ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current issues and the state of music education research using qualitative methods, as published in the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education (CRME) and the Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME) from 2000 to 2011. Using descriptive analysis, 81 qualitative studies, which were 16.9% of the 478 research articles published overall in both journals, were classified along with the publication year, subject areas, research participants, research methods, data collection methods, and methods of validation. The major findings are as follows: Teacher experience and teacher education (38.3%) were the most researched topics, followed by student musical culture (19.8%), including multi-cultural music education. Both in-service (31.91%) and pre-service (11.6%) music teachers represented the highest proportion of research participants, followed by secondary students (13.0%). Case study (29.6%) and ethnography (21.0%) were used most, while non-specified qualitative methods accounted for 25.9% of the total. To collect qualitative data, 54.3% of the studies used 3-4 data resources, and interviews and observations were the most frequently applied methods. To validate the trustworthiness of qualitative research, the member-check was the most commonly used method, followed by triangulation and audits. Suggestions for future research and implications for music education are provided.

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