Module 4 - The Literature, Design, Ethnics, & Qualitative Inquiry

This week was a busy one in Research in Music Education.  The objectives were to develop a research topic and research questions, begin to review the literature related to research topics, describe the characteristics of various research designs, discuss the ethical considerations when conducting research, and explain the attributes of qualitative research.

Developing a research topic and research questions, it turns out, are rather difficult!  There is a lot of preliminary research that needs to happen before the researcher can choose a final topic.  In fact, from the reading assignments this week, researchers often develop and change their already developed research topic and questions according to what is found during the literature review.  I have already found this to be true, as my topic is developing to be more specific from the preliminary research I am conducting for my review of literature project.

I began my review of literature this week by searching through several databases in a similar fashion to our project from last week.  Because my topic is related to music and literacy, I chose to search through ERIC first for general fluency articles.  I found it very effective to look through an article’s own references section and review of literature to find further research applicable to my project.  The ERIC results were very overwhelming, no matter how I specified the search results.  I chose about 20 articles just about fluency to review.  Then I decided to try out the IIMP database, where I found another 20 articles or so related to music and literacy studies.  Finally, I searched through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database, where I found a project that is extremely similar to the one that I was planning to implement.  It was this dissertation that I chose for my article review.  I am planning to spend the next few days reading article after article quickly to decipher which will work best for honing my topic and study.

Another focus this week was to describe the characteristics of various research designs.  The readings related to quantitative and qualitative research designs first.  Quantitative designs are more specific and can contain hypotheses, according to Mertler (2012), while qualitative designs are more open-ended.  Quantitative research designs include descriptive, correlational, and group comparisons designs.  Quantitative research designs include case studies, including observational case studies, observational studies, or the constant comparative method. The research design is a very important part of an overall study, as it will set the tone for all further research and methods.

Ethnical considerations when conducting research are very important.  A researcher should be particularly careful to never endanger any subjects in any way, whether emotionally or physically.  It is also important to keep the anonymity of the subjects so that they do not feel threatened or uncomfortable by the publications of the results.  Many research projects are tested for ethics and require proof of ethical behavior before being allowed by universities.

Additionally, this week we learned about a music education researcher named Dr. Robert Woody.  His video was fascinating.  He provides a course for his senior music education majors related to pop music.   I found myself rather jealous as I watched his students enjoy themselves performing on instruments such as acoustic and electric guitars, piano, bass, and drumset.  His students were taking this course to learn more about popular music so that when they became teachers, they could incorporate the knowledge into their classrooms and relate better to their students.  I would have greatly enjoyed a course like this, and I found have found it profoundly helpful in teaching and connecting popular music to the more formal classic training that I received.

In conclusion, this week was full of important information and research toward both general knowledge of music education research and the specific knowledge required to begin to complete a research project.

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.