Module 8 - Course Overview

Research in Music Education has come to a close.  This course was extremely beneficial to me in regards to the organization and methodology of formal research at a professional level.  Thanks to this course, I feel prepared to begin my research toward a topic for my Capstone Project or Thesis.  The following post is an overview of the major points of the course.

The course focused on the difference between qualitative and quantitative research, and also mentioned that there is a possibility for mixed-methods research.  Qualitative research involves more narrative uses of data and requires significantly more time to analyze and process through.  It can include hundreds of pages of notes from observations which require ample time to organize.  Quantitative research involves numerical data and can be much simpler to analyze.  Mixed-methods research involves both quantitative and qualitative data, which may seem like a daunting task, but could end with much more helpful information for the person who is reading the study.  It was helpful within the course to be given the opportunity to read about and try both quantitative and qualitative data.

Another major focus of the course was on the parts that are required in a research study.  Particularly in the Mertler (2012) text, the course gave specific layouts for action research projects, how to do them, and what steps should be taken.  It is obvious from the study of the Mertler text that action research projects are "up-and-coming" and are vital to the success of teacher-researchers, who need to research to improve teaching methods and effectiveness but are so often faced with extreme time constraints due to overbooked schedules.  I am very interested to incorporate some action research projects into my classroom as a music teacher, because I believe it will improve my teaching and it will improve the learning of my students.

The course also contained an element where the students were given the opportunity to learn about some famous music education researchers.  I was very happy during these short videos to discover that I had heard of all of the music education researchers in my past experience in undergraduate work or in professional development.  The information about current music education researchers was inspiring, as it showed the students in the course that we could someday research the same way that those researchers have, and that we could make a significant impact on music education in the future.

The most important, vital, and meaningful part of the course was the opportunity to actually delve into research that we chose ourselves.  I was able to choose a topic (literacy/fluency and music instruction) that directly affects me right now as a music teacher and do research that will influence my school district (kind of like action research).  It was excellent to experiment with studying research through a topic that is directly important to my current job situation.  There are not many courses that offer this opportunity, so I truly appreciated that.  Choosing a topic can so often be the most difficult part of research, and it was very helpful to read Philips (2008) and Mertler (2012)'s views on how to narrow the topic just enough but not too much.

Overall, this was one of the most tedious courses I have ever taken, but it was also one of the most beneficial and important.  I am appreciative of the opportunity to learn about music education research through this course.

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.