Writing and Publishing Qualitative Studies in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

When a study is published in a respected professional journal, it not only verifies that the research has been completed but also that it has been subjected to anonymous peer review. Published results from studies in early childhood education contribute to the field’s knowledge and provide direction to guide future early childhood education research studies. Early childhood education researchers have become confident in conducting qualitative studies to offer data-based results that can contribute to early childhood theory, research, policy, and practice. Qualitative studies can be written in several ways. Researchers use the purpose of the study, research questions, theoretical framework, and preferred writing style to select the appropriate format. This article provides a format that is simple and acceptable to encourage beginning and inexperienced researchers to write a publishable qualitative research report. It discusses several sections of an article including: title, abstract, introduction, purpose of the study, research questions, review of the literature, research methodology, informants, data collection methods, data analyses, data verification, results, discussion, and references. Each of these sections is discussed and illustrated with excerpts from manuscripts that were published previously by the author.