Introduction Scholarly Inquiry and the Research Process

Abstract

Abstract The Handbook contains a variety of views about the research process in music education. While there is some disagreement about what should be called research, all agree that there are many ways to inform the profession about the teaching and learning process in music education. Scholarly inquiry of all sorts should be embraced. There is a large body of research about music teaching and learning published in music education journals as well as in psychological, educational, acoustical, and neuroscience journals, but the quality of some of these reports is suspect. Yet, these studies often are cited to support a particular view or used as models for further study. Conclusions in such studies are sometimes not supported by evidence. And the external or ecological validity of many studies can be questioned, especially those carried out by researchers outside the field of music education.