Chapter 1

Overview of Music Therapy Research

What is Research?

• Gfeller – “disciplined or systematic inquiry”

• Bruscia – “a systematic, self-monitored inquiry which leads to discovery or new insight, which, when documented and disseminated, contributes to or modifies existing knowledge or practice”

Four Basic Steps of All Research1. Make clear statement of the

purpose and aspects under investigation

2. Select method that is clearly described and justified

2. Report the results3. Draw conclusions that are related

to existing knowledge

Epistomological Questions

• What is a legitimate object of study?• What is the relationship between the

knower and the known?• What is the nature of causality?• What is meant by truth in research?• Is objectivity possible? (desirable?)

Professional Tasks (Not Research)

• Clinical work• Documentation• Write about or discuss clinical work

(communicate)

Research Journals in MT1970-1990

• 1970 – One: JMT• 1980 – Two: JMT and Canadian

Journal• 1990 – Six: JMT, Canadian Journal,

Music Therapy, Music Therapy Perspectives, British Journal, Australian Journal

Books About MT Research

• 1970 – Experimental Research in Music (Madsen and Madsen)

• 1993 – Music Therapy Research 1st edition (Wheeler)

• 1996 – Music Therapy Research and Practice in Medicine (Aldridge)

• 1996 – Qualitative Music Therapy Research (Langenberg, et al)

• 1997 – Multiple Perspectives (Smeijsters)• 2001 – Beginning Research in the Arts

Therapies (Ansdell & Pavlicevic)

Goals

• Research: Modify the way things are done or thought about

• Clinical Practice: Conduct clinical work and communicate about it.

Reciprocal Relationships

Research Theory

Practice

Relationship Between Research and Theory

• Theory provides a structure for all clinical work (even if it is not well-developed or articulated)

• Research serves as a foundation for theory development or the result of it

Relationship Between Research and Practice

• The results of research inform and shape practice

• Questions arising from practice generate research projects

Relevance

• Are there problems applying the results of research directly to clinical practice?

• Does the current research address the populations and issues with whom clinicians work?

• Do music therapists have access to journals in which MT-related studies are being published? (nursing, rehab, neuroscience, education, etc.)

Reasons for Lack of Relevance• Perhaps students are not taught to

understand and appreciate the value of research?

• Perhaps clinicians are not motivated to read research?

• Perhaps the research is prohibitive to read, understand, and apply?

• Perhaps quantitative research methods do not yield information that is applicable to creative, generative, “psyche” work?

Early Contributors to MT Theory

• Gaston (1968)• Sears (1968)• Ruud (1973)

More Recent Contributors

• Kenny (1989)• Aigen (1991)• Bruscia (1995, 1998)• Edwards (1999)• Stige (2002)

Basic Research

• Also called “pure” or “fundamental” research

• Research conducted for the sake of gaining knowledge, without a focus on practical application (medicine, pscyhology)

• Examples: How the brain processes music, How people form musical preferences, etc.

Applied Research

• Conducted in order to solve a practical problem

• Subjects (participants) are typically “real” populations (people with MR, patients with cancer, etc.)

• MT assessment, treatment, and evaluation studies are applied

Historical Research

• “the systematic study of past practices, materials, institutions, and people involved in therapeutic applications of music”

Experimental Research

• Used to determine cause-effect relationships

• Conditions are controlled by the researcher

• Many different types

Descriptive Research

• Does not seek to control or manipulate variables, simply measure or record them

• Includes • 1) survey research • 2) correlational research and • 3) case studies and longitudinal

studies

Theoretical/ Philosophical Research• Involves speculation, analysis, critique• “analyze and contextualize theory,

research, and practice within the history of ideas” (Bruscia)

• Uses exposition and argument as a primary mode of inquiry and presentation

Quantitative Paradigm

• Quantitative = Positivistic Paradigm, concerned with natural phenomena as verified by the empirical sciences

• Inductive-experimental reasoning dates to 17th century (nature is consistent and not random)

• Truth exists and it is possible to discover it with controlled scientific methods

Qualitative Paradigm

• Qualitative = Nonpositivistic Paradigm, concerned with multiple constructions or perspectives of a phenomenon

• There is no single, static truth• The knower and the known are

inseperable• Values are central to investigation• Kant – human knowing is dependent

upon what goes on inside

Mixed Methods

• Incorporates quantitative and qualitative methods

• Purists argue against mixing• Pragmatists base methodological

decisions upon practicality• Dialectics embrace juxtaposition as a

means of generating more complete and insightful understanding

Final Comments

All kinds of research…

historicalexperimentaldescriptivetheoretical/philosophical

can be conducted usingquantitative and/or qualitative perspectives