Aaron Williamon is Professor of Performance Science at the Royal College of Music (RCM) and Director of the Centre for Performance Science, a partnership of the RCM and Imperial College London. His research focuses on skilled performance and applied scientific initiatives that inform music learning and teaching, as well as the impact of music and the arts on society. He is founder of the International Symposium on Performance Science, chief editor of Performance Science (a Frontiers journal), and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and the UK's AdvanceHE (FHEA). In 2008, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal College of Music (HonRCM)

Jane Ginsborg is Professor of Music Psychology, Associate Director of Research, and Director of the Centre for Music Performance Research at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). Her research focuses on expert solo and collaborative music practice, rehearsal and performance; musicians' health, wellbeing, resilience, and literacy; practice-led research; and virtuosity. She is a fellow of the UK's AdvanceHE (FHEA) and served as president of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (2012-2015) and managing editor of Music Performance Research (2010-2018). She was appointed editor-in-chief of Musicae Scientiae in 2018.


Rosie Perkins is Professor of Music, Health, and Social Science at the Royal College of Music (RCM). Based in the Centre for Performance Science, Rosie's research investigates two broad areas within music and mental health: how music and the arts support societal wellbeing and how to enhance artists' wellbeing and career development.

George Waddell is Research Associate in Performance Science at the Royal College of Music (RCM). His research focuses on the evaluation of performance and the use of technology to enhance how performance is assessed, taught, and practiced. He leads courses on scientific research methods, the psychology of performance, performance evaluation, enterprise and innovation, and musicians' health. He is an honorary Research Associate at Imperial College London

• Preface


• Introduction


• Planning Research


• 1: Research questions


• 2: Methodological approaches


• 3: Research ethics


• Conducting Research


• 4: Observations


• 5: Documentation


• 6: Interviews


• 7: Surveys


• 8: Experiments


• Analyzing Research


• 9: Qualitative Analysis


• 10: Descriptive Statistics


• 11: Inferential Statistics: Foundations


• 12: Inferential statistics: Differences


• 13: Inferential statistics: Relationships


• Communicating Research


• 14: Communication and dissemination


• Resources


• Glossary


• Abbreviations and Symbols