Research and its importance in Music therapy- What we need to know and how to teach students: A step-by-step protocol - XIV

Research can be very intimidating. Even more so for those from the performing arts and skilled work areas, as they do more active work and performance than reading and writing. Unless it's academic, writing is not everyone's place of interest. Apart from that, research requires experience in statistical analysis. It's known and understood that publications and research come with an incentive within academic spaces. Most often, it's done out of requirement rather than interest. However, the research work done by those who are really questioning and trying to find real answers has brought out the best of the work so far.

When it comes to research itself, it's all about enquiry, advancement of the profession, accessibility, evidence-based practice, and scientific credibility, understanding mechanisms and their uses. With Music therapy understanding the profession, creating credible scientific credibility and creating awareness as well as advancement of the profession are some areas to focus on when thinking of research and publications

Music therapy research has been taking place for decades now. I remember seeing a book on Music therapy research way back in 2003, which was authored by Barbara Wheeler. It's quite nostalgic, thinking back now, I didn't think I’d embark on research, and I’d get so intrigued by it as well. I still have the book that was given to me by my then Guru, Prof. Karaikudi Subramanian, a stalwart in Music & Veena, voice culture, and ethnomusicology.

He was the one who introduced me to Music Therapy. I remember a video document by him using basic music exercises with musical syllables to work with a child who stutters, and how it helped her sing without stuttering. That really opened up my eyes to the possibility of the simplest of things that can help a person with music, and in such a profound manner. At the time, I didn't realise videos were an excellent way of documenting outcomes of Musical interventions and are considered essential.

Having been excited to do research, I embarked on the PGDMT course in 2013 and was looking forward to having my first publication since I started. But I didn't realise the journey of starting a project and completing it with all of its processes. It was quite a challenge, and at times, I did feel like I wanted to quit at times.

As I started research work during my Post Graduate Diploma in 2013–14. I had absolutely no idea how to write a protocol. Perhaps there were a couple of classes. This definitely was not enough. There was no clarity on how to write references, how to write an introduction, literature review, how to analyse, write tables. very vague terms that I can remember learning in the few classes we had for research methodology.

This is a point of learning that has provided a step by step teaching of research work.

This is what I do to start helping students get off on a comfortable place with research. I created a step-by-step protocol on how I approach learning and teaching students based on what is being done practically at the School of Music Therapy.

TEACHING STUDENTS HOW TO WRITE FOR PUBLICATION

Phase 1- preparation to understand scientific literature and referencing

Step 1. Provide articles to read- to understand how to read scientific literature

Step 2. Provide templates on referencing formats- ask to write the references in specific styles manually. Depending on what is required in their academic institutional needs.

Step 3. Assignments to read a minimum of 6 articles in the areas of clinical practice and write them in their own words (**word count 300 words- Intro/background, methodology, results/discussion & conclusion)**

Step 4. Adding short introductions prior to the abstracts of the 6 articles, and a short discussion at the end of the 6 articles' abstract, with limitations and the positive aspects as a whole from the activity.

Phase 2- Writing clinical case reports/case studies- after starting clinical practice

Step 1. Provide the structure of case study/case report/case series- Session to explain the difference and types

Step 2. Supervise students to document the sessions of each patient separately- Discuss patient care to have appropriate quantitative and qualitative data as required.

I. When there is no structured data collection and done as part of learning during clinical practice

1. Based on the data from patient care during practice, assign to the student a case study/case report/case series, depending on the number of sessions or total period of time taken with the patients

2. Based on the structure, discuss how the details can be added to the format.

3. Ask the student to add their viewpoints within the structure based on the discussion

4. Help them refine the text once they have a draft

5. Check the referencing and make sure that the students have appropriate references within the context of the clinical department and the clinical case they have taken.

6. Hand-hold through the process and make sure to have regular discussions to have the train of thought flowing and the process of writing smooth.

II. When there is a template for data collection for RCTs

1. Create a template for data collection

2. Supervise & handhold the student in the collection of data based on the template

3. Discuss the limitations when they are unable to collect information

4. Once the student has the required information, create the Excel sheet of data collected with the codes

5. Analyse the data & display the results according to the protocol of the study.

6. Then start writing for a Journal according to its requirements, if it's a publication or a template for the dissertation.

Points to remember:

Assessment and documentation are an essential part of research

Read and write more frequently. Ask and refine, get peer review and work as a group or with your peer student groups, a teacher or a professor that may be asked for review.

Taking extra classes or courses throughout the course of the study to learn more about research methodology, apart from what is being taken within the curriculum, may be of great help. A course on scientific writing that has helped is below for reference. There are courses in bio statistics as well that may help in learning and adding to your knowledge and self-learning on analysis and statistics

[embed]Writing in the Sciences Offered by Stanford University. This course teaches scientists to become more effective writers, using practical…www.coursera.org