In the United States, preschools settings require having an approximation of one hour where children participate in outdoor activities. A deficit in play alters the physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing of the children. An assessment of the children indicates that the body exercise has immense benefit to a student’s welfare. In addition, other analysts argue that play contributes to the development of self-regulation and promotion of language and social competence. It is evident that play at all ages gives children an opportunity to develop and solve problems in life. On the contrary, lack of play is a contributing factor to the prevalence of obesity among children.
Research Procedure
In carrying out research, I chose to make use of mixed methods to gain a good understanding of the subjects for the project together with reported behaviors. In the quantitative aspects of carrying out research, I asked teachers to respond to open ended questions concerning typical activities for the children and the time that was allocated for such activities (Spodek &Saracho, 2014). On the other hand, I applied the use of qualitative methods to obtain responses among parents on their perceptions concerning children’s play and the connections to schools readiness (Cohen et.al, 2013). Through the use of survey questions, I requested teachers to provide a frequency of child’s activities. In another sample of research, parent and teachers were interviewed to gain an understanding of their perceptions on the play and its connection to the development process among children.
Interviews and Questionnaire
As part of the introduction to the study of outdoor play for preschool children, I need to give an explanation of why I chose to make use of interviews and questionnaires. When I carried out an assessment among different schools based in the United States and the participation of children in play, I got an opportunity to meet with teachers who were guiding young children in play and were willing to respond to my questions (Ellis et.al, 2015). I, therefore, made a decision on using interviews and I explained to the instructors on why I needed to conduct the study. I realized that all the participants of research in the sample that I had selected were very friendly making it more convenient to carry out in-depth interviews on private settings (Cohen et.al, 2013). In the process of research, I used semi-structured questions in both interviews and questionnaires as a way of avoiding intimidating the respondents to the various questions that I had structured (Goodwin & Goodwin et.al, 1996). Similarly, I used simple language in designing questionnaires with an understanding that not all the participants were literate.
Limitations
In carrying out the research, several factors acted as limitations although I had no control over them. For instance, the year that I carried out the study and the few individuals who participated in responding to the questionnaire were major limitations to the research process. Similarly, the study was conducted over several months resulting in a lack of consistency for the results. The research participants were few acting as limitations to the study due to lack of varied opinions (Reutzel, 2013). Examination of the stages of development for the learners who attend to the different environment may have been of significance to the results. In the process of conducting questionnaires, teachers who were the respondents responded independently. If I had put more emphasis on making use of oral interviews with the teachers could achieve different results making an impact on the study. I believe that the above factors were limitations that affected the process of carrying out results.
Ethical Consideration
I asked for permission to conducts the research from an instructional review board. In addition, I obtained an informed consent from the research participants who gave an explanation of the purpose and procedures of research (Denham et.al, 2006). Furthermore, I explained to them that the participation in the research was completely voluntary and that no sanctions or rewards would follow after the research. I maintained the confidentiality of the research findings through an establishment of coded names to avoid exposing the respondents to the questionnaires and interviews.
- Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2013). Research methods in education. Routledge.
- Denham, S. A., Zinsser, K., & Brown, C. A. (2006). Handbook of research on the education of young children.
- Ellis, P., Reutzel, D. R., & Press, G. (2015). Handbook of Research-Based Practice in Early Education. Nurse Researcher, 22(5), 41.
- Goodwin, W. L., & Goodwin, L. D. (1996). Understanding quantitative and qualitative research in early childhood education (Vol. 59). Teachers College Press.
- Spodek, B., & Saracho, O. N. (2014). Handbook of research on the education of young children. Routledge.
- Reutzel, D. R. (Ed.). (2013). Handbook of research-based practice in early education (Vol. 1253). Guilford Press.
