The Division of Music Education is dedicated to empowering students through learning

opportunities that are contextual and relevant to a career in teaching. To become an

effective music educator, each student must commit to excellence in both teaching and
musicianship.

MUED 5120, SUMMER 2020

APPLIED RESEARCH IN MUSIC EDUCATION
Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday: 9:00 – 12:10

Dr. Donald M. Taylor

E-Mail: Don.Taylor@unt.edu
Office Phone: (940) 231-6528
Office: MU 309
Office Hours: Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday: 12:10 – 1:10 or by appointment

Required Texts:

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.)

Suggested Text:

Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N. E., & Hyun, H. H. (2019). How to design and evaluate
research in education (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
(Note: Earlier editions are also acceptable, if not earlier than the 6th.)

Topics to be covered:

Writing style
Research terminology familiarity
Research methodology
Research design basics
Statistics basics

Objective:

This course is designed to give you the tools to read research literature in music education and
interpret quantitative measures. By the end of the semester, you will have the skills necessary to
create a proposal for your capstone project.
Grading: 100 (A); 80-89 (B); 70-79 (C); 60-69 (D); 59-lower (F)

Midterm Exam: 25 points

Capstone Project Proposal Draft: 25 points
Capstone Project Proposal Final: 25 points
Final Exam: 25 points

Capstone Project Proposal:

The capstone project is designed to give you the opportunity to explore a special topic of interest
and provide a valuable contribution to you and the field at large. Once you choose a topic, you
will begin by reporting what others have discovered about your topic in previous literature. You
may fulfill this requirement via an annotated bibliography (at least 10 sources) or a formal
review of literature. This review of previous literature will help ensure that you are not creating
something that someone else (or perhaps many others) have already created. At the end of this
section, you will provide (1) a specific need statement demonstrating a need for further
information or investigation into your topic area, and (2) a purpose statement regarding what you
propose to do. Following your background literature review, you will provide a method section
that provides details about how you will carry out your project and a projected timeline.

Your project may take many forms, as long as you are basing your topic on a need as
demonstrated in previous literature. Previous topics have included the following:

1. A structured approach to preparing student teacher mentors,

2. A pedagogical guide to teaching clarinet choirs,
3. A detailed instructional sequence for Orff-Schulwerk instruction based on the TEKS,
4. An examination of African-American female music teachers’ experiences,
5. A research to resource article suitable for publication in Update: Applications of Research in
Music Education.

Division of Music Education Attendance Policy:

Regular attendance with promptness and with assignments completed reflects a positive,
accepting attitude in university education. With the responsibility of being a music education
student comes a conscious decision to act professionally at all times.

More than three unexcused absences will result in a failing grade. (Because each class
encompasses an entire week, ONLY ONE ABSENCE is allowed.)

Three tardies will be counted as one absence.

*Only university excused absences will be accepted. You must present notification to your
professor, which may be obtained from the Office of the Dean of Students.

COVID-19 impact on attendance

While attendance is expected as outlined above, it is important for all of us to be mindful of the
health and safety of everyone in our community, especially given concerns about COVID-19.
Please contact me if you are unable to attend class because you are ill, or unable to attend class
due to a related issue regarding COVID-19. It is important that you communicate with me prior
to being absent as to what may be preventing you from coming to class so I may make a decision
about accommodating your request to be excused from class.

If you are experiencing cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fever, or any of the
other possible symptoms of COVID-19
(https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html) please seek
medical attention from the Student Health and Wellness Center (940-565-2333
or askSHWC@unt.edu) or your health care provider. While attendance is an important part of
succeeding in this class, your own health, and those of others in the community, is more
important.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
Students caught cheating or plagiarizing will receive a "0" for that particular assignment or exam
[or specify alternative sanction, such as course failure]. Additionally, the incident will be
reported to the Dean of Students, who may impose further penalty. According to the UNT
catalog, the term “cheating" includes, but is not limited to: a. use of any unauthorized assistance
in taking quizzes, tests, or examinations; b. dependence upon the aid of sources beyond those
authorized by the instructor in writing papers, preparing reports, solving problems, or carrying
out other assignments; c. the acquisition, without permission, of tests or other academic material
belonging to a faculty or staff member of the university; d. dual submission of a paper or project,
or resubmission of a paper or project to a different class without express permission from the
instructor(s); or e. any other act designed to give a student an unfair advantage. The term
“plagiarism” includes, but is not limited to: a. the knowing or negligent use by paraphrase or
direct quotation of the published or unpublished work of another person without full and clear
acknowledgment; and b. the knowing or negligent unacknowledged use of materials prepared by
another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials.

