Seeking the Essence of the Study Within the Study

Abstract

The editors of Music and Medicine strive to foster the acceptance, implementation, integration as well as the acknowledgment of music therapy and music medicine as a science-based, uniquely qualified domain of health care. This journal, as a verification of such intentions, seeks to challenge each and every submitting author to define what kind of acoustic stimulus, sound, or music might be a distinct parameter of influence that is being utilized in a study. We encourage authors and readers to consider what purpose a contributing intervention might serve. Furthermore, the securing of an appropriate design and statistical analysis of the variables at hand is most important.

In best research practices, principal investigators (PIs) who themselves do not have musical and/or psychological expertise should establish a multidisciplinary research group to include professional, artistic, and scientific colleagues, which can inform the study related to the music aspects of the research. Additionally, such a group might further assist in the culmination of how such aspects might influence the methodology.

A biostatistician’s involvement, as member of a multidisciplinary research team, is critical to the analysis phase; but in best research practices, ideally this member has been a part of the planning phase of a study since its initiation. Authors seeking support in this matter may refer to a wealth of methodological literature for examples.^1,2 Special training courses offered by educational institutions are another resource that can be particularly useful.

Although there seems to be a general feeling of skepticism that exists in scrutinizing the effects of findings and to what extent …