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inquiry. Constructivism and case study are naturally compatible with my personal values,
beliefs, personality, research interest, and the research question at hand (Heppner &
Heppner, 2004).
The research questions.
According to Moustakas (1990) heuristic research questions should be stated in
simple, clear and concrete terms. The central question that guides this research study is
simply: How does the implementation of an emergent curriculum impact a teacher’s self -
image and practice? Reconstructing my journey as an early childhood educator provided
the tension that precipitated the discovery of this research question. Hubbard and Power
(1993) suggest “often questions for research start with a feeling of tension” (p. 3).
Tension can be produced when common practice is questioned. After questioning the
practice of themes in my own practice, I felt the tension of cognitive dissonance as I
attempted to reconcile past practice with new ideas.
An initial set of sub-questions were created to follow the central question. These
topical questions provided the structure for the data collected from the research
participants. These questions were designed to discover information from the
participants’ specific to image and practice in early childhood education. Cresswell
(1998) used the phrase “topics to be covered” to describe the focus of questions
formulated to cover the need for information (p. 101). These include questions to
illuminate participant’s background, history, experience and knowledge of emergent
curriculum and its impact on their practice and self-image.
A second set of sub-questions addresses the major concerns and perplexities
embedded in the implementation of an emergent curriculum. These secondary questions