This week we discussed more specific steps of Action Research. Merkler stated that there are 4 broad steps: 1) The Planning Stage, 2) The Acting Stage, 3) The Developing Stage, and 4) The Reflecting Stage. Within these 4 broad steps are 9 specific steps.
Within The Planning Stage we have a) identifying and limiting the topic, b) gathering information, c) reviewing the related literature, and d) developing a research plan. These steps help us plan the study that we wish to begin. Within The Acting Stage are steps e) implementing the plan and collecting the data, and f) analyzing the data. These are done while we are researching. The Developing Stage has only one subsection: g) developing an action plan. After the research is analyzed, we must then decide how to put the research to use. The Reflecting Stage has 2 subsections: h) sharing and communicating the results, and i) reflecting on the process. We must share our results. It can be shared with fellow teachers at a faculty meeting or in a journal. In addition, as educators and researchers, we must reflect on what we have learned and how it can be changed. In that sense, Action Research is cyclical. We are always reviewing and changing and gathering more data.
In Phillips' book, "Exploring Research in Music Education and Music Therapy," we discussed The Research Study. Phillips states that there are three main groups of people who do research in music education and therapy: 1) College and University Professors, 2) Teachers and Therapists, and 3) Clinical Researchers.
Phillips then proceeds to break down the research article. The Article always has a title and author(s). The title is important and should give us some idea of what the study involves. It should summarize the main ideas of the study and be 10-12 words at the most. After the title is stated, the names of the author(s) and their place of affiliation should be listed.
Following the title and author(s) is the abstract which provides us a brief summary of what we should expect the study to be about. Then comes the introduction which should answer the following questions: 1) What is the study about? 2) What is the theoretical basic underlying the study? 3) Does the study relate to previous work or literature? 4) Is the need fore the research presented clearly? and 5) Are the research questions clear? (Phillips 21).
The method follows the introduction and describes how the study was conducted. We must have a clear idea of subjects or participants that were included in the study. How many, how they were chosen, gender, grade level, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and grouping factors are all things that should be stated within the article.
Materials should be clearly stated. The Procedures of the study should be listed in detail. That includes how the data was collected and analyzed. Results should follow in both quantitative and qualitative studies. The Discussion should wrap up the article. It should state what was found and how it was interpreted and why. The references end the article in the form of APA.
Phillips goes on to state that there is a factor of trust in an article. We should trust refereed articles more than those who are not peer-reviewed. In addition, he gives us some warning signs that we should be aware of: 1)Technical problems within the article, 2) sampling of the participants, 3) lack of replication (is it a one time study?), 4) conflicts of interest, 5) carelessness (is the article sloppy?), and 6) errors and poor scholarship within the article (Phillips 27-28).
This week, we had to review an article titled, "Career Influences of Music Education Audition Candidates" by David A. Rickels, Wesley D. Brewer, Kimberly H. Councill, William E. Fredrickson, Michelle Hairston, David L. Perry, Ann M. Porter, and Margaret Schmidt. The article was incredibly interesting and really pertained to what we do as teachers. The authors discovered that the most influential person on whether a student becomes a music education major or not, is the student's high school music ensemble teacher. The students usually audition to become a high school teacher in whatever their primary background is: either chorus, orchestra, or band. This is consistent with many other studies that were performed on undergraduate students who stated the same reasons for becoming music education majors. In addition, the authors state that some communication about careers in music is done by high school teachers and that was an influence on students as well. However, not a lot of communication on careers in music is done in the earlier grades and that should be changed in order to inspire students to become general music teachers.
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