Uplifting Research Story

This is a true story shared by a member of our congregation.

For purposes of privacy I will change the name of the woman involved in this story.  I will call her Jane. 

Jane's mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer while Jane was a young girl.  Her mother bravely agreed to participate in research undergoing treatments that made her very sick.  Unfortunately, the treatments could not save Jane's mother.  When her mother passed away, Jane could not understand why God would allow her mother to go through additional pain and discomfort as a result of trying to help others and then not be saved herself.

Some thirty years later, Jane was diagnosed with a form of ovarian cancer.  She was successfully treated and is now cancer-free.  Jane didn't realize that researchers continued working after her mother's death using the data collected from her mother's trial and made adjustments to the drugs creating a successful cancer treatment.  After studying about the treatment she would be receiving, Jane discovered that the very treatment that would save her life was developed due to her mother's willingness to participate in research.  

Starting My Personal Research Journey

I have decided to research strategies for helping young children develop self-regulation.  I have been a director and teacher of preschoolers for many years and I know there is a great need for effective plans to help children whose emotions overwhelm them and prevent them from developing healthy social interactions or from fully participating in classroom activities.  I am curious to find out what early childhood professionals have found to be true about children with self-regulation issues and about techniques that have proven beneficial for these children. 

The process of research is very new to me so I am using my glossary a lot!  Creating the research chart really helped me focus and take apart what I was learning and put it into my own words. It took me quite a while to clarify my thoughts as to how I wanted to state my subtopic. However, doing the literature review helped me narrow my focus - my original thoughts were too broad.  I searched the ERIC, ProQuest, and Education Research Complete databases for my literature review.  So far, I found more articles pertaining to my topic in Education Research Complete.  What about others?  Has anyone looked outside the Walden Library?  The website I found for our discussion http://www.ecrp.uiuc.edu/ looks like it would be very helpful.  The editor is Lilian Katz.  I didn't see any articles that I could use for my topic, but I am sure that site will be a credible, professional source of research information.