 Action Research and Evaluation for the Arts in Healthcare Presented by Barbara C. Memory, Ph.D., MT-BC, Director of Music Therapy, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 
Most of us who help people through the arts know that scientific research is what brings new programs, new techniques, more access to effective treatment, and more jobs for service providers. But scientific research requires big grant funding, hiring research assistants, big chunks of time, and advanced skills in designing an experiment, collecting data in carefully controlled lab environments, and elaborate statistical analyses. Also, it seems that working with people in medical environments, people that have special needs and unique circumstances, doesn’t fit the clinical controls of science.
Or is there another way that we in NC Arts for Health can advance science, improve access to health care, and create jobs? The answer for us lies in QUALITATIVE RESEARCH – or action research. By applying simple data collection techniques and measurable goals, we can document the ways our patients respond to the arts, and contribute to the science of health care.Qualitative research posits that important human characteristics, including emotions, values, personal relationships, creative and artistic endeavors, and coping with illness, trauma, or disability, cannot be understood by looking at numbers derived from observations of randomly assigned subjects. Qualitative research, action research, allows in-depth study of individuals and groups, looking at many factors that influence recovery and well-being. Rather than starting with pre-determined hypotheses and categories for data, the qualitative researcher, often a participant in the process, seeks to discover, rather than to test, explanatory theories. The researcher can thus examine real-life, complex, open-ended, and dynamic relationships, often using the words of subjects. Qualitative methods are not linear (with a clear beginning, middle, and end stages), but go back and forth between the stages of posing questions, collecting data, and writing up results. These methods are similar to the therapeutic process wherein on-going assessment, revision of clinical objectives, and documentation form a dynamic cycle. Although the merits of quantitative vs. qualitative research are still argued vociferously, human service professionals agree that using stringent standards for design, ethics, etc. is paramount. The University of Georgia College of Education, Continuing Education Division, sponsors a three-day Qualitative Research Conference every January, bringing in hundreds of researchers from diverse disciplines. SAGE Publications, in Thousand Oaks, CA, and New York, has specialized in qualitative research texts. Three current and superior resources are: Padgett, D. I. (1998). Qualitative methods in social work research: Challenges and rewards. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Strauss, A & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory, Procedures, and techniques. New York: SAGE Publications. Stringer, E. T. (1996). Action research: A handbook for practitioners. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA, Silver Spring, MD; www.musictherapy.org) publishes two research journals: The Journal of Music Therapy (JMT), and Music Therapy Perspectives (MTP). Until a few years ago, the JMT contained experimental, descriptive, historical, and philosophical research (quantitative, aesthetic, semantic, and objective foci), and the MTP was the “clinical” journal – where clinicians had their turn describing best practices, case studies, and models of practice. Several years ago the JMT Board of Editors requested more qualitative research submissions, and gave guidelines for rigorous studies. The AMTA also publishes monographs of current practices, including the following superb examples of qualitative research in music therapy. Furman, C. E., Ed. 2nd Ed. (2002). Effectiveness of music therapy procedures: Documentation of research and clinical practice. Silver Spring, MD: National Association for Music Therapy, Inc. (prior name of AMTA). MagnaMusikBaton (MMB) specializes in music therapy publications, among which the following elucidates core issues in conducting qualitative research: Langenberg, M. , Aigen K., & Frommer, J. (Eds.). (1996). Qualitative music therapy research: Beginning dialogues. St. Louis: MMB Music, Inc. |