The role of research in the development of the child care profession

This article suggests that there is a strong relationship between the type of research carried out in the child care field and the developmental stages of becoming a profession. The type of research most likely to add knowledge and status to the child care field is that which examines the texture and detail of child care settings.This paper was prepared for a national meeting of the Conference-Research Sequence in Child Care Education supported by Grant No. 5T24 MH 15869-02 from the National Institute of Mental Health, University of Pittsburgh, November 6–9, 1980.