Kreative Methodenintegration in der musiktherapeutischen Forschung: Reflexionen über Methodenwahl und Methodenprobleme im Forschungsprojekt 'Rezeptive Musiktherapie mit Krebspatientinnen in der Rehabilitationsphase'

Creative Integration of Methods in Music Therapy Research Reflections on Choice of Method and Methodological Problems in the Research Project ‘Receptive Music Therapy with Female Cancer Patients in Rehabilitation’ "Multiple methods“ (or "mixed methods“) is a new concept in music therapy research. It is inspired by recent methodological developments in social science, and it covers the interaction of quantitative and qualitative methods in one and the same research study. Multiple methods are not the same as the diversity or pluralism of methods advocated by many scholars who are critical towards the principles of evidence-based medicine. This article presents a concrete example of multiple methods in music therapy research: a psycho-social study of music therapy with cancer survivors. Ontological, epistemological and methodological problems are illustrated and discussed, and the perspective is broadened into a discussion of the core concept „triangulation“ as related to validity.