Music Banter - Share your thoughts about music; help my Ph.D. Dissertation

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- - Share your thoughts about music; help my Ph.D. Dissertation (https://www.musicbanter.com/general-music/67805-share-your-thoughts-about-music-help-my-ph-d-dissertation.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhD Researcher (Post 1285231)

Pedestrian, you make an excellent point, and it's related to external validity of the research. I am gathering data from many places and many types of music fans... from Robert Johnson to Justin Beiber; from people who discover music through recommendations of trusted friends to people who discover music through prime time television.

By gathering data from many places through many channels I strengthen the external validity of my study - meaning my sample will be representative of the music-listening population. I have no doubt that people who reach my survey through Music Banter will answer questions much differently than people who reach it from other music-related websites, or social media sites such as Facebook. This is why I don't look at any one answer individually. Instead, I will analyze the full data set that is made up of everyone's individual perceptions.

I am getting excellent response from Music Banter... yet like other places where people click in from it represents a small percentage of the complete data set. This is the point of doing a widespread survey. Each of us perceives music differently. The goal of a statistical analysis isn't just to see basic statistics, it is to measure how perceptions of various aspects of how we enjoy music interact with other related aspects of how we enjoy music. For you fellow stats nerds out there, I'm interested in the covariation that lives in my data set.

Also, keep in mind that my survey is one part of my dissertation research which focuses on music consumers, but keep in mind "consumer" doesn't mean "buyer" - I am interested in how people use/consume/listen to music in contemporary society. The survey is a result of qualitative research, theoretical framework, philosophical foundation, and a pilot survey used to clarify the items on the survey that is posted.

I hope that was more helpful than it was confusing. The bottom line is this... there are no right or wrong answers - we're all individuals who add equal benefit to the study.

Thank you.

This is a great forum to find a broad cross-section of music lovers respondents for your survey. A good number of us are geeks who spend way too much money on music.

Won't you have some validity issues with your survey because the respondents are self selected instead of chosen from a random sample?

Done. Noticed alot of similar questions on repeat, hope it helps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin B. (Post 1286252)

Good point Gavin. Self-selection is always an issue with web-based surveys, however in my opinion it is outweighted by the geographic reach that can be accomplished. I am using snowball sampling methods (social media, forums, email campaigns, etc.) to reach people in as many places as possible. Currently, I have participation from 19 countries and 40 states in the U.S.

Different methods have different advantages and disadvantages -- ther is no perfect research design. Depending on the research questions that are being answered, one must determine the best design to answer those questions.

Thanks Fred, I appreciate it. Every entry helps a lot!

Okay, done. A few of the questions were a little hard to answer, as they were based around friends, and being solitary and also a homebased carer I really don't have a circle of friends I could relate that to, but I just filled it in as if I had (sad I know) --- most of my friends are here (even sadder, yes...)

Anyway good luck with it. Left the ipad thing blank as I wouldn't want one, not even for free.

Cheers
TH

Thanks TH. Some of my best friends are the ones I've never met.

Done mate, no problem. Nice thought-provoking survey. Hope you tell us about the statistics, it would be interesting here.

Thanks Rjinn, I appreciate it. I will definitely share some results when I get them. Also, I am keeping a list of people who want to be kept up to date with the results as I get them via email. Anyone who would like to be added to the list can pvt msg me and I will add their email address.

Thanks everyone,
- Paul

Done! Good luck!

As for the effectiveness of the sample, lets consult fun with statistics. I recently finished up my undergrad class and it was no fun. I hope you have the fancy computer prorgams to run the tests. Again, good luck!