A Content Analysis of Qualitative Research Dissertations in Music Education, 1998-2002

The purpose of this study was to analyze the contents of music education dissertations written from 1998 through 2002 that used qualitative research methods. We analyzed 148 dissertation abstracts to determine the degree type, year and country in which the dissertation was written, type of qualitative research methods used, and topics. Results showed that the Ph.D. was by far the most awarded degree, followed by the Ed.D. and D.M.E.. Overall, the 148 qualitative dissertations in this study were 21.93% of the 675 music education dissertations written in 1998-2002. The number of qualitative dissertations written per year ranged from 25 to 31. Although some authors identified their dissertation as simply "qualitative," most specified the type of data collection and analysis method they used. Case study was used most, followed by ethnography, participant observation, focus group, phenomenological, grounded theory, and others. Some authors who wrote case studies labeled them as being collective, comparative, group, historical, intrinsic, longitudinal, multiple, multi-site, and naturalistic. Multicultural, music programs (academic, geographic, religious), and teacher education (including student teaching) were the most researched topics, followed by curriculum integration, instructional strategies, ensemble (members), and others.