Page 25 - IJPS-9-3

International Journal of
Population Studies Re-conceptualizing music education

search to articles published between 2010 and 2021 (when systematic review and to use these as data for a third-level
the search was finalized). The complete list of inclusion interpretation (Aspfors & Fransson, 2015). As such, meta-
criteria is set out in Table 1. synthesis added a further level of analysis, allowing us to
We searched for abstracts in three relevant databases: add an interpretive synthesis of the themes represented in
(i) Academic Search Complete (multidisciplinary the systematic review data set.
database); (ii) ERIC (education database); and (iii) Web Our approach to the interpretive synthesis began with
of Science (multidisciplinary database). The full search thematic coding of the key findings of each individual paper.
protocol is set out in Table 2. Second, we undertook a “horizontal analysis,” whereby
relationships among the values and beliefs expressed in the
2.1.2. Screening of papers
papers were identified through the reciprocal translation of
The first search of three databases yielded 341 records. themes across the research papers. These themes were then
Following removal of 8 duplicates and a further 200 records collated, and, through a dialogic process, a consensus was
whose titles indicated that the study did not meet the reached regarding the labeling and definitions of higher-
inclusion criteria, 143 records were retained. The abstracts order concepts that united the themes.
of these records were read and a further 51 were excluded
from the study. Ninety-two records were therefore retained, 3. Findings
and these were read in full-text and assessed for eligibility 3.1. Who are the older adult participants in these
by two researchers. Following detailed analysis of the studies and how are they portrayed?
papers according to the review criteria and extraction of
the data using the SPIDER tool, the two researchers initially In this section, we set out the findings derived from the
recommended retaining 60 of the 92 papers, excluding 22 systematic review concerned with the contexts within
papers, and marking the remaining ten as “unsure.” Following which the research was carried out, the characteristics of
further review and discussion, 68 papers were included and research participants, and the ways in which “aging” was
24 papers were excluded from the study (Figure 1). conceptualized in the retained studies.
The reasons for excluding papers at the abstract and 3.1.1. Country where the studies took place
full-text stages of screening were varied, and some papers
were excluded for more than one reason. First, 65 papers Most of the publications were studies carried out in the
were not empirical but rather were theoretical discussions USA, UK, or Australia (52 in total). Three studies were
or accounts of practice, while four offered no account of collaborations that took place in more than one country
a research methodology. Two papers were not concerned (Figure 2).
with music learning and participation, while eight papers 3.1.2. Year of publication
were not studies on older adults or aging and ten papers
did not specify the age of their participants. The publication dates ranged from 2010 to 2020, with the
median being 2017 and the mode being 2018 (Figure 3).
2.1.3. Final retained papers
3.1.3. Research contexts
The final 68 articles were journal publications representing
a variety of academic fields. The majority of them were in This group of 68 studies included research concerned with
the field of music education or community music/leisure older adult music learning and participation in formal (2),
studies. Other represented fields were psychology and informal (12), and non-formal (54) contexts (Table 4). In the
health studies, education and lifelong learning, musicology, non-formal category, the music learning and participation
aging studies, nursing, and qualitative research (Table 3). took place in further education, community music, music
schools, senior centers, professional development, and
2.2. Meta-synthesis as an approach to analysis everyday life settings. In the informal category, the music

Meta-synthesis was used to interrogate and further learning and participation took place in community music
synthesize, at a conceptual level, the findings from the and everyday life settings, while the formal category was
68 retained studies that had been retrieved through the concerned with music learning in music schools.

Table 2. Search protocol
Aging OR Ageing or “Older people” or “Older Person*” or Music* Musicking Pparticipat* ORor Llearn* or educat* Life* Lifelong Lifewide
elder* or Senior or “Third age” or “Fourth age” or Adult* or Or Musicing or teach* or pedagog* Education Lifecourse
“Later life” or “Later adulthood” or retir*

Volume 9 Issue 3 (2023) 19 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.383