to considering doing my dissertation on whether nursery care is harmful for young babies?

[purepurple]

I don't want to start a fight but have been mulling over ideas for my dissertation for my early childhood degree and came across this report by unicef www.unicef-irc.org/publications/507 and wonder if it would be a worthwhile subject.
I am interested in attachment theory and also the pressures that modern day families face when choosing when to have children and what to do for the best. I am also interested in brain development and can see that all 3 areas are covered in the report.
Any opinions?

[RitaMorgan]

Totally agree onagar - don't people want nursery care to be improved? Research has pinpointed which areas can be particularly harmful (overcrowding, large groups, adult-child ratios etc) and surely these things allow parents to make better choices for where they send their children?

I'd actually like more knowledge rather than sticking my head in the sand and refusing to admit there could ever be a downside to putting a baby in nursery.

[MurphyWasAnOptimist]

But the point is how you frame the question. After all, these is also evidence that suggests that nurseries can be beneficial. If the OP had asked what is the effect of nurseries on child development, that would have been a value neutral question. BUt to start off with a question about harmful effects suggests that she's not approaching the research impartially

[thereistheball]

I'm coming to this late and don't have time to do more than skim the comments. But I've always thought it pays to look at small subjects in detail rather than try to do too much, as in the OP's original suggestion.

What about conducting a (n anonymised) study into best practice for welcoming a baby into a nursery, focusing on how the nursery puts the baby and parents at ease? You could choose 10 establishments, and spend a month in each, shadowing a key worker as a baby enters their care. Each case study gets a brief (750 word) write-up and you draw your conclusions in the remaining words. When it's finished you give everyone a copy, and in the process you get to know all the local child-care establishments which might be useful to you further down the line.

Just a thought.

[lynehamrose]

All the people who keep banging on about 'don't we want more research and knowledge'- yes, we do, but VALID research! You all seem to be conveniently missing that point.
The op may be well intentioned, but she shows an alarming lack of understanding about the basic premise of proposed research. She does not seem to know that she is showing bias in the way she frames it. I also seriously doubt her assertion that babies are going to nursery younger and younger. With significantly longer ML than ever before, its far more likely that children start nursery later.
No one is suggesting burying our heads in the sand about childcare issues. But if badly thought out work is being masqueraded as valid research (and scarily there is loads out there, though in fairness its usually from people like Steve biddulph, who is more concerned with making a fast buck from badly written books than from people who are studying for its own sake) - then you cannot expect people to take any conclusions seriously

[RitaMorgan]

The OP is an undergraduate student considering what to write her dissertation on. She doesn't need to be proposing valid, groundbreaking research at this point.

[lynehamrose]

No one said it has to be ground breaking.
But valid, yes.
Makes me seriously question why people are being accepted on to degree courses if they don't understand the basics of framing an issue in a non biased way.
No doubt I'll get flamed for saying that but its true. Anyone contemplating study at degree level should know that- blimey, maybe times have changed more than I thought!

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

YABu because it will not be scientific or rigorous - too wide and unmeasurable - are you not aware of that?
Assuming this is a genuine OP - if is as easy as that for you to knock out to get a degree, makes me wonder just how much respect to give a childcare degree.

[FlyingStart]

lynehamrose - be careful. You are begining to sound like me!

[RitaMorgan]

She hasn't framed an issue - she's talked generally about a topic she is interested in.

But you're all right - writing a few lines on a message board is exactly what you have to "knock out" in order to get a degree, and all students should have clear, fully-formed ideas from the start. Definitely no wondering/considering/discussing things allowed.

[lynehamrose]

" considering doing my dissertation on whether nursery care is harmful for young babies"

er, yes, that's framing an issue. In a patently biased manner

[yougivemumsabadname]

I don't think it's a genuine OP - think she just wants to stir up trouble.

[nannynick]

They sound a genuine OP to me, based on their past posting history - for example:
Nursery nurse, studying degree (Feb 2011)
Degree mentioned (Jan 2011)

[porpoisefull]

If your dissertation doesn't have to be directly about child development, I think an interesting one might be what factors influence parents in their choice of nursery and how that compares to what Ofsted measure them on.

[purepurple]

Thanks for all the helpful -and not so helpful- replies. Of course I don't have any idea about research, I've never done any before.
I have been busy looking at lots of different areas and have decided to do my research into children's risk-taking.

[microfight]

you could have a title on the effects of nursery care on young children and This is just off the top of my head.

1. choose some areas to look at behavioural problems sleep problems or clingyness etc and some milestones like walking, speech development and then make sure you can measure each area. for example 24 month old speaks two word sentences 4 words etc.
   
2. Then do the same thing for children not at nursery at all.
   

You could even try to find the optimum nursery hours because it's not just nursery or at home with mum. Some toddlers are in 5 day 10 hour a day childcare others go for a few hours and some not at all. There may be some correlation to be extracted by plotting number of hours at nursery measured against your chosen performance indicators?

This is just a scrambled thought