Research in Child and

Adolescent Development
 Introduction
You may have a separate 3-unit course on research. This module is
not intended to be substitute for that three-unit course. It is simply
meant to supllement what you got or will still get in the Research.
As you may noticed, most of it not all of what is presented about the
development of the child and adolescent are products of research. It
might interest you to know how these concepts/theories were arrived at.
Or after having been exposed to a number of researches cited in this
Course, hopefully, you be so inspired that you, too, would like to start
conducting researches on you own or join a group for research.

Teachers as Consumers/End Users of
Research
Research gives teachers and also
policy-makers important knowledge to
use in decision-making for the benefit
of learners and their families. Well-
informed teachers are able to use and
integrate the most authoritative
research findings. Research enables
teachers to come ip with involves
decisions related to educational
policies, ciricculum, effective teaching-
learning processes, and even those
involving research, too. It can help us,
teachers, to be more knowledgeable
about how to fit our teaching with the
developmental levels of our learners.
 The conduct of research does
not only belong to thesis and
Teachers As Researchers dissertation writers. It is for
students and teachers, too. Let us
learn how to conduct research by
finding out the different research
principles and the research
methods and designs with focus on
child and adolescent development.
 One important principle in research
is adherence to the scientific method,
Scientific Method since research is a systematic and a
logical process. As such, researchers
basically follow the scientific method.
Dewey gave us 5 steps of the scientific
method. They are as follows:
Identify and define the problem
Determine the hypothesis
Collect and analyze data
Formulate conclusions
Apply conclusions to the original
hypothesis
Simply explained, identifying the research problem is the first step. This is
followed by stating a tentative answer to the research problem called the
hypothesis. The hypothesis is also reffered to as an “educated guess”. How correct
is your “educated guess” or “hypothesis”? If you research problem is concerned
with determining the cause of an effect or a phenomenon you have to gather and
analyze data derived from an experiment. This is true with experimental research.
However, if you research problem is concerned with describing data and
characteristics about the subjects or phenomenon you are studying, you do not
need to perform an experiment. This is descriptive research. After analyzing the
data, analyzing the data, you formulate your conclusion.
Compare your conclusion to your original hypothesis to find out if your original
hypothesis is correct or not. If your original hypothesis with you finding and
conclusion, affirm your hypothesis. I f your original hypothesis does not jibe with
your finding and conclusions, reject your original hypothesis.
 Research that are done with high
level of quality and integrity provide
Research Design us with valuable information about
child and adolescent development. To
be able to conduct quality research, it
is important that you know various
research designs and different data-
gathering techniques used by
developmenta research, “Some are
given and described:
Research Design- Case Study
Description- An in-depth look at an individual
Strengths- It provides information about an individual’s fears, hopes,
fantasies, traumatic, experiences, family, relationships, health, and
anything that helps psychologist that person’s development
(Santrock,2002).
Weaknesses- Need to exercise caution when generalizing from the
information; the subject of a case study is unique, with a genetic
make-up and experiences no one else shares; involves judgements of
unknown reliability, in that usually no check is made to see if other
psychologists agree with other observation (Santrock,2002).
Research Design-Correlational Study
Description- A research design that determines associations
Strengths- Useful because the more strongly two evernts are
correlated, the more we can predict one from the other.
Weaknesses- Because correlational research does not involve the
manipulation of factors, it is not a dependable way to isolate cause
(Kantowitz, et al, 2001 cited by Santrick, 2002).
Research Design- Experimental
Description- A research design that determines cause-and-effect
relationships. The experiental method involves manipulating one
variable to determine if changes in another variable. This method
relies on controlled methods, random assignments and the
manipulation of variables to tes hypothesis.
Strengths- The only true reliable method of establishing cause and
effect.
Weaknesses- Experimetal research is limited to what is observable,
testable and manipulable. Experimentation with humans is subject to a
number of external influences that may dilute the study results
(Donnan, 2000).
Research in Child and Adolescent Development

Sources:
Maria Rita D. Lucas Ph. D
Brenda B. Corpuz Ph. D