second year assignment

Child Development


Child development is a field devoted to understanding all aspects of human growth from conception through adolescence.In fact scientific curiosity about the vast changes that take place between infancy and adulthood is just one factor that has led to child development to become the exciting field of study today.
Research about development has also been stimulated by social pressures to better the lives of children.
The beginning of public education in the early part of this century led to a demand for knowledge about what and how to teach children of different ages. Improving children’s health required an understanding of physical growth and nutrition. Desire to treat children’s anxieties and behaviour problems required information about the personality and social development. Parents get advice about child development, child rearing practices and experiences that promote growth of the child.
Child development’s information is the combined efforts of people of many fields of study. It needs solution for every life’s problems of children in their growth.
The field of child development is a melting pot of contributions. Its body of knowledge is not just scientifically important but relevant and useful.

Children must be provided with favorable environment to explore themselves. They more stimulating the environment the healthier and active the children will grow. Parents are the guide to children to mould them. They should not substitute them with toys. Though the children have less vocabulary to express themselves they could express it through crying, babbling, cooing and through gestures. Childhood is distinct in human life. What you are and what you will be is the result of your childhood. It is the parents’ duty to provide with the healthy environment to the child.
In 17th century John Lock called children as ‘Tabala Rasa’ means blank slates. He also mentioned that children accept new experience as they grow up. He was very much ahead of his time. He suggested praise and approval as rewards opposed to sweets and money. He was against the punishment.
Rousseau the French philosopher did not think children as blank slates who just accept what comes in their way. He was on the opinion that children are born with ability to judge between right and wrong.
G Stanley Hall the founder child‘s movement, he along with his disciple Arnold Gesel started the Normative Approach of studying children. Children can be studied through Case study methods, Observation methods, Doll play methods..etc

Scientists interested in child development require information about the way their subjects change over time. Longitudinal and Cross-sectional designs are special development research strategies.

THE LONGITUDINAL DESIGN.

In a Longitudinal design , the same group of subjects are studied repeatedly at different ages and changes are noted as they mature. The times span may be -a few months to several years or it may be very long a decade or even a lifetime .

Longitudinal design studies individuals from infancy into adult years and it may go up to old age. The researchers collect a wide rang of information of subjects – physical growth, intelligence, personality, child rearing practices and more.




Advantages :

The longitudinal approach is unique in studying about the subjects over time. As a result the researchers can have clear information and individual differences as they follow to maturity.
Researchers can compare different aspects of development to see whether the timing of change in one resembles the timing of change in other.
It permits researchers to examine relationship between early and later events and behavior.



Disadvantages

· There are practical difficulties, such as obtaining enough financial support and waiting for many years it takes for meaningful results in long term study.
· Many factors like Biased sampling, Practice effects and Cohort effects can create serious difficulties for validity of findings.
· Subjects may move away or drop out for other reasons and the research could be incomplete.
· The results of the cannot be easily generalized to the rest of the population
· The very experience of being repeatedly interviewed, observed and tested can also threaten the validity of longitudinal study.
· Since the subjects are repeatedly tested, subjects become ‘test wise’. Their performance may improve as a result of practice effects – better test – taking skills and increased familiarity with development.
· The results based on one cohort may not apply to children growing up at other times
· Theories and methods are constantly changing and the results may become outdated.
· There is a difficulty in handling data
· The researcher may discontinue and the one who takes up his place may use his previous experiences to fill in the gaps ,conclude and write the report.


The Cross-sectional Design

A research design in which groups of subjects of different ages are studied at the same time or simultaneously..
In Cross-sectional design researchers do not have to worry about many difficulties like longitudinal design. The subjects are experimented only once. Even if the subject is dropping out of the study, there is no problem.

Advantages:

· It is time saving and not expensive.
· It controls the problem of attrition.
· Data handling is easy.
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· The compression of individuals of different age groups can be made.
· Can see typical characters of different age children.
· Practices effect may not occur.

Disadvantages
· We get an approximate development of children not the development path of individual children
· It does not give information about the variations within the age groups
· Cultural and environmental changes that occur during that period of time is not considered.


Combining Longitudinal and Cross-sectional Approach
A research design with both longitudinal and Cross-sectional component where groups of subjects born in different years are followed over time is know as longitudinal sequential design.
It is called sequential design because it is composed of a sequence of samples, each of which is followed longitudinally for a number of years.

There are three advantages:
1. It permits researchers to find out whether cohort effect is operating by comparing children of the same age who were born in different years.
2. It is possible to make both longitudinal and cross-sectional comparison.
3. The design is efficient.

Microgenetic Design
A recent modification of longitudinal approach
A research design in which change is tracked from the time it begins until it stabilizes, as subjects master an everyday or novel task is known as Microgenetic Design.