Lillard et al. (2013) have done a thorough review of published pretend play research from the past 50 plus years. However, they did not thoroughly address the reasons why this body of research has such flaws as well as the contradictory or minimal findings that call into question strongly held views and published assertions regarding the…

We greatly appreciate the astute comments on Lillard et al. (2013) and the opportunity to reply. Here we point out the importance of keeping conceptual distinctions clear regarding play, pretend play, and exploration. We also discuss methodological issues with play research. We end with speculation that if pretend play did not emerge because it…

This paper challenges the approach that we traditionally take to research (in the realm of Early Childhood) within our colleges and universities. It asks why we have obediently adopted an outmoded and entirely inappropriate approach to research which disempowers and alienates the practitioners that we are working with. This paper calls for Early…

In this commentary, developments related to conducting randomized controlled trials in authentic preschool settings that include young children with disabilities are discussed in relation to the Strain and Bovey study.

This article addresses the ambiguity of the child's "voice" in social research. Drawing on a recent research project on young children's communication difficulties, the author argues that the currently popular discourse on "listening to children" is beset with practical and ethical ambiguities that result from the "socialness" of human…

The authors of a research report (1999) on the diagnosis of stuttering in young children respond to a critical letter by questioning the accuracy, validity, credibility, and internal consistency of the letter writer's criticisms. The reply goes on to clarify the evaluation of stuttering-like disfluencies and single-syllable word repetitions in…

This letter critiques a research report (Ambrose and Yairi, 1999) on diagnosis of stuttering in young children, especially the methodological issues concerned with subject selection criteria that excluded borderline cases and the use of a weighting procedure to eliminate group overlap. Also noted is the failure to distinguish between stuttering…

This response to a letter (EC 627 691) critical of the authors' research report (1999) on the diagnosis of stuttering in young children defends their subject selection criteria, justifies their use of a weighted measure of stuttering-like disfluencies, and notes continuing disagreement concerning the difference between stuttering and disfluency.…

Comparisons of research on theory of mind and on social development yield divergent conclusions regarding children's awareness of others' internal states. This divergence reflects differences in methodology of the two models and in researchers' framing of the problem of understanding others' mental states. Argues that children's understandings of…

This paper considers methodological issues related to the independent variable in early intervention research. Three standards are proposed: (1) use theory to guide research; (2) provide operational definitions of independent variables, quantify them, and describe how they relate to theory; and (3) measure treatment fidelity. Three levels of…

The outcomes of collaboration provide an incomplete and potentially misleading picture of cognitive change, one that is clarified by examining the collaborative processes themselves. Results from a study illustrate the dangers of focusing solely on the consequences of collaboration and emphasize why the analysis of collaborative processes is…

Participant experience is a research method dialogically based on respect for the child. Researchers step inside the landscape of the child to share a life-form. Through an engaged body-presence they experience the atmosphere and meanings from within as they are perceived in a common horizon. (Author/LHW)

The paper reviews three conceptual issues pertinent to understanding of current outcome data on effects of early intervention for disabled children: (1) intervention and assessment assumptions in early intervention research, (2) political and ethical concerns regarding cost-effectiveness of early intervention, and (3) the weight of evidence…

Gives an overview of the 10 research articles in this issue. Notes that all studies in this issue examine child behavior from a perspective that views behavior as mediated by social context, challenging the logical positivism of conventional experimentation. (MM)