Understanding Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Early Childhood Education

What are the fundamental elements of good quantitative and qualitative education? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach? What does research offer early childhood education? Are quantitative and qualitative approaches compatible? This work presents the research process and its components in a straightforward and accessible manner. Using real examples from early childhood education, William L. Goodwin and Laura D. Goodwin explore various methods of research and show how they may be studied and applied. They examine the major aspects of both quantitative and qualitative paradigms and techniques, stressing the compatability and complementary nature of the two approaches that are so often seen as mutually exclusive if not contradictory.