Analytisk musiklytning og udvikling af universitetsstuderendes kompetencer inden for kvalitativ forskning

Artiklen formidler et undervisningseksperiment om analytisk musiklytning, hvis hensigt var at styrke kandidatstuderendes kompetencer indenfor kvalitative forsknings- og dataindsamlingsmetoder. Data om eksperimentet stammer fra egen undervisningsportfolio og et kvalitativt spørgeskema til de deltagende studerende, og de analyseres i et sociokulturelt og æstetisk læringsperspektiv. Eksperimentet byggede på en antagelse om, at kvalitative forskningsmetoder udnytter en grundlæggende menneskelig erkendelsesform, der går gennem sanserne: når man interviewer, lytter man og bruger hørelsen som udgangspunkt for at forstå det andet menneske, når man observerer, ser man og bruger synet for at forstå omgivelserne. Dette aspekt af den kvalitative forskningstilgang opleves af de studerende som vanskelig og udfordrende. Derfor gik eksperimentet ud på at rette de studerendes opmærksomhed mod forskellen mellem at lytte/se på den ene side og fortolke det hørte/sete på den anden. Resultaterne peger på, at musiklytning ud fra musikanalytiske principper støttede de studerende i denne skelnen, og at musik, qua sin lidt ’fremmede’ tilstedeværelse i undervisningsrummet muliggjorde refleksioner over det at finde mening i ukendte empiriske kontekster.
The article discusses a teaching experiment that uses music analysis as a way to strengthen graduate students' skills in qualitative research and data collection methods. Data from the experiment derives from each student’s own teaching portfolio and responses to a qualitative questionnaire given to participating students. The data is analysed in a socio-cultural and aesthetic learning perspective. The experiment was based on the assumption that qualitative research methods utilize a basic human way of building knowledge: During an interview, the interviewer begins by listening to the interviewee in order to understand that person, while during an observation the observer watches to understand the environment. This aspect of the qualitative research approach is often experienced as challenging and problematic by the students. Therefore, the intention with the experiment was to direct the students' attention to the difference between listening/watching on the one hand and interpreting what was heard/seen on the other. The results suggest that listening to music by means of music analytical principles supported the students in making this distinction. In addition, music, by virtue of its ’foreign’ presence in the classroom, provided the students with opportunities to reflect on how to create meaning in unfamiliar empirical contexts.