Abstract
To understand how children grow and how we can enhance their development, we need accurate information. True, we have all experienced childhood ourselves, and have awintuitive sense of what constitutes a good or a bad influence. Few would disagree with the belief that sexual exploitation of children by adults is harmful. However, as often as not, opinions differ on the critical aspectsof early life development. An example of this is the ongoing debate about whether parents should be permitted to smack their children. These disagreements may reflect the fact that our experiences of childhood differ, that we as individuals respond differently to common experiences, or simply that our memory of childhood and our intuition fails us. To resolve these issves requires carefully designed and well-conducted research. Most research on childhood occurs overseas. Much of this chapter will deal with issues that are universal, or at least likely to apply to societies with similar social circumstances, but in the case of some research it will be unclear to what extent the findings are relevant to New Zealand. Research in New Zealand is essential to address the questions that arise out of our particular mix of social, cultural, ethnic, economic, and polltical circumstances. New Zealand research also makes an important contribution to international knowledge. Perhaps most importantly, issues relating to M?ori can only be addressed in New Zealand. This chapter will discuss some approaches to research on child development and show how these have been used in New Zealand. This Is not an attempt to provide a compendium of New Zealand child development research, but rather to illustrate the strengths and disadvantages of different methods. It is hoped that surveying these topics will enable the reader to appreciate the methods used in other chapters of this book.