Zur Validität von Musikgenres als Test-Items in der empirischen Musikgeschmackforschung On the Validity of Music Genres as Test Items in Empirical Music Taste Research

Abstract

For decades, the field of empirical music taste research has been dominated by methods of socio-psychological disciplines. Studies are typically conducted as follows: In order to measure musical taste, participants are usually presented with genre terms for evaluation. However, musicological theories and explanatory approaches, which are scarcely referred to, demonstrate that genre terms have both strong social connotations and a fluid level of meaning. This can be impractical in the context of empirical studies on musical taste as valid test items. This proves to be an impediment in making genre terms valid test items for empirical research. If the research interest is directed at individual aspects of musical taste, categorizations of music that have superficially social connotations cannot replace the decidedly musical analysis. Hence, to successfully research musical taste, future studies should be interdisciplinary and include musicological concepts.