Research Focus

Deciding on the focus of research is not so easy. I have experienced the anxiety involved in choosing what I deem to be a great research question. I come up with some and then I think about the access and then I have to toss then. They cannot be done within the time frame or within my current setting(s).



So, I am left where I first began.



This was the story of my week as I was trying to work on two research questions. My mind was plagued with thoughts of access and finally, the questions became real... things I would have access to observe. My mind was at peace for I had a clearer vision of the participants in mind for my research projects.



As I started thinking about the questions, I wanted them to sound right. I felt like this little boy in a school who just wants to spell every word on his page correctly and not make a mistake. I was worried about the what, the when, the why, the where, and the who of it all. So the process took longer as I played around with a couple of scenarios in my head. I needed to know what they would sound and look like and so I sat and thought and thought and said no many times before I found the ones.



So, one morning I set out to start my observation and I felt weird people watching. All I was doing was taking a count of the people who entered the train using electronic devices. My observation did not involve me frantically writing down notes about the behaviors of the participants. My behavior made me think about the other research question. I finally found a question that I think is going to be worth researching and it is all due to my little nephew and his acquisition of language. I have chosen to do a narrative research so that I can write about this phenomena and reflect about changes in parents' knowledge on helping their children to access early literacy through various activities. This research focus will allow me to work within my zone of proximal development.