Challenge Overview

This Research Challenge invites postgraduate researchers and early career researchers (PGRs & ECRs) to share, exchange, and reflect on the qualitative methods they use to investigate their own musical practice. Different research aims, forms of practice and contexts require different methods and the C21MP research centre is dedicated to supporting PGRs and ECRs by conducting research into those methods. This project is one of several steps we are taking in that direction.

Practice research requires methods that can get close to the lived experience of doing music — the decisions, impulses, and processes that unfold in real time, before reflection reshapes them. Established qualitative methods such as stimulated recall, think-aloud protocols, video diary, and autoethnography have all been used in this context, but researchers frequently adapt and refine these approaches to suit their specific practice and research questions.

This challenge is designed to describe, make explicit and share that methodological knowledge — the customisations, workarounds, and insights that rarely make it into formal publications.

What does the challenge involve?

• You create a 10-minute video demonstrating a qualitative method you use in your own practice research — including how and why you have adapted it to your aims, practice and context.
• You are paired with another participant and exchange videos.
• You explore their method in relation to your own practice and create a second 10-minute response video.
• You watch your partner’s response to your method.
• You and your partner meet online for a 20-minute filmed discussion: 10 minutes on how each of you interpreted and adapted the method, and 10 minutes analysing what the exchange revealed.

The four videos and the discussion are edited into a 60-minute research output and published by C21MP as a jointly authored, DOI-allocated, peer-reviewed practice research publication via the UK’s JISC Octopus.ac system.

What kinds of methods are in scope?

Any qualitative method that aims to capture the lived experience of musical practice from the inside — for example:

• Stimulated recall (video-assisted or audio-assisted)
• Think-aloud / verbal protocol
• Autoethnography
• Practice diary / video diary
• Reflective journaling
• Other approaches — provided they are oriented towards lived experience rather than post-hoc theoretical explanation

Timeline

• Proposal Submission deadline – 30th April 2026
• First video submitted – 30th May 2026
• Second video submitted – 30th June 2026
• Final video submitted – 21st July 2026

This is Stage 1

This challenge is Stage 1 of a larger project led by Simon Zagorski-Thomas and Mine Doğantan-Dack. Stage 2 will bring together participants and wider stakeholders to discuss findings, and will produce support materials and resources for practice research PGRs and ECRs.

Interested?

See the participant information below or the research assistant page to volunteer.

Participant Information

We are looking for postgraduate researchers and early career researchers in music who are already using qualitative methods in their practice research and would like to share and develop their methodological approach.

Who is this for?

This challenge is suitable for you if:

• You are a postgraduate researcher or early career researcher in music
• You are using (or have used) qualitative methods to investigate your own musical practice
• You are interested in how other researchers approach similar questions

What is the time commitment?

The challenge runs over approximately twelve weeks and involves:

• Write a 200 word proposal that outlines the method you would use in the first video, the musical practice and the context (style, tradition etc) and send it to: researchchallenge@c21mp.org before 30th April 2026
• Filming and editing a 10-minute video (time will vary depending on your method and setup) before 30th May 2026
• Watching your partner’s video and creating a 10-minute response before 30th June 2026
• A filmed online discussion with your partner about how you interpreted the challenge and how it has informed or changed your ideas about these research methods
• Working with your partner to edit your discussion down (to 10 minutes on your interpretation of the challenge and 10 minutes on your analysis) and compile all the videos together. Submit the final video before 21st July 2026.

What do participants get?

• A jointly authored, DOI-allocated, peer-reviewed practice research publication
• Exposure to and engagement with another researcher’s methodological approach
• Opportunity to contribute to Stage 2 resources for the practice research community

Ethics

Because participants are co-authors of the published output, they are responsible for their own ethics approval process. All participants will sign a contributor agreement covering data handling (where appropriate), consent, and publication rights. Participants will retain ownership of the material and agree to it being published on the UK’s JISC Octopus.ac site and the C21MP.org website under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence.

Send your proposal to: researchchallenge@c21mp.org before 30th April 2026