Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

9.4 The development of new theoretical and methodological ideas
based on the results
This section contains an overall appraisal of the multiple method design (9.4.1) and a
discussion of the Heuristic music analysis as compared to other methods (9.4.2). Then
follows a more specific discussion of three specific methods used in the music
analysis, namely the Intensity profile (9.4.2.1), the Structural Model of Music
Analysis (9.4.2.2), the Mood wheel (9.4.2.3), followed by a discussion of how the
ideas of analyzing the music in this study correspond with Helen Bonny’s original
ideas (9.4.2.4).
9.4.1 Appraisal of the multiple method design used in the study.
The overall research question of the present study is a good example of Robson’s
statement that “a research question can in almost all cases, be attacked by more than
one method.” (Robson 2002, p. 370) My epistemological and ontological
considerations on combining fixed and flexible designs in a multiple method design
were outlined in chapter 4. The research sub-questions derived from the overall
question were complementary and demanded different designs, and even if it was a
small scale study it made sense to choose a fixed design to investigate some of the
subquestions (1-3) and a flexible design for others (4-7). Robson lists several
approaches to combining qualitative and quantitative methods in a multiple method
study (ibid. p. 372), and the present study has used the following approaches:
Triangulation (interviews, transcripts and session notes, analysis of recorded music-
listening periods, heuristic music anlysis, etc.), Provision of a general or more
complete picture (both process and outcome are analyzed, and I suggest that some of
the results may be relevant also outside the specific study), Structure and process
(music analyses, case studies as well as horizontal and vertical comparative analyses
are included), Researcher and participant perspectives (two, or sometimes three, sets
of interpretations of the same material), and Facilitating interpretations (using
quantitative scores as material for qualitative interviews). Triangulation seems to be at
the core of multiple methods, not only as a specific qualitative procedure to enhance
validity, but also as a means of establishing a dialogue between quantitative and
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