Journal #8: Progress Report Tony, Stuart and Emily

Our fieldwork has been going exceptional so far. Based on the feedback that we recently got back on our cover letters and interview/survey questions, we have changed a few things. In our cover letter, we needed to make changes by explaining things further, going into more depth, adding a works cited page and adding more of our previous research to the cover letter. We reevaluated our questions a little bit by adding more interview questions. The questions that we provided the first time were focused primarily on survey questions. We have had trouble finding enough responses from recently graduated students. There are plenty of undergraduate students who are in the music department who are willing and able to answer our questions, as well as people who are already established in the community. Recently graduated students are not only hard to find, but are not being very receptive to answering questions. We have reached out to potential interviewees by finding students at Virginia Tech who are majoring in fields related to music (i.e., music performance, music technology, music education) as well as professionals at Virginia Tech and local bands.

Our hypothesis has basically stayed the same as our fieldwork has begun, but our process has changed slightly. Like mentioned previously, it has been hard to find students who have recently graduated in the music field to participate and give their feedback. Our sample size for recent graduates is much less then that of undergraduates and older professionals. We were surprised by the overwhelming amount of professionals who warned against being too invested in the music field and many of them suggested having another source of income on the side. We thought that they would be more satisfied with their careers, but a lot of them did not provide as high of numbers as we were expecting on the survey questions. It is fascinating to see the difference between what we believed would be the outcome, and what the outcome is actually showing. Our hypotheses have not been completely accurate, but that is what makes this whole process so exciting. We will continue our research and field working and look forward to seeing the outcomes that follow.