My Zero Measurement

What is "zero measurement"? 

I was so confused when I first heard this term, even though it was explained thoroughly... more than once. So. What is zero measurement? From what I understand, zero measurement is the knowledge you have available now. Pre-google. Pre-analyzing. Pre...researching. For example, if I were to start a research on basketball (coming from Indiana, USA) I would say these things:

-it's a sport with one ball and two hoops
-there are two teams
-the scores are usually very high (compared to soccer or football)
-there's something called "March Madness" (my grandma is really into that)
-both men and women have leagues, but the men's league is more popular

So that's what I know. Well, I may know a little more, but not much. I could make some quick google searches and discover some more basic facts. But what you do with this zero measurement is what I find exciting. From these facts, one is able to form questions. For example with the given information - "it´s a sport with one ball and two hoops", one can elaborate! Why does it only have one ball? What is the historical context of basketball? Does it possibly come from the ancient Mayan games where the "ball" was actually sometimes a human head? (I think it does...) And finally, one can make a research claim based on all these questions. Whichever piques your interest is the one you´ll probably choose. Let's go with the Mayan example and make a "research claim". According to grammar.about.com, a claim is 

"an arguable statement--an idea that a rhetor (that is, a speaker or writer) asks an audience to accept. Also called an arguable statement."

Arguable statements... I've made those my whole life. Just ask my mother. Buh-dn-ksh! No, but really. Let's think about this Mayan thing. Perhaps - and I'm coming from zero knowledge here - but what about "The Ancient Mayan game, Pok-ta-pok, created the modern day basketball that we know today". Well, after just a quick google search, I actually found that the game is called "Pok-ta-pok" which is more than I knew at the Zero Measurement phase. 

All right all right! Enough basketball. I'm bored. Let's get back to the music! 

To analye MY zero measurement, we should go back to my Research Assignment #1. Like I said, I wasn't quite clear on what that term meant back then (a couple months ago), so my zero measurement actually just consisted of five keywords: Vocal Therapy, Communication Therapy, Refugees, Syrian Culture, and  Improvisation in Syrian Music. These keywords will eventually lead me to a zero measurement and perhaps even a concrete research claim, but first they lead me to my main research question:

How can vocal improvisation create communication between refugee women and local women in the Maastricht community (including expats)?

 With a little more research, I found ways that I could incorporate improvisation into my research. My favorite was the idea of Circle Singing, made famous by Bobby McFerrin. In this structure there is a leader (that would be me) and the participants form a circle around the leader looking for their musical "cues" to make a cohesive sound. From this group sound, there are at times spontaneous improvisation. Conversation! Could this musical conversation lead to a deeper dialogue between the women in the playgroup? Think of all the different cultures and musical backgrounds of these women. Middle-Eastern music fused with Western European classical ideas, and American rock and jazz. Whew! 

Well... that's just what I want to find out! I'll be sure to keep you posted.