Research in Music Teaching

1
Research in Music Teaching

• Miksza - Fall 08
• WEEK TWELVE
• Writing Final Reports

2
Organizing the Data

• Come up with a plan for coding and entering data
• Code and enter data
• Create a list of analyses needed for pertinent
  descriptive and demographic information regarding
  the sample
• Create a list of analyses for descriptive,
  correlational, and comparative results needed to
  answer the research questions
• Sketch out a general format for how the
  descriptive, correlational, and comparative
  results will be summarized in tables
• Run the analyses

3
Method

• Revise the method to reflect your data collection
• Include demographic information on the actual
  sample
• Number of participants, gender, age, grade, years
  teaching, schools, instruments played, years
  played instruments, other information collected,
  etc.
• Include measurement reliability and/or validity
  information derived from your data
• Re-write the procedure to reflect any changes
  that may have occurred or issues that may have
  arisen during data collection

4
Results

• Organizing the data
• Descriptive information
• Present descriptive information
• Include central tendency and dispersion
  statistics appropriate for your data (nominal,
  ordinal, interval, ratio)
• For example, for some cases it will be more
  important to include percentages, for others
  medians, for others, means, etc.
• Similarly, for some cases standard deviations
  will be reported for others ranges, etc.
• Present descriptive statistics for all measures
  in tables
• Discuss the descriptive results that stand out in
  the text and refer to those that do not in the
  tables
• For example, only use manuscript space to
  describe general trends and extreme values in the
  text

5
Results

• Organizing the data
• Statistics relevant to your research questions
• This should generally follow the descriptive
  information
• Correlational Information
• Correlations should be presented in a
  matrix/table relevant to the research questions
• Only discuss those that are statistically
  significant in the text. Refer the reader to the
  table for other trends.
• Mark those that are significant with plt.05,
  plt.01, plt.001
• If many are statistically significant, conserve
  space and discuss those with practical
  significance. Refer the reader to the table for
  those that are of minimal practical significance.
• When discussing significant correlations be sure
  to include
• Direction, strength, practical significance
• If applicable to the study, follow correlational
  results with those related to mean or group
  comparisons (see next slide)

6
Results

• Organizing the data
• Statistics for mean or group comparisons
• Present tables for mean comparisons or group
  comparisons
• Report only significant results in the text
• Report p values in the table for the significant
  results, and insert NS in the p value column for
  non-significant results
• Be sure to include
• Direction which group was significantly higher
  or lower than the others
• Strength how large was this difference
• Practical significance/Effect size does this
  result have practical meaning
• Refer the reader to the table for general trends
  of non-significance

7
Results

• Save interpretations of results for the
  discussion
• Be clear and economical with language
• See APA for rules on making tables
• In general, the table label is in plain text, the
  title of the table is in italics with only the
  first word italicized.
• Use font no smaller than 10pt
• Use 1.5 line spacing in the body of the table
• Align the numbers in each column by decimal point
• Italicize all statistical abbreviations
• Avoid bold type
• There should not be excessive horizontal or
  vertical lines only one below the title and one
  at the bottom of the table
• If abbreviating variables, provide a key for each
  abbreviation at the bottom of the table in the
  format Note achperformance achievement,
  anxperformance anxiety, etc.
• If statistical significance is reported include a
  key at the bottom of the table plt.05, plt.01,
  plt.001

8
Discussion

• Summarize the purpose of the study
• Organize the discussion by research question
• Dedicate space to interpreting the results that
  are most salient to the research questions
• Do not include any numbers
• Speak to the practical significance of the
  primary findings
• Try to interpret the findings without using
  overly complex or technical language

9
Discussion

• Discuss primary findings in terms of previous
  literature
• Do they
• Support/confirm the previous findings
• Contrast with previous findings
• If they are contrasting, speculate as to why that
  might be
• Consider the studies included in your
  introduction
• Cite the previous studies in the text as you go
• Be specific when referring to previous
  literature

10
Discussion

• Discuss whether the findings suggest avenues for
  future research
• What should be done next to shed further light on
  the research questions?
• What issues are left unresolved in your study?
• What methodological changes could be made?
• What other populations should be investigated?

11
References

• Start this on a separate page
• List only those studies/documents that were cited
• Put them in alphabetical order
• Indent from the second line on for each citation

12
Tables/Figures

• Choose whether to include tables and figures
  inline as they are referred to in the text or at
  the end of the document
• Tables included inline make it easier to
  understand but harder to format and vice versa

13
General APA Format Tips

• 1 inch margins
• Number pages on top right
• Include a header abbreviating the title
• Include a cover page
• Title, Author, Institution (pg 1)
• Include an abstract
• Purpose, sample, measures/procedure, findings (pg
  2)
• MAIN BODY of MANUSCRIPT
• Introduction (pg 3 and on)
• Method
• Results
• Discussion
• References
• Tables (if not inline)
• Appendix
• Any materials that you feel are necessary to
  understand the study but do not fit within the
  manuscript either for space or writing flow