In the Mertler and Phillips textbooks, both chapters discussed action research and narrowing a topic. The comments made by the authors were very similar. Both authors stated that identifying a topic for research was a vitally important step in the research process because it is very easy to choose a topic that is too broad or too narrow for legitimate research. Mertler listed several helpful ways to identify a topic by area, such as "trying a new teaching method," "identifying a problem," and "examining an area of interest." From there, the researcher should look at specific categories which he also listed.
Mertler discussed preliminary considerations that the researchers should take when choosing a topic, including limiting the topic. I found these interesting and applicable to my own studies. In undergraduate music history, an assignment was given for us to write a paper on absolutely anything we wanted within music history from 1825-present day. It was extremely overwhelming and difficult for me to choose a topic. If I had known to think about his steps, my paper may have been much simpler to research and write because I would have begun with a simple enough topic. Instead of talking to teachers or other students, reading through and thinking about my closest interests within music history, and reflecting on my own experience and knowledge, I chose "Wagner" and read everything I could find, which was approximately ten full-length biographies. It took far too much time to research because my topic was not specific enough and I did not have enough background information when I began. Knowing these things now, if I am to begin an action research project with my students, I will follow Mertler's suggestions.
A large portion of this week's reading was devoted to narrowing a research topic by reviewing the related literature, and therefore discovering what needed additional research. Mertler discussed primary and secondary sources and excellent databases for researchers to try, and gave a simple method for writing a good literature review.
The Phillips reading was entirely focused on action research and its three types/genres. He called the genres technical, practical, and emancipatory. He seemed to imply that emancipatory was the best method because it allowed the teacher and researcher to work closely together without a hierarchy of position, resulting in more success from both parties.
Slightly different from the focus of the rest of this week's activities was an interesting video about the music education researcher of the week: Pamela Burnard from the University of Cambridge. In the video, she was discussing the general ideas behind her new book about musical creativities. The video provided some insightful and interesting points about assumptions that music educators and others make about the definition of musical creativity and how many kinds there are. Ms. Burnard mentioned that there is not one kind of musical creativity, and she encouraged her listeners/watchers/readers to self-reflect about their ideas of musical creativity, including to think about something in music in which the person excels, and consider the how's, where's, or who's. The self-reflection can open a new world for the music educator to be creative in musical creativity activities with his/her students.
From the the week's introduction video, it was defined that "literature" in music education involves the journals and scholarly publications that report research findings. The main project of the week was to find literature using the library's online resources, which provided to be a helpful (albeit frustrating at times) experience for future research exploration.
During the scavenger hunt project, I found myself frustrated often by the learning curve. I would often choose too specific or too general search terms. It took several searches before I realized that I could actually look within a specific database for articles or books relevant to a specific topic, even though I watched all of the introduction videos several times. This was especially important to understand as many of the questions involved music education-specific topics to research, and the databases provided just specific enough research. However frustrated I became with my inability to find what I needed right away, with each question, I moved a little faster, proving that the scavenger hunt was fulfilling its purpose to help me practice using the UF library online resources to locate the literature in music education.
I look forward to using the information gathered this week in my future research endeavors, as it is certain that they will provide useful.
References
Phillips, K.H. (2008). Exploring research in music education and music therapy. New York
Oxford University Press.
Mertler, C.A. (2012). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators. Los
Angeles: Sage Publications.
Nice post. I'm sure the time you spent in honing your skills during the Scavenger Hunt will pay off as you begin working on your Review of Literature.
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