Critiquing Qualitative Research
Critiquing Qualitative Research
The research article entitled Voices from Devotional Ritual: Practitioners unity
London, UK was so impressive for it has the power to excite attention. It got my
interest to read the whole article. I was able to visualize the scenes particularly on
the findings and discussion. It was very concise, grammatically correct, well laid out
and organized.
Dr. Florante P. Ibarra, the author of the well - written article, a music lover, a
great musician, a very skilled person and a founder of Maestro Singers in CLSU,
was also a recipient of the 2009 Classic Fulbright Scholarship Award to the United
States for his doctorate degree in music and music education at Columbia
University, Graduate School of Education in the City of New York, USA. He finished
his master of music at the University of the Philippines College of Music major in
music education and his bachelor’s degree at the University of Santo Tomas,
Conservatory of Music major in music education and voice with distinct honour of
Cum Laude. A multi awarded music educator and music researcher, his interest
and general classroom music teaching and learning. For approximately, twenty (20)
years teaching in CLSU, the author is a full - blown professor handling different
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these abounding talents and experiences, indeed, the author is knowledgeable in his
research conducted.
The title of the article is clear, accurate and unambiguous. The first time I read
The topic was clearly identified by the researcher. At the very beginning, he
stated that the study was an ethnographic - phenomenological study that explores
the holistic nature of araquio tradition in the town of Peñaranda, province of Nueva
practitioners and how music - making builds a community. Also, it was stated that its
In his review of literatures, I believe that there were enough that has been
framework was constructed within the context of Music as Social Behavior (Rice
2001, Geertz 1973; Merriam 1964). These were appropriate and each of them
It was clearly identified and described the philosophical approach that has
The sampling method and sample size were also identified. Purposive
sampling (Bernard 2006) method was used. The researcher involved eleven (11)
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adult practitioners in his study. He specified four maestros, two female and two
personajes, and three community musicians. Their ages were also varied according
to their respective roles. With these well distribution of number of participants, I think
they were suitable in giving informations for the study. Also, I believe that the
types of each role in the araquio tradition and to capture the diverse backgrounds
and characteristics of the practitioners, and determine the similarities and differences
that would reveal social behaviors evident in araquio’s musical tradition in the
culture bearers because their experiences had been whetted and nurtured through
the passing of time. Thus the participants/ respondents were be able to share their
meaningful experiences on how to musical behavior had greatly able to affected their
I do believed that the participants were fully informed about the reseach.
appropriate and of great help on the fulfillment of the study. Though it was not
mentioned in the article, I belived that the participants were guarranteed that their
answers would be treated confidential; they were protected from harm, and;
The data collection was described clearly and sequentially. The researcher
conducted semi - structured and open ended interviews with the participants that
method in the form of participant - observation which served as his investigative tool
months in the investigative procedure using a balanced emic and etic, or outsider -
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insider perspective (Bernard 2006; Geertz 1973). He also used three (3) approaches
to analyze his data: Classification of data which was used as an initial approach to
coding but he reconstructed it to fit on his study. Inductive coding was also used for
categorizing the information in the data. Thus, it provided the researcher with a clear
underlying meaning contained in the texts given by the participants who experienced
the phenomenon under study. I believed that the researcher achieved the saturation
of data for the quality data collected were adequate. Though the researcher did not
discuss directly how rigour was assured, I could see it in the discussion of his study
that there are always review of related literature or study that gives support to every
steps or ideas the researcher wanted to do / explain. These would show credibility,
The findings of the study are very well presented. Its importance and
implications of the findings were also identified. The researcher relates the findings
article. The conclusion showed an in - depth review of how each step of the research
was undertaken. The recommendations of the study was the preservation of this
tradition for future generations. Further, it was stated that the unspoken tradition
needs the continuous support of each community and the nation, and this treasure,
the unspoken relics and tradition of the araquio, has to be preserved and cherished
The article has an accurate and correctly written references such as books,
journal, articles, reports or related studies referred to in the study. The lists were
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included at the end of the article. With these correct format, the reader who has an
interest in the topic that was studied, the reference list can be a good source of
further readings.
Overall, this article can be a good source of information to the readers and/or
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