forensic and Investigative Science at the University of Central Lancashire where his main teaching areas are molecular biology and its application to forensic analysis. Prior to this he worked for eight years at the Department of Forensic Medicine and Science in the Human Identification Centre where hewas involved in a number of international cases involving the identifications of individuals from air crashes and from clandestine graves. His research has focused on the analysis of DNA from archaeological samples and highly compromised human remains. He has acted as an expert witness and also as a consultant for international humanitarian organisations and forensic service providers.

Adrian Linacre is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Strathclyde where his main areas of teaching are aspects of forensic biology, population genetics and human identification. His research areas include the use of non-human DNA in forensic science and the mechanisms behind the transfer and persistence of DNA at crime scenes. He has published over 50 papers in international journals, has presented at a number of international conferences and is on the editorial board of Forensic Science International: Genetics. Dr Linacre works as an assessor for the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners (CRFP) in the area of human contact traces and is a Registered Practitioner.

Sibte Hadi is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Forensic and Investigative Science at the University of Central Lancashire. His main teaching areas are Forensic Medicine and DNA profiling. He is a physician by training andpractised forensic pathology for a number of years in Pakistan before undertaking a PhD in Forensic Genetics. Following this he worked at the Department of Molecular Biology Louisiana State University as a member of the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study group. He has acted as a consultant to forensic service providers in the USA and Pakistan. His current research is focused on population genetics, DNA databases and gene expression studies for different forensic applications.