Chapter 23: Reading and Interpreting Early Childhood Research¹

Early childhood professionals engage in reading published research for a variety of purposes. Whether reading to learn more about a topic, to explore innovative strategies for practice, or to build a strong rationale for a new research project, reading research is an important activity for those in the early childhood field. For some, however, the task of reading published research may be a challenging undertaking. The language used in research writing is often technical and the methods used to gather and analyze data may be complicated. The purpose of this chapter is to make the experience of reading research more manageable. This chapter delineates the sections of a typical research manuscript, describes the purpose of each section, and identifies practical strategies for developing clear interpretations and understandings of the research. In addition, this chapter aims to support readers as they become wise consumers of research, preparing them to engage in basic evaluation by identifying important points and questions to consider while reading.