Beginning Your Choral Research Project

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Beginning Your Choral Research Project

• Brainstorming
• Purpose Statement
• Research Questions
• Review of Literature

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Parts of the Written Research Study

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Review of Literature
• concludes with purpose statement and enumerated
  research questions
• Methods and Procedures
• Results
• Discussion
• Reference List
• Appendices

• 150-250 words (written last)
• Article a paragraph Thesis Chapter 1 (5-12
  pages)
• Article 2-5 pages Thesis Chapter 2 (20-30
  pages minimum)
• Article 2-5 pages Thesis Chapter 3 (whatever
  it takes)
• Article 4-8 pages Thesis Chapter 4 (whatever
  it takes)
• Article 1-3 pages Thesis Chapter 5 (10-15
  pages)

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The formulation of a problem is far more often
essential than its solution, which may be merely
a matter of mathematical or experimental skill.
To raise new questions, new possibilities, to
regard old problems from a new angle requires
creative imagination and marks real advance in
science. --A. Einstein and L. Infeld, The
Evolution of Physics, 1938.
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Parts of the Written Research Study

• Article a paragraph Thesis Chapter 1 (5-12
  pages)
• Article 2-5 pages Thesis Chapter 2 (20-30
  pages minimum)
• Article 2-5 pages Thesis Chapter 3 (whatever
  it takes)
• Article 4-8 pages Thesis Chapter 4 (whatever
  it takes)
• Article 1-3 pages Thesis Chapter 5 (10-15
  pages)

• Introduction
• Review of Literature
• concludes with purpose statement and enumerated
  research questions
• Methods and Procedures
• Results
• Discussion
• Reference List
• Appendices

the heart of the study
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Mapping Your Research Project

• What turns on your curiosity?
• Select a general topic
• Immediately begin your quest for bibliographic
  control
• Formulate several research problems
• Articulate a purpose for this particular study
• Design specific research questions for this
  particular study

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Identify the General Topic

• Choose a problem/issue/question/phenomenon
  important to YOU
• Begin posing a variety of questions
• Rule out yes or no questions, and use why,
  how, or what questions
• Make sure questions are directly related to your
  chosen problem/issue
• Make sure your questions are answerable in some
  fashion
• Brainstorm about the larger issues to generate
  answerable questions

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On what do you focus your research? A problem
or opportunity A puzzle or dilemma Some broad
areas of potential investigation Choral
sound/choral singing/choir acoustics Conducting
Rehearsing Learning Historical
roots Philosophic inquiry Sociological
dimensions
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Purpose Statement
Brainstorming, reviewing related literature,
leading up to a

• Clear development of the purpose statement
  provides logical structure to and a roadmap for
  your study The purpose of this study is
• Make it as specific and as de-limited as possible
• Lean and mean Avoid unrelated or ornamental
  ideas/concepts.
• Revise, Revise, Revise

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Research Questions
Out of the purpose statement come enumerated

• Allow you to specifically define the
  problem/issue and how you will investigate it
• State research questions as clearly and
  specifically/empirically as possible
• What are attitudes of faculty members toward
  choir as a curricular class?
• What are faculty attitudes in my school towards
  choir as a curricular class?
• What are faculty attitudes in my school towards
  choir as a curricular class, as measured by a
  faculty attitude survey?

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Research Questions

• Do faculty attitudes toward choir as a curricular
  class in my school, as measured by a faculty
  attitude survey, differ among those with no
  choral singing experience, less than two years of
  choral singing experience, and those with more
  than five years of choral singing experience?
• Do faculty attitudes toward choir as a curricular
  class in my school, as measured by a faculty
  attitude survey, differ among male and female
  teachers?
• Do faculty attitudes toward choir as a curricular
  class in my school, as measured by a faculty
  attitude survey, differ according to subject area
  taught?

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Definition of Terms
Sometimes, you will need to define certain words
associated with your study.
For example, if the purpose of your study is to
assess the blend of two college choirs, you
will need to define precisely what blend is as
you are using it in your study.
In a thesis or dissertation, these definitions
typically come in Chapter 1, following your
purpose statement and research questions.
In an article, they may either precede or follow
the review of literature.
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Definition of Terms
Such definitions should come where they make the
most sense. They must, however, come before your
methods section.
It is sometimes advisable simply to cite a
definition that you find in the literature.
At other times, however, you may need to define
the term yourself, particularly if you are the
first to coin it for a particular purpose, e.g.,
circumambient.
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Review of Literature

• What have others discovered or undertaken that is
  related to your intended research project?
• Provides context/background to your research
  problem/issue.
• Enables you to reflect upon and dialogue with
  previous approaches as you plan and design your
  project.
• Prevents you from needlessly reinventing the
  wheel.
• Affords you bibliographic control.

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Review of Literature

• Typically constructed as an inverted pyramid
  generally related to most directly related, each
  study cited becoming increasingly more specific
  to the context and conduct of your project.

Smith (2001) investigated music
Generally related studies
Jones (1989) examined choral music
More related
Directly related
Simon and Says (2003) surveyed college choirs
Very specifically related
Jeffers (1966) compared attitudes of male and
female college choir members
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Review of Literature

• Written in past tense
• Initially includes just the facts of each
  study, no overt editorializing or value judgments
• However, the very act of selecting some studies
  and not others, as well as how studies are
  arranged and labeled in your review of
  literature, obviously entails judgments of value
• The point is to make your review of literature an
  implicit, logical argument giving
  background/context to your proposed study, while
  providing factual data that point to coherent
  reasons why both your topic and your methodology
  can contribute to knowledge in the field

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Review of Literature

• For an article, generally 2-5 pages in length.
• For a masters thesis, a minimum of 20 pages.
• For a dissertation, a minimum of 30 pages.
• For some historical and philosophical studies,
  the review of literature need not be a separate
  section or chapter.

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Where to Locate Literature

• The usual suspects database and library
  research sources.
• Dont forget about Dissertation Abstracts
  International.
• Follow up on the reference lists in studies
  related to your topic.
• Follow up, in turn, on the reference lists
  included in THOSE studies, etc.
• Keep adding to and modifying your key terms/words
  as you learn more about your topic.

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Qualitativewords Quantitativenumbers
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Research Planning

• Research Topic What am I interested in?
• Purpose Statement How am I interested in it?
• Research Question What specifically do I want
  to find out?
• Research Strategy How will I come to know and
  evaluate this phenomenon?
• Data Collection What kinds of things will I
  need to collect before I begin? How will I
  collect the data? How often? How long?
• Data ARE plural. Datum is singular.

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Collect Data

• Use any appropriate information that can help you
  answer your question
• Cross-sectional or longitudinal data
• Look for readily available data
• Types of data can be tallies, surveys,
  demographic information, test results,
  observations, interviews, documents, photographs,
  sound recordings, concert programs, etc.

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Replication of a Study

• According to the scientific method, you should be
  able to replicate a study/experiment and obtain
  the same results. Replication is an accepted
  purpose for a study.
• If you find someone else has already conducted
  the study you had in mind and you dont want to
  replicate it, perhaps you can substitute a
  variable or a different procedure and thus still
  contribute to that line of investigation.

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Recommendations for Further Research

• Do not neglect to read the recommendations for
  further research in studies that interest you.
  Often, you may find there a good research idea,
  or something that will prompt you to formulate
  one.