Derrington 2012 thesis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

CHAPTER 5
METHODOLOGY
5.1 Introduction
This study aimed to create hard evidence that extends beyond the acknowledgement
of music therapy by one staff team in one academy. The research is needed for the
young people at risk and for society’s response to them, so that interventions which
work can be made more available. The Music Therapy Charity recognised that some
young people may have had years of limited support and supported this project
because of music’s ‘universal appeal for young people and, more than almost any
other medium, attracts kids from all backgrounds into motivated activity’ (Wigram,
Lumley and Steen, 2010).
Odell-Miller, Hughes and Westacott (2006) reported that ‘the dilemma for the
therapist is always whether to look at process or outcome’ (p.123). The study
assumed a mixed method, thus combining both quantitative and qualitative
approaches (Creswell, 1995; 2007), to provide the most comprehensive results.
Although this study was outcome-based and the primary objective was to examine the
quantitative data, it was expected that the focus on the meaning of the use of music in
therapy for young people could also be acknowledged in a unique way with the
inclusion of qualitative aspects to the design through the use of semi-structured
interviews.
These two approaches, named formulaic and clinical by Sechrest and Sidani (1995),
meant that the inclusion of structured questionnaires and school data (the formulaic)
and the qualitative data collection from semi-structured interviews, unstructured
observations and case examples (the clinical), could be included in a single study and
the data together could provide valid answers to the research questions. This chapter
expands on this method, the rationale for it and the different ways that the data were
analysed.
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