One of the blog entries for this assignment is to respond/react to another fellow student's blog post. After browsing through the ones posted so far, one by Carol Borscevski, who I had the pleasure of doing some teamwork with, caugth my interest. In her blog entitled, "Clear as Mud: Scholarly Reflections of a MALAT Student", she posted, "Research traditions, cultures of inquiry, epistemological frameworks in social science research… oh my!?!", in which she discusses Phenomenology. It just so happens that this topic was one of two I discussed in my most recent blog and this culture of inquiry is particularly alluring to me. So I thought I'd join in on her discussion of this very interesting concept.
She points out that Phenomenology focuses on exploring/describing the lived experience of an individual in regards to a phenomenon (Bentz & Shapiro, 1998, p. 98). She further explains her view that research such as this requires a clear set of guidelines in order to rid the researcher of preconceived notions and bias, in an effort to describe any experience with complete objectivity. 
In my own blog (http://wpinhorn.blogspot.ca/2014/08/in-this-blog-i-am-going-to-talk-little.html), I used the example of a live musical performance as a source of researching the experiences of both the audience and the performer and described that there are a myriad of simultaneous experiences occurring at once in this particular scenario. I would find this to be a fascinating study but, having read Carol's observations, I am now concerned with how I would remove bias, given that I am a professional musician and perform regularly in this context. Would it be too difficult for me to be completely objective, given this fact? Would I bring my own experiences to the table, underpinning my research, without even being aware of it? 
These questions concern me. However, Carol does point out that phenomenology does include the concept of epoché, bracketing, or phenomenological reduction that has the express purpose of eliminating bias. I will admit that I am not as familiar with this as I would like to be and, if I am to pursue a phenomenological research paper or use it as the core of a thesis, I will certainly need to delve deeper into the process. I am learning from reading Carol's blog that it is not enough to simply be drawn to a particular culture of inquiry or even believe that it will make for a compelling research method. I will need to ensure that it is the best vehicle for mindful inquiry, the most important element of any research.
So how can a musician truly research music using this culture of inquiry without bias and with real purpose? It is something I want to do but can I do it without influencing the outcome? Next steps for me: investigate these questions much more to seek the answers. Thanks Carol for setting me out on a new path!