A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice | Page 21

A Reflective Lens:
Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice

Data Analysis
Preliminary Coding
Since I was handling multiple data sources requiring
complex analysis, I decided on a two-step coding process.
The first process was to scribble some notes on the right
hand column of the transcription scripts, jotting down
phrases that captured the essence of the data. I also copied
the phrases (i.e. the preliminary codes) onto another piece
of paper. The purpose of this was to collate all the phrases
before categorising them.
Before categorising the codes, I also jotted down some
phrases containing key ideas from the literature review
pertaining to the topics of ‘co-operative learning’ and
‘music composition’. This helped me re-word the codes
when categorising them. While re-wording the codes
or categorising them, I was working out response to
the research questions in my head. Therefore, when I
interpreted a particular behaviour or discussion displayed
by students, I would relate it to the vocabulary within my
literature review. This flowed into the second process,
which was to re-word the codes before categorising them
further. The lesson transcripts were coded first, before I
moved on to the interview transcript, and finally, the
reflection journal.
Categorising and Labelling Codes
The re-worded specific codes I gathered from the first coding
process were categorised into a more general codes category
such as ‘Leader’s role’, ‘Interactions between peers’ and
‘Group decision making’. After that, I further grouped these
general codes categories into a theme such as ‘Working in
groups’, ‘Music composition activities’ and ‘Teaching and
instructional methods’.
The specific codes were then labelled according to the
categories. This helped in analysing the data, especially when
I wanted to quote from students’ script on a particular idea.

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