Assignment

Research Methodology
Importance of Research in Music:
Research is a logical and systematic search for new and useful information on a
particular topic. Research is important both in scientific and nonscientific fields. In
our life new problems, events, phenomena and processes occur every day.
Practically, implementable solutions and suggestions are required for tackling
new problems that arise.
Research in music helps us gain valuable insight on particular musical topic,
musical contents and issues, which can be shaped through research by musical
concepts and approaches. The distinctive task of research in music is to question,
explore and develop issues, conditions, and potentialities within the practice of
musical topics by rendering them accessible to consciousness and conceptual
thoughts in verbal terms. Through research we are aware of musical history with
different aspects of music like different musical instruments, and its historical
value, old musical texts etc. A history of music is, therefore, the systematical and
chronological records of musical thoughts and materials that evolved in different
ages in the gradual process through research in music. Research in music also
helps us understanding mistakes of the past and helps in avoiding them. Research
enables us to understand the dynamics of musical change in various time spans. It
also helps to remove the musical prejudices and misconceptions. The important
role of research in music is to help educate people about music, correct everyone
perceptions and as well as expand the topic. For example: if a musician, music
teacher, or a researcher runs into a problem in his work, be it related to music
history, music genes, music techniques, theory, phenomena etc, normally he will
be able to solve the problem by himself by looking at what other musicians or
researcher have done. It was possible because there have been research done
previously in music regarding that problem have been solved. However, this does
not means that all solution to all musical problems was found within the
framework of research. Musicology has definite, delimited roles in relations to
musical practice hat it is its task to explore. While it is the task of musicology to
explore the world of music praxis, it is the task of music education to lead into it
and make it a part of teaching, learning and upbringing through research. This
underscores the importance of research in music, the continued existence and
relevance of which will last as there is human being who wishes to expand his
knowledge and understanding about music, the world and everything within.

Similarities and Differences between Qualitative and Quantitative:

Qualitative research: It is one which provides insights and understanding of the
problem setting. It is an unstructured, exploratory research method that studies
highly complex phenomena that are impossible to elucidate with the quantitative
research. Although later it generates ideas or hypothesis for quantitative
research. Qualitative research is used to gain an in-depth understanding of human
behavior, experience, attitudes, intentions, and motivations, on the basis of
observations and interpretation, to find out the way people think and feel. It is a
form of research in which the researcher gives more weight to the view of the
participants. Case study, grounded theory, ethnography, historical and
phenomenology are the types of qualitative research.
Quantitative Research: It is a form of research that relies on the methods of
natural sciences, which produces numerical data and hard facts. It aims at
establishing cause and effects relationship between two variables by using
mathematical, computational and statistical methods. The research is also known
as empirical research as it can be accurately and precisely measured. The data
collected by the researcher can be divided into categories or put into rank, or it
can be measured in terms of units of measurement. Graphs and tables of raw
data can be constructed with the help of quantitative research, making it easier
for the researcher to analyze the results.
Similarities:
 Both quantitative and qualitative data has an order or scale to it. That is
while ordinal data is sometimes classified under quantitative data.
Qualitative data do not, however, have a standardized scale.
 Quantitative and qualitative data are both used for research and statistical
analysis. Although, through different approaches, they can both be used
for the same thing.
 Both quantitative data and qualitative data use a numeric value.
Qualitative data takes numeric values like phone number, postal code,
national identification number, etc. The difference, however, is that
arithmetic operations cannot be performed on qualitative data.
 Both qualitative and quantitative data can be collected through
surveys/questionnaires and interviews. Although through different
approaches, they use similar tools.

Key differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research:

 Qualitative research is a method of inquiry that develops understanding on

the human and social sciences, to find the way people think and feel. A
scientific and empirical research method that is used to generate numerical
data, by employing statistical, logical and mathematical techniques is called
quantitative research.
 Qualitative research is holistic in nature while quantitative research is
particularistic.
 The qualitative research follows a subjective approach as the researcher is
intimately involved, where as the approach of quantitative research is
objective, as the researcher is uninvolved and attempts to precise the
observation and analysis on the topic to answer the inquiry.
 Qualitative research is exploratory. As opposed to quantitative research
which is conclusive. The reasoning used to synthesize data in qualitative
research is inductive, where as in the case of quantitative research the
reasoning is deductive. Qualitative research is based on the purposive
sampling, where as a small sample size is selected with a view to get a
thorough understanding of target concept. On the other hand, quantitative
research relies on random sampling; wherein a large representative sample
is chosen in order to extrapolate the results to the whole population.
Verbal data are collected in qualitative research. Conversely, in quantitative
research measurable data is gathered.
 Inquiry in qualitative research is process-oriented, which is not the case of
quantitative research. The hypothesis is generated in qualitative research
by inductive reasoning. On the contrary, the hypothesis is tested by
deductive research in quantitative reasoning. Elements used in the analysis
of qualitative research are words, pictures, and objects while that of
quantitative research is numerical data. Qualitative research is conducted
with the aim of exploring and discovering ideas used in the ongoing
processes. As opposed to quantitative research the purpose is to examine
cause and affects relationship between variables. Lastly the methods used
in qualitative research are in-depth interviews, focus groups, etc. In
 contrast, the methods of conducting quantitative research are structured
interviews and observations. Qualitative research develops the initial
understanding whereas quantitative research recommends a final course of
action.
Comparison:
Qualitative Research Quantitative Research
Purpose To gain an understanding of To quantify data and generalize
underlying reasons and motivations results from a sample to the
population of interest
To provide insights into the setting of
problem, generating ideas and/or To measure the incidence of various
hypotheses for later quantitative views and opinions in a chosen
research sample
To uncover prevalent trends in
Sometimes followed by qualitative
thought and opinion
research which is used to explore some
findings further

Data Structured techniques such as online

Unstructured or semi-structured
collection questionnaire, on-street or telephone
techniques e.g. individual depth
interviews or group discussions interviews
Data Statistical data is usually in the form
analysis Non-statistical
of tabulations (tabs). Findings are
conclusive and usually descriptive in
nature
Outcome
Exploratory and/or investigative, Use for recommending a final course
findings are not conclusive and of action.
cannot be used to make
generalizations about the population
of interest. Develop an initial
understanding and sound base for
further decision making.