Friday 29 January 2016

Scaling the mountain to principalship: The barriers and the enablers of a female first time principal’s journey - chapter 2 My paradigm and methodology

Chapter Two: My paradigm and methodology
2.1 Overcoming “intellectual seasickness”
Using feminist theory, where the personal is the political, encourages researchers to take action to improve the lives of people (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2003; Fontana & Frey, 2000). In my case the action is my own emancipation from ignorance which will help me to become a better leader and perhaps future principal, as well as signpost some practical and challenging insights in how to support future female leaders (Bishop, 1997; Kemmis & McTaggart, 2003; Ryan, 2004; Megginson & Clutterbuck, 2005).  Therefore, I chose to highlight Janet’s unique lived experience and the significance of her everyday life (Neal & Ozkanli, 2011) on her journey as a first time principal.

I am “drawn to multiple, seemingly incompatible, feminist gender theories” (Fuller, 2013, p.5) as I see both sides of the ‘equality-versus-difference’ debate. Gender theory is complex and I often experience “intellectual sea-sickness” (Reed, 2001, as cited in Fuller, 2013, p.5) where my thinking becomes paralysed (Fuller, 2013). Sometimes I believe in essentialism and that men and women are different but equal while at other times, I am drawn to arguments that women and men are more alike than different (Shakeshaft et al., 2015).  It wasn’t until I embraced Fuller’s (2013) ideas that it was acceptable to move between the seemingly opposed concepts that I could finally, on an intellectual level, relax and understand that it is acceptable to draw on multiple gender theories to explore this issue. 

2.2 Methodology and a fascination with the “minutiae of human life”
As well as being comfortable with multiple truths, roles and realities I am fascinated in the “minutiae of human life” (Fontana & Frey, 2000, p. 665).  As I don’t hide under a “veil of neutrality” (Stake, 2000, p. 447) I chose to conduct a qualitative study using the guided interview framework; characterised by my creation of themes with open ended questions which gave Janet and me the freedom to go choose our own path to some extent (Fontana & Frey, 2000, p. 654-5). 

After receiving ethical approval from the University of Waikato I sent out a number of emails to female high school first time principals from the First Time Principals Programme website (http://www.firstprincipals.ac.nz) and received five replies agreeing to participate in my research.  I chose Janet as she was closest for me to visit and was the principal of a co-educational school which is the sector of education that I am most interested in.  After a number of emails I spent over two hours with her at her school discussing her career pathway and her present position and recorded the interview.  When I returned home the recording was transcribed and I emailed it to Janet to see if she sought any changes or additions as she may not have been able to express her true meaning during the interview (Bishop, 1997; Delamont, 2002). I also sent her a number of emails to clarify certain ideas.  This was essential to me as I wanted to respect Janet as a human being with the right to define meaning in her own life alongside helping to dispel bias and increase validity (Weiler, 1997).  However, Delamont (2002) reminded me that I shouldn’t assume that Janet holds more of the truth than I do and that to create quality research I need the reader to experience my interpretative commentary as “the glue” I have added to her words (Eisenhart, 2006, p. 571). 


2.3 Coding, creating thick descriptors and my interpretative commentary as the glue I have added to Janet’s words  

I coded and indexed the transcript by drawing out patterns and then revised and revamped my codes (Delamont, 2002; Hansen 2014; Menter, Elliot, Hulme, Lewin & Lowden, 2011).  This allowed me to create the thick, vivid descriptors that made the “familiar strange and the exotic familiar” (Delamont, 2002, p. 149).  While pasting my interpretative glue to the descriptors (Eisenhart, 2006, p. 571) I constructed Janet’s life history which is an innovative method of pinpointing events in the progression of her career (Glesne, 2011; Hansen, 2014).  A well-researched life history and therefore a well-researched career life history “illustrates the uniqueness, dilemmas, and complexities of a person in such a way that it causes readers to reflect upon themselves and to bring their own situations and questions to the story” (Glesne, 2011, p. 11).    I recognised that my involvement in this topic as a female school leader would influence my selection of texts (Bell, 2010; Lincoln, Lynham & Guba, 2005; Weiler, 1997) but as it was a qualitative study this was expected.

2.4 Validity to ensure that the knowledge Janet and I have created together makes sense of her life and circumstances

I believe that this solo study into one woman’s reality of her rise to leadership is valid as validity is established when it can be determined that a study actually measures what it was intended to measure (Kvale & Brinkman, 2009, as cited in Neidhart, 2009).  This same reasoning was used by Neidhart (2009) in her New Zealand study of seven female primary school Deputy Principals about barriers to becoming principals.   I intended to measure the career path of a first time female principal and I believe together, Janet and I were able to create a rich, valid description that will be applicable to myself and other women who aspire to become principals.

2.5 Ethical considerations and New Zealand as part of a small-world network

In my initial contact with Janet I was open and honest about what I was hoping to achieve, especially around the topics I wanted to cover, as I preferred that she pulled out before the research began rather than half way through it (Bell, 2010).   
For me, the most challenging ethical consideration is anonymity, or the lack of it, in New Zealand.  Internet commentator David Farrar (2007) pointed out that there is only “two degrees of separation” between anyone in New Zealand and statisticians state that New Zealand is part of a small-world network (MacGibbon, 2008)I found a professional connection with Janet within the first two minutes we met which is important when co-constructing research (Bishop, 2005) but can be problematic.  Smaller population numbers in New Zealand compared to many other countries means fewer professional networks and an increased awareness of colleagues (Neidhardt, 2009).  Therefore, when asking Janet for details about her career journey to principalship I was clear about my definition of confidentiality and anonymity and heeded any of her concerns (Bell, 2010; Stake, 2000)




2.6 Conclusion and suiting myself in relation to a research model

Human beings are complex and ever changing and there are endless ways to discover information about them (Fontana & Frey, 2000).  I listened to the wise words of Judith Bell (2010) who said that I should “suit myself” (p. 183) and select the research model which is right for my purpose as there are “many different arguments for doing different things” to explore the “respondents’ beliefs, interpretations and understanding of issues” (p. 166).  I believe that I chose the right approach as long as I was reflexive, had good manners and acted within a strict ethical code.  This enabled me to fashion a valid and ethical piece of research that gave a voice to Janet on the influences in her career pathway to principalship (Bell, 2010; Hoppey & McLeskey, 2013; Stake, 2000). 

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