ABSTRACT
In addition to expanding the knowledge base from which practitioners work, it is both fitting and appropriate that the research endeavors of a profession occasionally contribute to the self-knowledge of that profession. Such self-knowledge can provide a basis for reassessment of the mission and values of the profession and for the establishment of goals for future work. Schmidt and Zdzinski made such a contribution with their 1993 analysis of research articles published between 1975 and 1990. Their work was based on the assumption that advancement within a profession occurs in incremental steps with one “new discovery” providing the basis for subsequent steps. Schmidt and Zdzinski believed that by identifying those research reports that were most frequently cited by subsequent researchers in their quantitative studies we might discover streams of thinking in music education that evolved through this time period. As their purpose, they stated:
While content analyses have been conducted in the past, the most current examples include analyses of research published in the Journal of Research in Music Education prior to 2002. Yarbrough (2002) documented how many articles were dissertations/theses as well as the methodology used. Ebie (2002) investigated the samples studied. However, the assumptions on which the work of Schmidt and Zdzinski were based, and the importance of identifying streams of thinking within the profession by determining which studies are cited most frequently, have not been investigated since publication of their study. We believe their assumptions
remain as important in 2010 as they were in 1993. It is for this reason that we undertook the replication and extension of the Schmidt and Zdzinski study for quantitative research articles in music education published between 1990 and 2005. The over-arching goal of the current study was the same as that of Schmidt and Zdzinski-to examine “journal article citations in order to reveal prominent streams of music education research” (Schmidt & Zdzinski, 1993, p. 3). Because of the legacy left us by the previous research team, we were also able to compare the streams of research identified by the original authors for the 1975-1990 time period with those of the subsequent 15-year period.
