RESEARCH EVALUATION FORM

NAME: Mackenzie Fuller

DATE: 10/6/18

Write in your own words. Reread and revise after first draft of answers. Use spell check
before submitting.

If you directly quote any phrases from the written research report, cite the “quote with
page number(s)” (p. 5). Or (pp. 5-6).

1. Full citation in APA style: (PLEASE CHECK THE OWL PURDUE WEBSITE
AND CONFIRM YOUR STYLE IS ACCURATE. FEWER POINTS EARNED
IF ERRORS OCCUR IN APA STYLE)

Schmid, W. (2017). Being together - Exploring the modulation of affect in

improvisational music therapy with a man in a persistent vegetative state - a
qualitative single case study. Health Psychology Report, 5(2), 186–182. DOI:
10.5114/hpr.2017.63843

2. Purpose of the study:

“The main focus of this case study was to describe and explore affect modulation as a
means of communication” (p. 191). For this study, a music therapist detailed her work
with a man in a vegetative state. She describes how affect can be shared to improvise
music and allow a sense of communication between the client and the therapist. Her
intent was to suggest that affect modulation can be used as a means of communication
and should be researched further to develop concrete interventions for individuals living
in a vegetative state.

3. Research question(s) posed:

Not entirely applicable because this study mainly documents the work the author did with
this individual. However, a question that led her to choose her music therapy approach
could be: Can using the expressive quality of the client’s movements and tensions to
create improvised music increase positive responses and a sense of communication for
the client?

4. Setting of the study (geographic location and details about setting pertaining to
study):
One-one-one music therapy sessions at a home for those still presenting with extensive
care needs.

1
 5. What do you know about the researcher(s)?
I could not find much information about this author; however, numerous articles popped
up when I searched his name in the EBSCOhost. Multiple dealt with music therapy and
neuroscience. Additionally, the author associates with The Grieg Academy and the
University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.

6. Participants in the study (quantity and description):

One man who had a myocardial infarction at the age of 44 which caused brain damage
and left him in a vegetative state.

7. What data were collected? (If historical, list the primary and secondary sources. If
philosophical, list the premises)
There were not specific data; however, the author used her training as a music therapist to
make observations on the effectiveness of her interventions. Therefore, I could say the
client’s affect and responses during the sessions were collected to note the effect of the
intervention.

8. Methodology: Highlight the type

Historical: Which category? (it could be more than one) Chronological,

Comparative, Oral, Psychohistory, Quantitative, Other (please list)

Philosophical: Did the argument advance deductively or inductively? What else

can you say about the structure of the argument?

Quantitative [non-experimental] Quantitative [experimental]

Qualitative: Highlight which type:

grounded theory ethnography narrative
phenomenology single case study collective case study

Mixed methods: Highlight which type of qualitative methodology

grounded theory ethnography narrative
phenomenology single case study collective case study
Mixed methods: Highlight which type of quantitative methodology
Quantitative [non-experimental] Quantitative [experimental]
Mixed methods: Highlight the strategy of the research design
Sequential explanatory Sequential exploratory Sequential transformative
Concurrent triangulation Concurrent nested Concurrent transformative

9. How were the data analyzed? (for historical, describe external and internal
criticism. For philosophical, note the approach used: dialectical, critical analysis,

2
 comparative analysis, interpretive analysis, synoptic analysis. For qualitative
describe the analyses procedures. For quantitative list the statistical tests used.)
Again, the author was simply doing her work as a music therapist. She was paying close
attention to the client’s movements and affect changes to promote a sense of
communication and create a successful intervention. So, the author analyzed changes
between the first session of simply playing music and the second session when she started
improvising to the client’s affect modulations.

10. What are the results (quantitative)/findings (qualitative) of the study?

The finding is that an improvisational music therapy approach can create a sense of
communication with clients stuck in a vegetative state by the music therapist watching
the client’s movements and affects in order to change the improvised music accordingly.
The author states this approach worked well for her, but that further research is needed to
generalize effectiveness.

11. Your evaluation/assessment of the integrity and importance of this research

study: (If philosophical, include whether the argument was valid and/or
sound)
I thought this study was a very simple narrative that identifies a need for further
research on music therapy interventions with individuals in a vegetative state.
Additionally, the study suggests an improvisational music therapy approach that uses
affect modulation to communicate musical changes. I believe this approach can be
adapted and used with a wide variety of clients, particularly those who are nonverbal.
Responses, especially those with great affect are already a common resource used to
adjust to the needs of clients. The idea to use this common resource to create a strong
rapport and effective improvisation makes sense to promote smooth adaptations to
interventions.
Additionally, I believe it was smart of the author to note that the effectiveness of
her intervention cannot be generalized until more research provides additional support for
the improvisational approach. I thought it was also smart to provide a comparison to her
first session where she was just playing music. She described how the client had no
responses to her simply playing songs but would move and relax when improvisation fit
his affect and feelings. I believe the ideas presented in the study can lead to increased
intervention effectiveness in the future if further research occurs.

12. How does this study relate to your current research questions? How do its
ideas transfer to other subjects and ideas? Other comments?
As I stated in my answer above, I believe the improvisational approach discussed in
this study can be transferred to other diagnosis’s. Therefore, I can delve into the idea of
using the improvisational music therapy approach with clients with cerebral palsy for my
research. Since this study states that further research is necessary, it is likely I may not

3
find much on this approach with cerebral palsy. However, I could use this idea for a
research design, or I could look more into the improvisational approach itself and simply
analysis how it may be effective with cerebral palsy. I imagine the effectiveness of an
improvisational approach will vary with age and diagnosis, so this idea might be difficult
to research but would be very interesting to explore.