Looking through the data at first, I found it very convoluted and confusing to sort out. I recognized from this initial set that Track 9 – Tsuru No Sugomori, Track 1 – Brandenburg Concerto, and Track 7 – Johnny B. Goode were some of the most popular songs as they had the largest nodes. The part I found the most interesting was the communities where we were grouped based on significantly interconnected music choices.
I found it interesting because my group contained Isabella Veltri, Natalie Keizer and myself. Isabella Veltri and I are colleagues and good friends but had not discussed this assignment together. It made me wonder about music choices in general – how different people might select a piece for different reasons but perhaps it all relates back to similar generations and therefore experiences. The visualizations are not able to share with us the reasons behind the choices we made – just that our end choice was similar. The external influences such as accessibility and bias in original selection options are not considered.
In terms of null choices – our Palladio data shows the tracks selected but not the absence of choices. Any participant could have avoided tracks because of lack of personal familiarity with the song or genre. Qualitative data like this can be more conclusive to help answer a specific question (does age influence music choices), or interpret conclusions from a large population (McGill University, n.d.).
McGill University. (n.d.). What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research? McGill Qualitative Health Research Group https://www.mcgill.ca/mqhrg/resources/what-difference-between-qualitative- and-quantitative-research