Qualitative music

Abstract

Qualitative research has provided a home for innovative approaches to collecting, analyzing, and representing data (Hesse-Biber and Leavy, 2006; Janesick, 2011; Ketelle, 2010). Reflexive journaling, photography and photo elicitation, poetry, video representations, dramatic enactments, visual presentations, and play-writing are but a few of the creative techniques embraced by qualitative researchers in search of ways to help their audiences move beyond reading and into experiencing the data (Collier, 2001; Deacon, 2006). These formats have opened doors to re-inventions of traditional thick, rich descriptions and provided living, intentional metaphors through which a reader can filter data via their own emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and scholarly lenses. Music, however, is one area that has been minimally used as an approach to mining and re/presenting data. This piece explores the use of music in a qualitative research project. My intention is to initiate a conversation on how music can capture both participant and researcher experiences in a way that naturally challenges words, thoughts, reactions, and assumptions. © Copyright 2013: Laura E. Beer and Nova Southeastern University.