23.7. 1993 Vitoria-Gasteiz / Spain - World Federation of Music Therapy

Through a review of the music therapy literature; I show
that, up until lately, most studies in our field are based
on quantitative research methods and try to find the
rational for it. Then, I talk about the differences between
quantitative and qualitative research and take as an
example a specific study in order to highlight these
differences.
The main part of the paper focuses on the qualitative
research modality which is also called "grounded
theory". I give an explanation of this approach, describe
its main characteristics, and show how each element is
relevant to the music therapy process and the
undertanding of it. I conclude this part bringing my own
doctoral research as an example of using a qualitative
research design in order to understand the holistic
meaning of the music therapy experience for music
therapists and for music therapy clients.
717
My conclusion is that the utilization of qualitative
research methods in our field will help us illuminate the
art, the beauty, and the essence of our work as music
therapists.
En esta conferencia presento dos temas actuales: El
primero se trata de la experiencia musicoterapeuta. El
segundo es sobre modelos de investigación para
explorar y entender el significado de la musicoterapia
en un nivel más profundo.
Basándome en una mirada en la literatura, muestro
que, hasta hace muy poco tiempo, la mayoría de los
estudios en nuestro campo se basan en sistemas de
investigación cuantitativos, y trato de encontrar lo
racional a todo esto. Hablo sobre las diferencias entre
investigaciones cuantitativas y cualitativas y tomo como
ejemplo un estudio específico para destacar las