DT>I have noticed for example, that 5 year old children who enter
DT>kindergarten able to write their names correctly, will nearly always go 
DT>through a period where they write their names _backwards._   Eventually 
DT>they will return to writing their names left-to-right.  I have drawn 
DT>some conclusions regarding this backward writing and believe it has to 
DT>do with perceptual development.  If I wanted to conduct a study I would 
DT>systematically collect information that would tell me how common this 
DT>backward phase is.  I hypothesize that it is as high as 90%.  I have 
DT>never conducted a study but if I did, I would not need a control group 
DT>here (who can really control 5-year-olds anyway?  ).  
I'm not sure what your conclusion might be, but my own
commonsense tells me that kids would have no way of knowing
right from left initially, and would be as likely to read
and write one way as the other.  If kids were "wrong" 50% of 
the time, over the course of observation I would expect to 
see 100% of the kids be wrong at SOME point in time, except 
for those who picked up the proper skills before I saw them.  
I'm not sure what conclusion to draw from this other than 
that a person is likely to do wrong what they've never 
learned to do before...
DT>Such an approach can be a very valid research too.  
No... It cannot be valid research, and may not result in
valid conclusions..  It's informed guessing...
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