Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

A RepGrid self inquiry was made in order to elicit the researcher’s perception of the
constructs ‘supportive’ and ‘challenging’. The nine polarities identified in this
procedure may serve as reference elements in a comprehensive RepGrid inquiry
involving experienced BMGIM therapists from Denmark and abroad. I have not seen
the RepGrid used in self-inquiries, and the results are no doubt biased by my pre-
knowledge of definitions of relaxing vs. stimulating music.
9.3.4 Validity and reliability issues raised by the participants.
As mentioned in section 6.1 all six participants brought forward critical remarks to all
three questionnaires, and they addressed problems related to both reliability and
validity. During the process the participants often made comments on the difficulties
they experienced when filling out the questionnaires, after the termination of a
session. Even if the participants were often quite concerned about this issue, both the
therapist and the researcher decided to bracket the problem and would just repeat the
instruction for filling out the questionnaire – as indicated in the introductory remarks:
“How has your last week been?” (HADS, QLQ-C30) or indication of the “here-and-
now experience” (SOC). This meant that the problem issues were not addressed until
the interviews, where they were included as a specific theme (see the interview guide
App. 6.1).
Reliability problems in the questionnaires:
An important reliability problem is formulated by PIJØ: “Another difficulty is to
distinguish between how I must answer (here-and-now, honestly) and how I would
like to answer (it would be nice, if..)”. This dilemma exists in different versions:
“Maybe you want to present yourself in a more positive way.” (WIFU). “In the
beginning I included the fact that my life has changed since the operation, but later I
thought that it is because of the operation I deal with these problems... this made me
insecure: what am I actually indicating with my answers? (...) I forget many things,
even problems I had! This may influence the score in a positive direction.” (SAAA).
“You answer here-and-now, but your answer may be influenced by the session you
just experienced. Maybe it would be better to fill out the questionnaires before the
session?” (WIFU). “I know definitively, that the so-called ‘lack of change’ in my
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