In this assignment, you have the opportunity to explore research and theory in a particular area of Music Psychology that is interesting to you. You are required to critically analyse three research studies, comparing the rationales offered for each study, the research methods used, and the interpretation of findings. Your appraisal should be informed by your personal experiences with music and the degree to which the three studies align with your expectations. Using the first person is acceptable in this assignment when discussing your analysis of the articles as well as your own lived experience.
Your critical analysis should focus on one topic area within music psychology, and you should choose three studies related to this topic. Your focus might be as broad as the lecture topics, such as Music and Emotions or Music and Ageing. However, we recommend being more specific in your focus on a sub-topic, for example, music and distress or music therapy and dementia. You must use primary research studies, not systematic reviews or other review papers.
Assignment Structure
1. Title page
- Paper Title
- Name
- Student ID number
- Cohort (Undergraduate/Honours/Masters)
- Word Count
- Acknowledgment (choose one):
- [ ] I have not used any AI tools or technologies to prepare this assessment.
- [ ] I acknowledge the use of [AI tool or technology name] and [link] to improve the phrasing, grammar and spelling in my writing. I have not used any other AI tools or technologies to prepare this assessment.
- Please avoid using Generative AI tools for your written assignment. This is important for maintaining academic integrity and for ensuring your work reflects your own understanding and critical thinking. Grammatical mistakes will not be penalised. Your final grade will be based solely on the content and quality of your ideas, not on language perfection.
- Be sure to declare any use of Gen AI tools in your assignment. The Declaration form for AI will guide you in how to appropriately acknowledge the use of Gen AI in your assignment.
2. Introduction
Outline your interest in the topic area chosen and explain what your pre-assumptions were about this specific field of research. Describe who you have identified as the research experts in that field by including approximately 3-5 references to their articles / chapters and explain why you think they are significant, including their contributions, and identify important research trends for your topic. The experts referenced in the introduction should not be first authors of the studies you analyse. (approx. 450 words)
3. Body of Assignment
- Rationale Describe how the literature is used in each study to make an argument for the importance of the research. Provide a commentary on how similar or different the selection of literature is and any biases that are apparent (approx. 500 words)
- Methods Compare the research methods used by the investigators in three studies and reflect on the similarities and differences in their research questions, approach to data collection and analysis (approx. 500 words)
- Findings Consider the similarities and differences in the findings of the three studies and whether they contradict or affirm one another. Reflect on the ways researchers interpret the findings and which findings are highlighted or minimised in the discussion (approx. 500 words)
4. Conclusion Reflect on the strengths and limitations of three chosen studies and make suggestions for future research including referencing any articles that have made similar proposals in the literature you have read (approx. 450 words)
5. References – Include your references, listing all of the literature you have cited in the assignment. You can use any referencing style as long as you are consistent. The preferred referencing style in Music Psychology is APA.
Referencing style:
The referencing style we use in Music Psychology is APA. You are welcome to use any referencing style as long as you are consistent throughout the assignment and reference list.
Not Permitted Articles
Please do not use any of the articles that have been analysed in the sample assignments. The following is a complete list of articles that cannot be used in your assignment.
Music Consumption
Areni, C. S., & Kim, D. (1993). The influence of background music on shopping behaviour: Classical versus top-forty music in a wine store. Advances in consumer research, 20(1).
Gueguen, N., Helene, L. G., & Jacob, C. (2004). Sound level of background music and alcohol consumption: an empirical evaluation. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 99(1), 34.
North, A. C., Shilcock, A., & Hargreaves, D. J. (2003). The effect of musical style on restaurant customers’ spending. Environment and behavior, 35(5), 712-718.
Grief and Bereavement
Dalton, T. A., & Krout, R. E. (2005). Development of the Grief Process Scale through music therapy songwriting with bereaved adolescents. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 32(2), 131-143
Ghetti, C. M., Schreck, B., & Bennett, J. (2023). Heartbeat recordings in music therapy bereavement care following suicide: Action research single case study of amplified cardiopulmonary recordings for continuity of care. Action Research.
Smeijsters, H., & Van Den Hurk, J. (1999). Music therapy helping to work through grief and finding a personal identity. the Journal of Music Therapy/Journal of Music Therapy, 36(3), 222252.
Music and Dementia
El Haj, M., Antoine, P., Nandrino, J. L., Gly-Nargeot, M.-C., & Raffard, S. (2015). Self- defining memories during exposure to music in Alzheimers disease. International Psychogeriatrics, 27(10), 17191730.
