A Philosophical View of Research in Music Education

Abstract

In this paper, four interrelated questions are addressed: What counts as research? What are some present challenges to music education research? What should be the relationship between theory and empirical data? What ought to be the distinctive features of music education research? The purpose is to elucidate how philosophical inquiry can be useful in music education scholarship in conceptualising and clarifying the nature of the field and challenging preconceived assumptions about the nature of music education research.