Searching for evidence: continuing issues in dance education research

Abstract

This paper reviews, analyzes, and reflects upon two important reports released in 2013, both discussing research evidence for the value of dance education or arts education more generally, among school-aged students. One report was created by a large dance education advocacy and support group in the USA, the National Dance Education Organization; the other came from the European-based Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, affiliated with the international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Studying the two reports next to each other brings into focus important issues facing the field, especially distinctions between advocacy and research, and between values and facts, along with the impact of such distinctions on research questions and methodologies selected to pursue them. The author examines and challenges not only ideas in the reports, but also her own professional choices during a long career as dance educator and researcher.

Keywords:

• advocacy
• research methodology
• evidence

Notes

1. In the USA, K-12 refers to kindergarten through high school, or 5–18-year olds.

2. The April 2014 issue of Nutrition Action Newsletter, published by the US Center for Science in the Public Interest, presents an easy to understand description of the complexity of such research.