Research-Based Education
While there is no doubt that some of the best learning is a result of hands-on experience, educators must not neglect the input of others when it comes to teaching methods. An omelet may require a few broken eggs, but student experiences cannot be casually discarded quite as easily. If Humpty Dumpty, typically depicted as an egg, was unable to be fixed by the best minds of the kingdom, how can anyone expect to undo academic damage done to students?
The obvious answer is through preventative measures; with such weight given to these student outcomes, educators must take the necessary precautions. Just as primary care medicine is supposed to prevent more serious medical problems, research-based educational methods are needed to ensure that students are led to desired outcomes. Nothing as important as the future generations of mankind should be left to chance when at all possible. Because of this, we need to build upon knowledge gained by others. Where others have tried and failed, we should be taking note as to not continue to make the same mistakes: avoiding documented failures and learning from success stories.
This concept alone should not require graduate level education to figure out. In fact, my guess is that human beings have been learning from each other’s mistakes since hunter-gatherer times. When somebody eats a newly discovered berry and immediately dies, it would be safe to avoid that berry. No doubt this practice has been used by countless generations, as evidenced by the size of modern society. However, more in-depth, graduate-level research is needed when more variables are introduced. If somebody eats a poisonous berry and dies several days later, it is much harder to identify the berry as the culprit, if at all. Here lies the importance of research-based methodology. Through careful and thorough documentation of every known variable, a more complete picture can be seen, and hopefully, a more concrete conclusion can be reached (Morling, 2020). Even when no conclusion can be reached, leaving a comprehensive paper trail can help other researchers find answers for which they are searching.
With the invention and advancement of the internet, there should be no reason to neglect checking the collective archives before making educational choices. One can find examples of prior trials and view the results before implementing new methods in the classroom. Although a centralized availability of research documents should yield a plethora of models to follow, one must be able to sift through the results and verify whether they can be of any use. Without an understanding of what makes those results sound, an educator could draw incorrect conclusions and cause further damage to the students.
Before learning the best practices for analyzing research documents, I would have had no idea where to start. These publications can often be very intimidating. By knowing how to extract information from research papers, educators can more quickly and efficiently find data pertinent to their desired outcomes (Pyrczak & Bruce, 1992). I had never heard of an abstract before taking classes at the graduate level, and this tiny bit of knowledge alone has completely changed my approach to reading research papers: imagine having no idea to read the back cover of a book before diving into an epic novel. Thankfully, there are also conventions to follow when identifying different sections of a study. With assignments such as these, I was able to begin my research practices through directed exploration. Locating the purpose statement, sample population, methodology, measures, and conclusions before attempting to decipher the results, especially statistics, can really streamline the process of determining whether the text is relevant to one’s needs.
Besides simply identifying these parts of a study, one must understand how to carefully evaluate the sections to determine if the research is worthwhile. A thorough literature review will indicate that the researcher has already investigated the presently available research. If important studies on the matter have already been conducted, but the experiment in question does nothing to acknowledge the other work, it would be wise to, at the very least, consider how they compare. Identifying the sample population may be one of the more important steps in determining if the study is relevant to what one is doing: a very small population may indicate qualitative research, whereas a large population would indicate quantitative research. Qualitative studies may raise relevant questions or hypotheses about a subject, but the small population typically leads to insignificant, if any, statistical results. Quantitative research, with typically much larger sample sizes, can yield more applicable results, statistics with higher power, and stronger arguments toward application. Still, one must properly evaluate the make-up of the sample to determine how similar it is to the sample in which they are interested. Furthermore, examining how a study measured its data is vital to its outcome. Without properly understanding the effect of a measurement, the resulting information could be drastically misinterpreted. In the case of measures, it is best to rely on established methods and only make small adjustments when necessary. In this example, I referred to an existing measure of music performance anxiety in adolescence that accounted for participants’ somatic and cognitive features, performance context, and evaluation from both the performer and audience. Using performance context as the isolated variable, I intended to determine its correlation, if any, to the other measured factors of anxiety through four different contexts.
The ability to verify an experiment’s validity and reliability will truly define the value of the results and conclusions (Houser, 2019). With a determined population and measuring system, how do the researchers proceed? Understanding all the factors that can affect the results and choosing the correct experimental design to isolate the desired variables can cause dramatic differences to a study’s outcome—especially when the smallest statistical disparities can completely alter the researcher’s conclusions. Careful planning of a study can be imperative to the success of an experiment; like the process of media recording, not everything can be fixed in post-production. With this much significance, even the planning phase requires practice. Of course, it is nearly impossible to control for every tiny variable, but a simple acknowledgement of these additional influences can add more weight to the author’s inferences. If the study is repeated exactly, will the results be reproduced? How will changing the sample population affect the outcome? What happens if different variables are used? By considering these questions before designing the study, a researcher has a better chance of controlling the variables and produce more meaningful results.
Learning about research methods has helped me to not only sort through available research but to apply it to my own practices. The purpose of a literature review is to exhaust the existing experiments that are relevant to one’s hypotheses or research questions. In many cases, reading the existing studies can lead to answers and prevent a waste of time and resources. Some topics, like historical perspectives for example, can produce definitive results; sometimes more questions are generated. Not until one does the research will they know in which category their questions lie. This example of an annotated bibliography led me to strong narrative about the history of music pedagogy, while my other research regarding music performance anxiety left me unsatiated and wanting more. If no more significant studies can be found and hypotheses or questions remain, it is time to design an experiment. Practical application within a classroom setting may not yield significant enough statistics to make an impact on the academic community at large, but understanding the proper way to execute a study will ensure the best possible results for this setting. While my earliest attempt at a research paper may not have been thoroughly informed, continual practice and refinement will lead to more substantial outcomes. Additionally, a sound experimental design that can be replicated may still be of use to others, keeping in mind that each successful reproduction can further strengthen, or weaken, the initial outcome.
Even among informal purposes, having a strong grasp of research methodology can alter one’s entire outlook on life. Understanding the difference between correlation and cause-and-effect can help inform daily choices. Is my new mattress the cause of my current unrest or is it a result of stress from a new job? Without a formal study taking place, it would be wise to document data in a manner that helps me decide before my warranty expires. In music, this can help determine something as seemingly insignificant as when to change a reed or buy a different brand. Students, and even I, can truly be perplexed when a passage practiced is unable to be reproduced in a private lesson. Rather than continuing down the same path of failure, a research perspective can help one determine what steps to take for a better result. This self-shaping project instructed me to document results while trying to improve my work-out habits; in the end, I was able to determine that the assignment grade acted as a stronger motivating factor than the reward system I had chosen. As unfortunate as the outcome turned out, the entire process increased my self-awareness and, more importantly, my awareness of threats to validity.
While research methods will vastly improve my future educational endeavors, it may be the theme to have the greatest impact on my entire worldview. Through this lens, I can see all things clearer. Understanding how to decipher what I am reading, knowing how to design my own experiments, or using this approach to draw a line between skepticism and conspiracy, the application of research methodology will continue to present itself in my daily life.
Daniel F. Galarneau 