Methods and Tools

Having justified the use of realism and mixed methods, consideration was given to the most suitable methods for this thesis having regard to the main research questions; namely, how do headteachers of voluntary aided schools perceive their leadership of their schools compared with that in other types of schools and which particular aspects of their roles present particular pleasure or challenge.

An ethnographic approach would fulfil the need for evidence as to how headteachers of voluntary aided schools ‘see their world’ (Taber 2007:77). However, true ethnography

also requires ‘prolonged and repetitive study in the participants’ natural setting’ (LeCompte and Preissle 1993:232) necessitating a sustained focus on a small number of participants and eliminating the possibility of a large sample to provide a national picture.

Grounded theory presents as a possible approach in that it develops theory that is grounded in data systematically gathered and analysed (Strauss and Corbin 1998). However, grounded theory analyses incidents rather than participants and there would typically be several hundred incidents in a grounded theory study (Glaser and Strauss 1967). This would not be practical for this thesis which, in any case, seeks to analyse the perceptions of headteachers rather than incidents. Furthermore, as leadership cannot be readily seen, it is not suited to grounded theory as this is applied to observable phenomena – though Parry (1998) disagrees and argues that grounded theory can be used to measure non-observable phenomena like leadership.

Situational ethnomethodology (Cohen et al. 2011) examines the social contexts of participants but, as Robinson notes in her research into the leadership of small schools (2011), leadership comprises one particular aspect of a headteacher’s context rather than an entire social context. The research questions for this thesis investigate leadership perceptions of headteachers of voluntary aided schools – they do not necessitate investigation into the broader social contexts of their schools.

Phenomenology is an approach that is concerned with people as opposed to systems and which ‘takes into account the reality for the person and their experience’ (Van Manen 1990). However, phenomenology stresses the need to present matters as closely as possible to the way that those concerned understand them and the task is to present the experiences in a way that is ‘faithful to the original’ (Denscombe 2010). This would appear to limit the ability of the researcher to interpret or analyse the experiences (Robinson 2011), a key feature for this thesis which seeks to investigate and analyse the perceptions of headteachers of voluntary-aided schools.

Phenomenography differs from phenomenology in that it studies experiences and thoughts of participants in an empirical manner (Boulton-Lewis and Wilss 2004) making use of contextual analysis. However, there are limitations in that it relies

primarily on the interpretation by participants and researchers without taking into account the cultural situation and external factors (Richardson 1999). This would also limit the role of this thesis as external factors (e.g. government legislation, Local Authority involvement, faith requirements) do impact on the leadership role of headteachers in voluntary-aided schools.

With regard to case studies, these focus on one instance (or a few instances) of a particular phenomenon with a view to providing an in-depth account of events, relationships, experiences or processes occurring in that particular instance (Denscombe 2010). They can be conducted using a group (Robson 1993, Yin 2003) and their findings may be used to generalise (though not by statistical inference) and can lead to changes in educational policy making (Cohen et al. 2011). Easton (2010) suggests that a critical realist case approach is particularly well-suited to relatively clearly bounded, but complex, phenomena such as organisations, inter-organisational relationships or nets of connected organisations. However, for the purposes of this thesis, the logistical difficulties would severely limit the number of headteachers that could participate in the research thus preventing the portrayal of a national picture of voluntary aided school leadership.

None of the above methods is totally suited for this thesis though, as discussed, many elements can be incorporated. As one of the aims is to investigate and compare data from a large group of headteachers of voluntary aided schools representing primary and secondary phases, large and small rolls, different faiths and geographical areas across England, a Survey approach was utilised. Fogelman (2002) comments that this is the most frequently used method in researching educational leadership and management. He notes that 19 out of 35 papers in Educational Leadership and Management Journal over two years utilised surveys as the main instrument of data collection (though some were combined with other methods). He does, however, note the great variety of exercises that come under the heading of ‘survey’ and suggests that a survey of interviews with a number of headteachers could be described as a small number of case studies.

Survey research is defined by Hutton (1990) as the method of collecting information by asking a set of pre-formulated questions in a predetermined sequence in a structured

questionnaire to a sample of individuals drawn so as to be representative of a defined population. However, Fogelman (2002) comments that this is a narrow definition since other methods e.g. semi-structured or unstructured interviews can be used for surveys. Furthermore, some surveys, such as a national census, can be carried out on an entire population rather than on a sample. Surveys can gather data from a wide research population and this data can be used to identify relationships and connections between different variables that usually relate to the present state of affairs and provide a snapshot of how things are at the specific time at which the data are collected (Denscombe 2010). However, potential weaknesses of survey data include: poor response rates, lack of sufficient depth and detail, sampling bias issues and honesty of respondents (Sharp 2009). These issues are addressed later in this chapter.