Hillebrand, M. C., Weise, L., & Wilz, G. (2023). Immediate effects of individualized music listening on behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia: A randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 38(3), e5893.
Osman, S. E., Tischler, V., & Schneider, J. (2016). Singing for the Brain: A qualitative study exploring the health and well-being benefits of singing for people with dementia and their carers. Dementia, 15(6), 13261339.
Music and Performance
Kokotsaki, D., & Davidson, J.W. (2003). Investigating musical performance anxiety among music college singing students: A quantitative analysis Links to an external site. Music Education Research, 5 (1), 45-59.
Wesner, R. B., Noyes, R. Jr., & Davis, T. L. (1990). The occurrence of performance anxiety among musicians. Journal of Affective Disorders, 18, 177-185.
Osborne, M. S., & Franklin, J. (2002) Cognitive processes in music performance anxiety, Australian Journal of Psychology, 54:2, 86-93.
Written Assignment Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use first person?
Yes, when writing about your own experiences, you can use first person.
How should I begin the process?
There are a number of important stages to your process, and the order you do them in may vary. It makes sense to begin by identifying what topic you have found most interesting and what you would like to explore more. Once you have identified your area of interest, look for your three studies. These need to be three individual research studies where the authors explain the aim of the project, how they collected data, what they did with the data and proposed results. We recommend that you do not use systematic reviews because they draw together data from multiple studies. Choose articles that report on individual studies. Then spend time getting to know these three studies. Read them and start to identify the information important for your critical appraisal.
Then, after having done some research into your topic and selected your three articles, decide who you think are the key theorists and authors that are relevant to the topic area of your three studies. They may have been referenced in the video lectures or discussed in the interviews, or they may be the authors who are referenced most often in the three studies you have chosen. These are key thinkers who provide a context, or a rationale, for your choice of the three studies.
How do I find key researchers and publications for my introduction?
In reading your three studies, look at who they reference in their introduction and how they justify the study. Are there any common theoretical frameworks, concepts, or definitions they refer to? Remember, you will need to do some research and background into the topic itself. We recommend you start by going back to the resources provided by the experts who presented video lectures and interviews on that topic. Notice who the lecturers refer to when they explain the basics of your topic. You are permitted to use any of the resources provided throughout the semester in your introduction. It is up to you to decide who the most important researchers and theories are before they continue reading your assignment. Remember, they should provide a context or a rationale for the body of the essay.
Where do I find my three studies for analysis?
Remember, the article you choose needs to describe research where data is collected so you can critically appraise the study’s aims, methodology, results, and conclusion. These are mostly published in academic journals. You can find journal articles through searching the University library page. You can also look for studies through Google Scholar. We have also included a number of studies under each topic in the Readings Online page and you are welcome to choose these. When you are choosing, you should look for a study that connects to your topic and that you feel you will be able to critically analyse, drawing on the skills you have developed through the semester as well as your own life experiences.
What if I want to use a study by the same author that I have overviewed in the introduction?
We suggest avoiding this overlap for clarity in writing your assignment. But if you choose to include studies where an author is also one of your key theorists from your introduction, provide an explanation to justify your decision.
What kinds of studies should I use to analyse? Should they be very different styles of research? Similar? What about studies conducted by the same researcher?
There are no restrictions on what kind of research your studies should be so long as they are music psychology studies that collect and analyse data and are not systematic reviews. Your three studies can be very similar to each other, or totally different; conducted all by the same researcher, or by completely different researchers. All of these will allow for interesting and rich analysis. The only restrictions are that they each have to be a different piece of research.
How should I structure my essay?
There is a structure on the assignment page to guide how to approach formatting the essay. If you feel confident to depart from this structure while still covering all the assessment criteria and the sections described in the proposed structure, you are welcome to.
How should I use the word count to analyse each study? Is there a specific amount of words I should spend on description, analysis, and my personal experience?
You should ensure that you have included enough descriptive information about each study you analyse so the reader understands, but do not let your whole analysis simply become a summary of the study. In addition, your personal experience should be used as a resource for your critique. For example, when describing the study’s rationale, you might point out potential biases or flaws in the way they have used the literature based on your own perspective and understanding of the phenomenon. Or, when describing the approach the researchers used, you could draw on your own disciplinary background to critique the methodology, or reflect on your own personal experience to imagine how you would respond if you were a participant in the study and whether the findings match your own experience.
