Page 29 - IJPS-9-3

International Journal of
Population Studies Re-conceptualizing music education

Table 7. Methods of data collection
Data collection category Method Number of Total number of
studies studies*
Interviews/focus groups Semi-structured interview 33 57
In-depth interview 4
Structured interview 2
Open-ended interview 2
Narrative interview 6
Focus group 10
Questionnaire Questionnaire 26 26
Observations Participant observation 8 17
Video observation 6
In-person onlooker observation 3
Documents, journals and photographs Journal 6 9
Document analysis 2
Photographs 1
Note: *Total exceeds 68, as many studies used more than one method.

3.2.4. Approach to analysis Table 8. Approaches to analysis
Approaches to analysis of qualitative data (as reported Approach to analysis Number of
by the authors) included thematic analysis, interpretive studies
phenomenological analysis, narrative analysis, Thematic analysis 27
phenomenological analysis, content analysis, and Interpretive phenomenological analysis 15
comparative analysis. Quantitative approaches to analysis Narrative analysis 5
included time sampling and event sampling approaches Phenomenological analysis 5
to analysis of observational data, as well as inferential and
descriptive statistics (Table 8). Content analysis 4
Comparative analysis 1
3.3. Summary of findings from the systematic review Time sampling 1
Overall, the studies reported in this group of retained Event sampling 1
papers were typically derived from anglophone countries Inferential statistics 2
and carried out in the contexts of community music. Descriptive statistics 7
Sample sizes were usually small, and the studies have
an overrepresentation of female participants over male an account of how music learning and participation in
participants. The participants were generally described the older adult life course have been conceptualized and
as: older, lifelong learners, retired, third age, elderly, discussed in the research literature (Figure 4).
senior, and/or chronically ill. Most of the studies revolved
around music, health, and well-being, while a substantial 3.4.1. Social connectedness derived from music
number also investigated questions concerned with participation
lifelong learning in music. A qualitative research paradigm The social nature of music-making and resultant social
prevailed, with a majority of studies employing qualitative connectedness derived from music participation was
designs, methods, and approaches to analysis. prominently communicated as a higher-order concept
across 23 papers. For example, drawing on a qualitative
3.4. How are music learning and participation in methodology, Abell et al. (2017) reported that social
the older adult life course conceptualized in these connectedness was a key benefit attributed to group
studies?
singing among 11 older adults (mean age 70) living with
In this section, we report the findings from our meta- Parkinson’s disease. This study echoes the findings of
synthesis, where analysis of the critical conclusions revealed several others (e.g., Balsnes, 2017; Clements-Cortes,
that five higher-order conceptual themes that conveyed 2014, de Araujo & Rocha, 2019), who have reported that

Volume 9 Issue 3 (2023) 23 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.383