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MUTH 110: Intro to Music Therapy

Resources to help with research assignments for the class Introduction to Music Therapy.

Keywords are the first step in your research & can really help you with future research.

We can talk about the same issues using completely different words; if you only identify one of those words to search, you might miss some key research. Here is a little bit about the types of keyword development laid out below.

Choose what feels best to you and remember that the work you do now is to make your future research easier. This isn't something to do in your head - be sure to write as you go!

  • PICO: One way to develop a Clinical Research Question to get started: Patient(/Population/Problem), Intervention, Comparison (as needed), Outcome.
  • Keyword list: After your starting topic or question, you can identify your starting keywords and come up with alternate terms. This could look like a clean list for each key term, or become more elaborate if you want to plan out ways to combine search words for different uses.
  • Concept map: You could use that starting point to map out key parts, which is helpful if you're a more visual learner or already know a lot about your topic and want to identify any areas you might be overlooking, etc. 

However you get started with research, just make sure you're coming up with multiple potential search terms and writing it all down!

Introducing PICO ...& More!

PICO is an acronym to help inform evidence-based practice decisions & questioning.

It can be useful to frame clinical questions, develop research questions, and identify search terms to find the best available evidence in a quick and efficient manner.

Example Research Question: Is music therapy an effective method to treat the PTSD symptoms of military veterans?

Identify PICO:

Population: Military Veterans

Intervention: Music Therapy

Optional Comparison: Psychiatry

Outcome(/Symptoms): PTSD, lessening symptoms

 

This example breaks the research question into key areas to think about: the population you have selected, symptoms affecting that population or the improved outcome you are aiming for, and the intervention you are using to target those issues as well as considering anything you may compare that to.

We also want to brainstorm the other ways to describe important keywords to create a strong search strategy and find the best sources.

Sometimes those words may be synonyms but it's good to include terms that might help to broaden or narrow your searches too. 

Here is a sample list of what this list of alt keywords might start with:

"Military Veterans" OR....

  • Veterans
  • Soldiers

"Music Therapy" OR...

  • Creative Arts Therapy
  • Songwriting
  • Cognitive Behavioral Music Therapy

"PTSD Symptoms" OR...

  • Trauma / Trauma Response
  • Depression
  • Mental Health

Especially when you are just starting research, you may not know which word will be best for a particular database or the field of study until you start looking. Give yourself options!

Use the site below to better understand PICO & check out the worksheets on the left side of this page to help you develop a research question and begin developing good keywords.