Beginning Your Choral Research Project
Brainstorming
Purpose Statement
Research Questions
Review of Literature
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)
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.
Parts of the Written Research Study
• Introduction
• Review of Literature
– concludes with purpose
statement and enumerated
research questions
• Methods and Procedures
• Results
• Discussion
• Reference List
• Appendices
• Article: a paragraph; Thesis:
Chapter 1 (5-12 pages)
• Article: 2-5 pages; Thesis:
Chapter 2 (20-30 pages
minimum)
the heart of the study
• 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)
Mapping Your Research Project
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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
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
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
Brainstorming, reviewing related literature, leading up to a
Purpose Statement
• 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
Out of the purpose statement come enumerated
Research Questions
• 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?
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?
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.
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.”
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.
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.
Generally related studies
More related
Directly related
Very specifically related
Smith (2001) investigated
music
Jones (1989) examined
choral music
Simon and Says (2003)
surveyed college choirs
Jeffers (1966) compared
attitudes of male and
female college choir
members
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
Review of Literature
• For an article, generally 2-5 pages in length.
• For a master’s 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.
Where to Locate Literature
• The “usual suspects”: database and library research sources.
• Don’t 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.
Qualitative=words
Quantitative=numbers
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.
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.
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 don’t want to replicate it, perhaps you can
substitute a variable or a different procedure and thus still
contribute to that line of investigation.
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.