In fall 2022, I took the course PSYC 433 Child Psychology. In this course, we were required to complete two research projects, one of which had to involve direct observation of a child. For this observation project, I was to observe an infant under 18 months of age for 30 minutes while making note of the infant’s development, perception, and locomotion. This assignment aimed to aid in students in developing observational skills and to compare those observations with existing literature on child development.

 

I was able to complete this project through my instructor’s connection to

the Children’s House, an on  campus childcare center at MNSU Mankato, which allowed students to observe the children for various course projects. Since I watched the infant through a window in which I was not very visible, this was an excellent chance for me to utilize naturalistic observation, a research method which is very prominent in the field of child psychology. Although many infants were observable, I mainly focused on a 7-month-old male, who I refer to using the pseudonym Jack. After observing his physical appearance, motor development, and reflexes, I compared and contrasted the data I collected with the existing literature presented through the course.

 

Each step of this project’s process allowed me to practice and experience various aspects of the research procedure. This was also one of the first times I was able to conduct research with a participant in person, rather than virtually. Although I did not interact with the infant at all, it was a very different from my past experiences of conducting surveys through Qualtrics. I'm thankful for the opportunity to apply research methods that I had only previously read about, and I look forward to using the information I gained in any possible future experiences with observational research.

 

Attached below is the full paper I wrote for this project.