ARTS RESEARCH REQUIRES RIGOR, TOO.
Submitted by Tommer on July 17, 2009
Greg Sandow takes on Chorus America’s research publication on ArtsJournal
This post makes me just a little sad to write. Chorus America, a while ago, published the results of a study, which they say shows that people who sing in choruses are exceptionally good citizens. They then say that choruses should bring this information to the media, “to help establish an awareness of the personal and communal benefits of choral singing.”
So why am I sad to talk about this? Because the study suffers from an elementary misuse of statistics. But it’s so eager, so hopeful, and so well-intentioned that it’s almost painful to tell the poor choral people that their work is flawed.