Can I also mention my key researchers from the introduction in the body of my essay?
You are welcome to, if it is relevant to your analysis. There is no expectation that you bring the key researchers back into your discussion though, as the focus should be on the critical appraisal of the study itself.
Am I able to choose studies from Readings Online? What about studies that have been referenced in the course material?
Yes, you can analyse any studies from across the semester materials.
Do the key researchers in the introduction need to relate to the three studies, or those we have learned about in the modules? Can we refer to the researchers and information presented in the lectures and podcasts?
This is all up to you, and there are no restrictions on the publications or researchers you discuss in the introduction except that they should be academic sources. The podcasts, video lectures, and literature have all given you a starting point to begin exploring your chosen topic and we encourage you to revisit them. For the introduction, your job is to read up on your chosen topic and then tell us about what you have learned when reading. Don’t refer to the lectures or podcasts – rather, use them to go and find literature that they were talking about.
You are welcome to include any of the information that has been shared in the modules, but you do not have to. You can refer to any of the speakers and theories from the subject. The publications and key theorists in your introduction should set the context for your analysis of the three studies, but there is no rule about who you must include.
How do the topics and three studies need to be connected?
The link between your three studies is your topic. It is then up to you how you want to connect them. You can select studies based on some other way they are connected, or you can begin pointing out differences and similarities through your analysis.
Can I include research or sources outside of the three studies?
Yes
How can I practice critically appraising research?
This is what we will do each week in the online seminar when we analyse articles. There is also a list of prompts beneath the weekly readings that guide you to thinking critically.
How much detail do I need to go into when analysing the study?
This is up to you to decide, but remember, the expectation is for you to demonstrate your analytic skills, rather than being able to summarise every aspect of the article.
You must select the information you think is most important to cover in your particular study. We expect that different students will go into detail about different sections of the study, informed by their disciplinary background. We suggest that you are guided by the assessment criteria and that you play to your analytical strengths (for example, your knowledge about scientific research design/statistics; your knowledge about theory; your capacity for critical analysis; your knowledge about music etc).
The instructions state that we are to refer to our own personal experience. What if I can’t personally relate to the topic (eg older people or infants)?
You can draw on your own personal experience in any way you like, whether that’s referring to something you have witnessed, something a family member has spoken to you about, or something you imagine you might feel if you were a participant in the study.
You do not have to have personally experienced something to draw on personal experience. In the example of music and older people, you do not need to have experienced being an elderly person or having dementia. You might have grandparents who you could speak to, or you could discuss something you have witnessed. You have your own experience of how music evokes memories (regardless of your age). You don’t need to have had children of your own to reflect on music and infants – instead you could reflect on what you recall from your own childhood, or members of your family. Consider how experiences in your own life can be used as a resource to point out the strengths and limitations of the design and methodological aspects of the study.
What referencing style should I use?
You can use any in text referencing style, as long as you are consistent throughout the assignment. The suggested referencing style is APA (American Psychological Association), specifically APA 7. However, you are welcome to use whatever citation style is familiar to you, as long as you include in text references. The reference list goes at the end of your assignment (and does not count towards the word limit) and only includes articles you have directly referenced.
Should we include other references when discussing the three studies?
If you are speaking about any information that is not your own personal critique, experience, or knowledge, then you must reference it. If you are aiming for high marks then you should try to draw on other literature to explain your critique. Look for similarities or differences between other studies and findings, and if there are concepts in other sources that support or challenge your analysis. You do not have to reference your own personal experience, but any information that is not your own must always be referenced.
Is there a minimum or maximum number of references I should include?
You must include 3 citations in your introduction, and then three more covering the three studies you analyse. This makes a minimum of 6 references that you must include. There is no maximum number of references.
What is the word count? What is included in the word count? Can I go over or under?
Your assignment should be 2400 words. The reference list at the end of your essay does not count towards your word count. Everything else counts towards your word limit (eg in-text references, subheadings, names of publications). A 10% leeway applies, so you may be slightly over or under the word limit (240 words). However, keep in mind that your marker will likely notice if your assignment is lacking in depth (under the word limit) or too wordy and not as concise as it should be (over the word limit).
If we use information from weekly podcast or lecture videos, do we need to reference them?
You must always reference any information that is not your own. The lectures are designed to point you towards literature, and we do not… [Content truncated to 3000 words]