A Theoretical Framework for Longitudinal Qualitative Research in Music Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59455/qietp.66Keywords:
music education, longitudinal qualitative research, musical learning, music education researchAbstract
Purpose: The aim of this study is to conceptualise longitudinal qualitative research within the context of music education and to discuss the theoretical, pedagogical, and methodological possibilities that this approach offers for music education research.
Method: Musical learning is a dynamic process in which cognitive, affective, psychomotor, relational, and contextual dimensions are shaped together over time. However, in music education research, learning, identity, motivation, teacher–student relationships, and ensemble music-making processes are often examined through cross-sectional or short-term research designs. This may limit our understanding of how musical experiences develop, transform, and are reinterpreted over time. This study discusses how longitudinal qualitative research can contribute to music education research through the concepts of time, process, change, and continuity. In this context, the concept of longitudinality, its relationship with the qualitative research paradigm, the developmental nature of musical learning, the construction of musical identity over time, the processual structure of pedagogical relationships, and the role of contextual conditions are examined.
Findings: Longitudinal phenomenological approaches, longitudinal narrative research, and longitudinal case studies are also discussed in relation to music education. The study argues that longitudinal qualitative research can contribute to a deeper understanding of how learning occurs in music education, the conditions under which it takes shape, and the transformations through which it unfolds over time.
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