Surveying Colorado Band Directors’ Opinions of Skills and Characteristics Important to Successful Music Teaching

Abstract

This study was designed to (a) gather band directors’ opinions of skills and characteristics important to teaching and (b) examine the relative effectiveness of electronic versus paper survey methods. Survey respondents ranked lists of music, teaching, and personal skills or characteristics in order of importance and answered open-ended items regarding advice for 1st-year teachers and the struggles and rewards of band directing. The final response rate was 66% (N = 235). Personal and teaching skills and characteristics were ranked higher than music skills. The items “maintain high musical standards,” “be able to motivate students,” and “enthusiastic, energetic” were the highest ranked skills or characteristics. Perseverance, patience, and long-term vision were the most common forms of advice to 1st-year teachers. Issues related to classroom management and student success were the most-often-cited struggles and rewards of band directing, respectively. An experiment comparing response rate and response quality as a function of survey method (i.e., e-survey vs. paper survey) and follow-up notification (i.e., postnote, no postnote) also was completed using a smaller subsample of respondents ( n = 102). Response rates for the e-survey conditions were better than those for the paper survey conditions. Greater proportions of respondents from the paper survey conditions completed the open-ended items.

Keywords

music teacher effectiveness electronic survey methods teaching rewards teaching struggles

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Cook, C. , Heath, F. , & Thompson, R.L. (2000). A meta-analysis of response rates in Web- or Internet-based surveys. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 60(6), 821-836.

Couper, M.P. ( 2000). Web surveys: A review of issues and approaches. Public Opinion Quarterly, 64(4), 464-494.

Couper, M.P. , Traugott, M.W. , & Lamias, M.J. ( 2001). Web survey design and administration. Public Opinion Quarterly, 65, 230-253.

Dixon, R. , & Turner, R. ( 2007). Electronic vs. conventional surveys. In R. A. Reynolds , R. Woods, R. , & J. D. Baker (Eds.), Electronic surveys and measurements (pp. 104-111). Hershey, PA : Idea Group Reference.

Fredrickson, W. , & Hackworth, R. ( 2005). Analysis of first-year music teachers’ advice to music education students. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 23(2), 4-11.

Gurau, C. ( 2007). The ethics of online surveys. In R. A. Reynolds , R. Woods, R. , & J. D. Baker (Eds.), Electronic surveys and measurements (pp. 112-119). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference.

Kaplowitz, M.D. , Hadlock, T.D. , & Levine, R. ( 2004). A comparison of Web and mail survey response rates. Public Opinion Quarterly, 68(1), 94-101.

Mehta, R. , & Sivadas, E. ( 1995). Comparing response rates and response content in mail versus electronic mail surveys. Journal of the Market Research Society, 37(4), 429-439.

Mills, J. , & Smith, J. ( 2003). Teachers’ beliefs about effective instrumental teaching in schools and higher education. British Journal of Music Education, 20(1), 5-27.

10.

Pembrook, R.G. , & Fredrickson, W.E. (2000/2001). "Prepared yet flexible": Insights from daily logs of music teachers. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 147, 149-152.

11.

Porter, S.R. , & Whitcomb, M.E. (2003). The impact of contact type on Web survey response rates. Public Opinion Quarterly, 67, 579-588.

12.

Reynolds, R. A. , Woods, R. , & Baker, J. D. (Eds.) (2007). Electronic surveys and measurements. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference.

13.

Rohwer, D. , & Henry, W. ( 2004). University teachers’ perceptions of requisite skills and characteristics of effective music teachers. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 13(2), 18-27.

14.

Sills, S.J. , & Song, C. ( 2002). Innovations in survey research. Social Science Computer Review, 20(1), 22-30.

15.

Stanton, J.M. ( 1998). An empirical assessment of data collection using the internet. Personnel Psychology, 51(3), 709-736.

16.

Taebel, D.K. ( 1980). Public school music teachers’ perceptions of the effect of certain competencies on pupil learning. Journal of Research in Music Education, 28, 185-197.

17.

Teachout, D.J. ( 1997). Preservice and experienced teachers’ opinions of skills and behaviors important to successful music teaching. Journal of Research in Music Education, 45(1), 41-50.

18.

Thompson, L.F. , Surface, E.A. , Martin, D.L. , & Sanders, M.G. ( 2003). From paper to pixels: Moving personnel surveys to the Web. Personnel Psychology, 56(1), 197-227.

19.

Wayman, V.E. ( 2005, February). Beginning music education students’ and student teachers’ opinions of skills and behaviors important to successful music teaching. Paper presented at the Desert Skies Symposium on Research in Music Education, University of Arizona, Tucson.

20.

Wright, K.B. ( 2005). Researching Internet-based populations: Advantages and disadvantages of online survey research, online questionnaire authoring software packages, and Web survey services. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(3), Article 11.

21.

Zhang, Y. ( 1999). Using the Internet for survey research: A case study . Journal of the American Society for Information Science , 51(1), 57-68.