A survey is appropriate for this thesis as, typically, surveys gather data at a particular point in time with the intention of describing the nature of existing conditions, or identifying standards against which existing conditions can be compared, or determining the relationships that exist between specific events (Cohen et al. 2011). For the purposes of this survey approach, a questionnaire was constructed containing closed questions to gather generalised data and patterns as well as open questions to generate discursive responses of a much more rich and personal nature (Robert-Holmes 2005) and to ‘provide information that was not constrained by any pre-conceptions held by the researchers’ (Tashakkori and Teddlie 2003:304).

Practical guidance is provided by Bell (2005b) regarding the formatting of questionnaires, the importance of precise wording, the use of questions and statements, order and appearance, respondents’ rights and piloting the questionnaire. However, with regard to distribution, she advises against postal distribution. Cohen et al. (2011) disagree noting that response levels to postal surveys are not invariably less than those obtained by interview procedures; frequently they equal, and in some cases surpass, those achieved in interviews. They also discuss the validity of postal questionnaires from two viewpoints; whether respondents complete questionnaires accurately, honestly and correctly, and whether those who fail to respond would have given the same distribution of answers.

It was decided to utilise an on-line questionnaire for this thesis as it presents a number of benefits:

• Practical considerations in terms of time and cost in comparison with postal questionnaires thus facilitating a larger sample

• Ease of completion for participant headteachers thus facilitating a greater response

• Facility for analysing the responses utilising on-line survey software

The rationale behind the choice of an on-line questionnaire was to gather data from a substantial number of headteachers of voluntary aided schools encompassing a variety of faiths, locations, sizes and phases. This would generate a large number of responses that would better support reliability in their representation of the voluntary aided sector as a whole. By appealing to potential respondents as a ‘fellow headteacher’ (see Appendix A – the introductory letter to the on-line Survey), it was hoped that colleagues would be more likely to respond to a credible insider researcher. Similarly, it was hoped that the construction of a simple, quick to use, on-line questionnaire would encourage a large number of responses. A pilot questionnaire and covering letter was sent to a headteacher colleague who herself had a PhD and was able to view the pilot both from academic and practitioner viewpoints. She felt that the covering letter and questionnaire were clear, to the point and manageable for busy headteachers.

A specialist survey company was utilised to submit the survey and it provided the software facility for the researcher to analyse and filter the responses. It had been expected that a list of email addresses of voluntary aided schools could be obtained easily from the DfE. However, on submitting a request for these, the response was ‘The Department does not generally release email addresses, as some addresses that we hold may be personal’. A request was then submitted to the 19 Catholic and 43 Church of England Dioceses in England for email addresses of their voluntary aided schools. Eight dioceses sent such lists (though several of the addresses were out of date) and a further four dioceses offered to forward the on-line questionnaire to their schools.

It became necessary, therefore, to commence a process of examining each Local Authority’s website to ascertain the names and addresses of their voluntary aided schools. Although some Local Authority websites listed email addresses of schools, others did not; and in many cases it was necessary to go to individual school websites to

obtain an email address. Eventually, a list was compiled of 2200 email addresses of headteachers of voluntary aided schools ensuring that several were included from every Local Authority in England and the on-line Survey was emailed to these schools. This represented over half of the 4221 voluntary aided schools in England (DfE 2011). Responses were forthcoming from 450 headteachers (over a tenth of the total number of voluntary aided school headteachers in England and 20.5% of those emailed) with representation from 151 out of 152 Local Authorities in England. (The 152nd Local Authority was the Isles of Scilly Authority which does not maintain any voluntary aided schools).

The survey comprised three sections:

The first section consisted of five questions that were put to respondents to identify different groups as this would facilitate more detailed analysis. These groups were defined by:

• Age range of school • Size of school • Religious affiliation • Location

• Length of headship experience

The second section consisted of eleven Likert-style questions for which respondents were asked to state the extent to which they agreed/disagreed with the statements presented to them. This provided quantitative data from a large group of respondents. The third section consisted of open ended questions that asked respondents to state which aspects of their leadership roles presented the greatest sense of pleasure and challenge. This provided the opportunity for the respondents to initiate areas for discussion.

All respondents to the on-line questionnaire were headteachers of voluntary aided schools and the status questions enabled quantitative data to be gathered to ascertain the extent to which the proportions of different sizes, faiths and locations of such schools nationally were represented in the responses to the survey. Headteachers who had led both voluntary aided and other types of schools were invited to volunteer to be

interviewed and from these volunteers a purposive sample of was selected (Robson 1993, Denscombe 2010, Cohen et al. 2011). It was necessary to construct a purposive sample in order to ensure that the twelve interviewees were from different faiths, locations and sizes of schools. Given that the vast majority of the initial 65 volunteers for interview were from rural Church of England schools, a representative sample of these would not have included headteachers from other types of voluntary aided schools. A selection of 12 interviewees enabled representatives from Catholic, Church of England and Jewish schools of different phases and locations to participate – there were no volunteers for interviewing from Hindu or Moslem respondents. The selected interviewees were allocated reference numbers as shown in Table 3.1 below:

Table 3.1 – Identifying interviewees by reference number, faith, type of school and location

HEADTEACHER