Research

This assessment activity requires you to investigate an aspect of New Zealand music. 

Investigate involves enquiry into an aspect of New Zealand music.

In-depth involves developing a thorough and informed investigation.

Investigate comprehensively involves developing an investigation that integrates implications and ideas, and interprets significant factors.

An aspect of New Zealand music involves a selection of one of the following:

• musical style

• genre or historical period (eg traditional forms of Māori music of the tāngata whenua, popular music, jazz, art music)

• music industry (eg recording, publishing, agencies such as AMCOS, APRA)

• music advocacy groups (eg MENZA, SOUNZ, Creative Freedom)

• music funding agencies (eg Creative New Zealand)

• a musician (composer or performer)

• a New Zealand performing group (eg a rock or jazz band, NZSO, NZ Youth choir; a kapahaka group)

• a festival or competition (e.g. TeMatatini, Polyfest, The Big Sing, RockQuest).

Your investigation should include: 

1. a brief chronological overview of the aspect chosen

2. a profile including background (this could include social, cultural, historical, entrepreneurial, technological, political or economic background), and biography where appropriate

3. significant musical characteristics of the selected aspect:

• for study of a style or genre, this might include repertoire and performance style

• for study of the music industry this might include: performance opportunities (eg for bands, orchestras, choirs, rock or cultural groups in festivals, special events, gigs), or industry components in New Zealand’s recording and publishing industry (eg record companies, music publishers, copyright agencies, collection societies)

• study of an artist may include analysis of several of their pieces and overall characteristics

4. evaluation of the significance of the aspect chosen in the diversity of the New Zealand music scene.

5. References and Bibliography - all of the sources you have used referenced appropriately 

Presentation of the investigation may include a variety of elements (eg live performance, music videos, annotated scores) and may take one or more of the following forms:

• written assignment

• seminar

• film/video/radio documentary

• website/blog

• combination of the above

Get an independent person to critique your presentation (e.g. family, friends). Ask them to check the following:

• Is my investigation coherent – does it make sense?

• Is my investigation interesting? 

• Have I provided in-depth information?

• Have I explained the significance of my topic in the context of the diversity of New Zealand music?

• Have I examined different perspectives and points of view and integrated these ideas?

• Are my visual images and/or musical examples relevant and interesting?

• Have I evaluated the subject of my investigation? Is my evaluation convincing?

Listen carefully to advice from your family or friends, and refine (re-work) your investigation. 

Repeat the refining process until you can give a positive response to all the questions above.

This assessment is worth 4 NCEA L2 Credits

This achievement standard involves researching a music topic. 

Research topics could be related to: creative processes of music-making (composition, performance, audio engineering, music and film); sociology of music; psychology of music; music in society; music industry; music analysis; world music; community music; historical perspectives, including development of an instrument.

Your research is not just gathering existing information. You need to undertake some new research that has not previously been done. 

1. Research involves:

   • defining an area of inquiry

   • formulating a framework involving focus questions and planning how to conduct research

   • gathering information and selecting relevant evidence from it

   • recording sources of evidence

   • drawing valid conclusions

   • organising and presenting findings

2. Methods to gather information. The following offer a range of quantitative and qualitative methods from which to choose, as appropriate to the research:

   • questionnaires

   • surveys

   • interviews

   • action research

   • data gathering

   • observation

   • personal narrative

   • mentoring

NB Consideration of human ethics approval, use of intellectual property, plagiarism, and copyright issues all need to be adhered to when conducting research.

3. Presentation could include one or more of the following approaches:

   • seminar

   • film/video/radio documentary

   • written assignment

   • display

   • web site

   • annotated scores

   • audio-visual

   • data display

You must retain your work in a portfolio and include evidence of sources of investigation and research

Your research process should include all of the following: 

Research Question(s) - what do you want to find out? Start by thinking of aspects of music that interest you. Is there anything you have wondered about? Etc. 

Initial Research - what research has already been done on your topic? Is there similar research on different topics? Do you need to modify your initial question based on this?

Briefly outline what you found out providing references.

Method - what will you do to gather your data/evidence? Think about a range of sources - the best projects have a range of data gathering sources. Remember, you are not just collecting existing data - you will need to gather your own. Surveys, interviews, questionnaires, observation, etc. 

Hypothesis - based on what you have found in your Initial Research and your method, what do you think the outcome will be? This should be a statement. 

Your Results/Findings - outline and summarise your findings. You do not need to detail all of your data here, just the overall outcome and anything interesting you found out. 

Conclusion - answer your Hypothesis based on your findings. 

Reflection, Limitations, and Implication - what worked well? What would you do differently next time? What kinds of things could affect your results? How could you overcome these if you did this again? Was your sample big enough? Why is this interesting and important? Etc. 

Referencing - Use APA referencing. Massey has a good tool for this (http://owll.massey.ac.nz/referencing/apa-interactive.php) 

Appendices - add all plans, materials, articles, raw data, etc. You should label these so you can refer to them as in your previous parts.

This assessment is worth 6 NCEA L3 Credits