Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences

Volume 45, 2012, Pages 197-205

open access

Music Education Facing New Challenges

Author links open overlay panelAnttiJuvonenaKimmoLehtonenc
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.06.556Get rights and content

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Abstract
This article focuses on finding new bases for Finnish school music education. It outlines current
music education and points out difficulties that are caused by rapid changes in music culture.
Due to these changes, Finnish music curriculum must find new starting points. We explore the
main ideas about music education and compare them to each other through the historical
development. The conclusions suggest that music education today should be built on music
making and listening. It can no longer be based on traditional frames because it is not familiar to
children of today. Music education should be based on research and new ways of teaching and
learning musical skills and knowledge should guide its practice.

ucation

A Case Study of Issues Concerning Professional Development for Rural

Instrumental Music Teachers
Eugenie I. Burkett

First Published January 6, 2011 Research Article

https://doi.org/10.1177/1057083710393152
Abstract

Current legislation focusing on the professional development (PD) of teachers has

come under closer scrutiny since the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of music specific PD
activities provided as part of a community symphony orchestra’s educational outreach
project on rural instrumental music teachers. Rural music teachers face unique
challenges of time, place, and distance. The problem was to determine the extent to
which rural instrumental music teachers’ attitudes, teaching strategies, and musical
skills are affected through onsite music-oriented PD activities. PD activities designed
specifically for instrumental music teachers appeared to stimulate and improve
teachers’ personal self-development of music and teaching skills. Data indicate that PD
must be oriented toward relevant and useful topics and experiences that spark an
inquisitiveness and continuing curiosity of learning and self-development in teachers,
and to counteract the complacency that may occur from being in a fixed, isolated career
path.

Keywords professional development, adequate yearly progress (AYP), outreach, rural

instrumental music teachers, No Child Left Behind

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esearch
The following module provides a basic overview of descriptive research, including the uses and applications of this
type of research.
Learning Objectives:

 Define and describe descriptive research.

 List and explain the three main types of descriptive methods.
 Discuss the uses and applications of descriptive methodology.
 Provide examples of research questions that could be answered using descriptive methods.
Descriptive research is research used to “describe” a situation, subject, behavior, or phenomenon. It is used to
answer questions of who, what, when, where, and how associated with a particular research question or problem.
Descriptive studies are often described as studies that are concerned with finding out “what is”. It attempts to
gather quantifiable information that can be used to statistically analyze a target audience or a particular subject.
Description research is used to observe and describe a research subject or problem without influencing or
manipulating the variables in any way. Hence, these studies are really correlational or observational, and not truly
experimental. This type of research is conclusive in nature, rather than exploratory. Therefore, descriptive research
does not attempt to answer “why” and is not used to discover inferences, make predictions or establish causal
relationships.

Descriptive research is used extensively in social science, psychology and educational research. It can provide a rich
data set that often brings to light new knowledge or awareness that may have otherwise gone unnoticed or
encountered. It is particularly useful when it is important to gather information with disruption of the subjects or
when it is not possible to test and measure large numbers of samples. It allows researchers to observe natural
behaviors without affecting them in any way. Following is a list of research questions or problems that may lend
themselves to descriptive research:

tive research:

 Market researchers may want to observe the habits of consumers.

 A company may be wanting to evaluate the morale of the staff.
 A school district may research whether or not students are more likely to access online textbooks than to use
printed copies.
 A school district may wish to assess teachers’ attitudes about using technology in the classroom.
 An educational software company may want to know what aspects of the software make it more likely to be
used by students.
 A researcher may wish to study the impact of hands-on activities and laboratory experiments on students’
perceptions of science.
 A researcher could be studying whether or not the availability of hiking/biking trails increases the physical
activity levels in a neighborhood.
In some types of descriptive research, the researcher does not interact with the subjects. In other types, the
researcher does interact with the subjects and collects information directly from them. Some descriptive studies may
be cross-sectional, whereby the researcher has a one-time interaction with the test subjects. Other studies may be
longitudinal, where the same test subjects are followed over time. There are three main methods that may be used
in descriptive research:

 Observational Method – Used to review and record the actions and behaviors of a group of test subjects in
their natural environment. The research typically does not have interaction with the test subject.
 Case Study Method – This is a much more in-depth student of an individual or small group of individuals. It
may or may not involve interaction with the test subjects.
 Survey Method – Researchers interact with individual test subjects by collecting information through the
use of surveys or interviews.
The data collected from descriptive research may be quantitative, qualitative or both. The quantitative data is
typically presented in the form of descriptive statistics that provide basic information such as the mean, median, and
mode of a data set. Quantitative date may also be tabulated along a continuum in numerical form, such as scores on
a test. It can also be used to describe categories of information or patterns of interactions. Such quantitative data is
typically represented in tables, graphs, and charts which makes it user-friendly and easy to interpret. Qualitative
data, such as the type of narrative data collected in a case study, may be organized into patterns that emerge or it
may be classified in some way, but requires more detailed analysis.
The remaining modules in this series will take a more in-depth look at each method and will delve further into the
advantages and disadvantages associated with descriptive research. The following video, Research Methods:
Overview and Descriptive Methods, provides a brief overview of research methods in general and includes a recap of
descriptive research and its uses.

Suggested Readings:

 Bernard, H. R., & Bernard, H. R. (2012). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Sage.
 Burt, C. (1922). Research in education.
 Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage
publications.
 Gall, M. D., Borg, W. R., & Gall, J. P. (1996). Educational research: An introduction . Longman Publishing.
 Knupfer, N. N., & McLellan, H. (1996). Descriptive research methodologies. Handbook of research for
educational communications and technology, 1196-1212.
 Mertens, D. M. (1998). Research methods in education and psychology: Integrating diversity with quantitative
& qualitative approaches.
 Neuman, W. L., & Neuman, W. L. (2006). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches.
 Punch, K. F. (2013). Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Sage.
 Rosenthal, R., & Rosnow, R. L. (1991). Essentials of behavioral research: Methods and data analysis.
McGraw-Hill Humanities Social.
 Svensson, L. (1984). Three Approaches to Descriptive Research.