ADA STATEMENT
The University of North Texas makes reasonable academic accommodation for students with
disabilities. Students seeking accommodation must first register with the Office of Disability
Accommodation (ODA) to verify their eligibility. If a disability is verified, the ODA will provide
you with an accommodation letter to be delivered to faculty to begin a private discussion
regarding your specific needs in a course. You may request accommodations at any time,
however, ODA notices of accommodation should be provided as early as possible in the semester
to avoid any delay in implementation. Note that students must obtain a new letter of
accommodation for every semester and must meet with each faculty member prior to
implementation in each class. For additional information see the Office of Disability
Accommodation website at disability.unt.edu. You may also contact them by phone at (940)
565-4323.
 Proposed Schedule

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

June 8 June 9 June 10 June 11
Syllabus, Databases, Writing Ethics, Variables, APA Qualitative Research Descriptive Research
Tips Due: Article Search (Page 11 Reading: Chapter 5
Research Families of Handouts) (Variables and
Review of Literature Reading: Chapter 18, 19, 21 Hypotheses), Chapter
Reading: Chapters 1-4 17 (Survey
Assignment: Complete one Research), and
annotated bibliography entry. Chapter 10
Do not worry about APA (Descriptive
perfection yet. Statistics)
June 15 June 16 June 17 June 18
Descriptive Research and Inferential Statistics, Correlations Midterm
Surveys Continued Sampling Reading: Chapter 8 Analysis of Variance
Reading: Chapter 11 Levels of Measurement (Validity and DUE: First Draft of
(Inferential Statistics) and Histograms Reliability) Project Proposal
Chapter 6 (Sampling) Reading: Chapter 15 Midterm Review Reading: Chapters
(Correlations) 16
(Causal-Comparative
Studies) and Chapter
13 (Experimental
Studies)
June 22 June 23 June 24 June 25
Internal Validity Internal Validity Final Review Final Exam
External Validity External Validity Due: Final Proposal

Project Proposal Due On or Before June 25 at 9:00 am:

Title Page (APA format)

Personal Introduction to Topic: Why is this topic important to you?

Background Literature (at least 10 sources, 5 of which must be from empirical articles):

You may choose one of the following options for reporting previous literature:
1. Annotated Bibliography
2. Formal Review of Literature (as you would see in an article)

Need Statement: What’s missing from the literature that needs to be added?

Purpose Statement: The purpose of this project is to _________________.

Method: Describe the steps that you will take to collect information.

Product: Expected Outcomes. What will you produce? Provide an outline.

Proposed Timeline: Month by month throughout an academic school year. Set realistic goals.
 SOME RESEARCH JOURNALS
TO KNOW
CONTINUOUS NUMBERING
British Journal of Music Education (BJME)
Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education (CRME)
Journal of Music Therapy
Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME)
Music Education Research
Psychology of Music
Psychomusicology

RESTARTS AT PAGE 1 EACH ISSUE

Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education (ACT)
Contributions to Music Education
Journal of Band Research
Journal of Music Teacher Education (JMTE)
Update: Applications of Research in Music Education

ONLY ONE ISSUE

Missouri Journal of Research in Music Education
Research and Issues in Music Education
Texas Music Education Research (TMER)

PRACTITIONER JOURNALS (No new data collected)

Music Educators Journal (MEJ)
Choral Journal
General Music Today
The Instrumentalist
Southwestern Musician
 Flute Talk, International Trumpet Guild Journal, Clavier, etc.
Empirical Article Construction

TITLE

Introduction

Review of Literature

Statement of the problem/need for the study

Purpose of the study

(Definition of terms)

(Limitations)

(Assumptions)

METHOD

Participants

Procedures

Research Design

Instrumentation

Data Analysis

RESULTS

Findings Addressing Each Research Question

DISCUSSION OR CONCLUSIONS

Compares Study Findings to Previous Research

Provides Implications for Practice
 MME Proposal Components

• Title
• Introduction (personal)
• Background Literature
– Need Statement
– Purpose Statement
• Method
• Product: Expected Outcomes
• Timeline
 ONLINE SEARCHES

1. Go to the UNT Library Catalog Page at iii.library.unt.edu

2. Click “Databases” in the right column.
3. Enter various database titles into the text box.
a. Music Index
b. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
c. Ebscohost
d. Jstor (allows you to search key terms within articles)

4. Some of your search results will provide pdf links for the articles. Save any of these to
your own files for future analysis. Others will only tell you the name of the journal. To
access the journal, go back to the UNT Library Catalog Page at iii.library.unt.edu, and
click on “Journal Title” in the middle. Enter the journal title, then look for online access.
You may have several options for online access. The Sage access is often easiest to
navigate.

5. Consider Google Scholar at https://scholar.google.com

6. Donna Arnold’s page for Music Education: http://guides.library.unt.edu/music-education

From this page you can access most all sites listed above and more.