Research in music education
A "survey" is a systematic method of collecting information on one or more variables. An example of a survey study is a 1998 study by Gillespie and Hamann. The purpose of the study was to gather descriptive information about orchestra programs that can be used as baseline data when considering the needs of school string programs. The findings indicated a continued enrollment increase in school orchestras in the 1990s although the number of orchestra teachers remained stable, and that larger schools are more likely to offer orchestra instruction. The impact of the study was the recommendation that school systems should provide larger, more adequate teaching facilities and that universities and string teachers should emphasize strategies for teaching larger string classes in their teacher preparation programs.
Commissioned survey
A commissioned survey is a kind of archaeological and social survey performed in return for money or goods. Typically, these surveys were conducted in the pre colonial Era, as part of Age of European Enlightenment to study territories before colonization. They would usually extend to significant and detailed efforts by trading companies to study institutions of indigenous communities as a precursor to colonial powers exerting colonial supremacy. An example would be when soldiers of East India Company were paid fees to study exotic lands, customs, cultures and literatures of the colonized world. The end product of a commissioned survey would usually be a report or book in a European language, which could form a basis for law making by colonial powers.