paper text:

Association between Perceptions on Principal’s Instructional Leadership and Employee Engagement among Teachers in a Primary School in Cheras, Selangor.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

The notion of leadership is prevalent asserted as the interaction process between a leader

and his adherents. Under the semblance of such interaction, leaders influence followers to

achieve the same extent of a predefined common goal such as leading the way and giving a

positive image to their subordinates. In the light of this, this study seeks to examine whether

changes stimulated by leaders amongst followers constitute vital managerial-centric

elements. This paper also probes into the inquest on the significance of leadership in

catalysing and bridging changes. We often come across a variance between the

performances of schools around Malaysia. School achievements and popularity come in two

continuums, either they perform extremely well or perform rather poorly. It is important to look

into the factors that contribute to the disparity in the performances of these schools.

According to Horng & Loeb (2010) in the Kappan Magazine, many extensive researches

have been carried out across the past thirty years, linking leadership style with school

outcomes or performances. One of the widely employed leadership style is instructional

leadership, where it focuses on principal as the leader among the other school office

personnel. There are 5 major elements involved in the implementation of this leadership

model, which includes (1) prioritizing teaching and learning by allocating more time in these

areas, (2) to achieve the vision of the school, (3) ensuring the leader is familiar with the

instructional materials to be able to educate fellow teachers and monitor its implementation to

focus on aligning the curriculum and assessments in an on-going basis based on an agreed

standard because any disjoint may affect the students’ achievements, (4) to analyse the

relevant data to make conclusions or plans to improve leadership and produce instructional

changes and lastly (5) to promote continuous learning culture among teachers. Looking back

at the history of education in the USA, instructional leadership was famous in the 1980s, later

moving towards the transformational leadership in 1990s, before reverting back to

instructional leadership in these recent years (Hallinger & Bryant, 2013). The principal is

actually not the sole decision maker in instructional leadership, because the decision still

needs to be discussed between the other leaders. Only decisions that are unanimously

consented and agreed amongst leaders will be implemented in the school and be taught to

the teachers. Despite that, it is important to select a pragmatic principal that can guide the

teachers. Many schools in the USA have adopted a more in depth process of assessing and

recruiting school leaders (Horng & Loeb, 2010). In this research, the researcher would like to

focus more on the opinions of the teachers regarding their principal’s leadership styles, and if

this makes any difference in the engagement at work among the teachers in a Primary

School in Cheras, Selangor.

1.1 Background of study

The existing model in Malaysia exerts immense reliance towards the ability of a principal to

shoulder the responsibility to implement an attainable and feasible vision augmented by

strategic plan in the realm of achieving intended outcomes as highlighted retrospectively.

Problems can arise if the principal is incompetent or lack the ability in identifying major

problems and relevant interventions that are needed. Moreover, there are instances where

the principal may not have enough authority as compared to the superiors in the district

offices, or may have conflicting opinions with the parents and teachers (Stewart, 2006). This

instructional leadership model also did not take into consideration the emotional and mental

well-being of the teachers in the school, who are the ones dealing directly with the students.

Any conflicting opinions or misunderstandings may affect their motivation and engagement at

work. Malaysia has a collectivistic society, thence good rapport between the principal and the

teachers is necessary to produce a good working environment. As mentioned previously, the

researcher would like to focus more on the response of the teachers to their principal’s

leadership styles, and if this makes any difference in the engagement at work among the

teachers. Therefore, the researcher has come up with the following research questions.

2In this research, elementary school principals’ instructional leadership behavior was

evaluated based on the perceptions of elementary school teachers. The research is believed

to contribute to the development of instructional leadership behavior of elementary school

principals for the development of school organization. A“semi- structured interview

technique”, one of the qualitative research methods in the literature was used in the research.

The study group was made up of elementary school teachers working inCheras, Selangor.

For the2study sample, one teacher from each school was selected at random, resulting in

group of twenty elementary school teachers. Based on the content analysis, five themes of

instructional leadership behavior were found.

1.2 Problem Statement

Alluding to the fact that schools have been assuming a pivotal role in nurturing the future

generation and materializing the dreams of many, stakeholders including but not limited to

parents, students, educators and government are increasingly observed to be striving for a

school that delivers unparalleled and distinctive learning conduits. Nurturing and dedicated

educators devoted towards unleashing the potential of students are prevalently observed to

acknowledge the dreams and contend with the concerns of these students. Pursuant to

Donaldson (2006), schools are established as the wagon to cultivate both social and

economic progression through the haul and materialization of dreams for communities within

the societal setting. Creation of schools revolves around the objective in training competent

and knowledgeable future labours. Yavuz (2011) asserted that continuous refinement and

enhancement of teaching quality is imperative in the drive to achieve such objective. In the

capacity of a leader, the principal of any given school holds the obligation to consistently

oversee and manage the school operation and school modules via the philosophy of success

in both learning and school operation holistically. By this virtue, the success of a school

hinges largely on the principal’s ability as a leader. The legitimate power of a school’s

principal, in isolation, is deemed insufficient to manage a school nor to propel it to success.

Furthermore, it can be stated that school principals have several competency areas. In essence, a school principle should both equip with the raiment of a good leader

and ‘instructional leader’ (Sisman, 2014). In the aftermath of globalization, there is an

increasingly pervasive expectation for leaders such that for instance leaders are to be

relatively more enthusiastic and proactive in the realm of leading a school and managing its

resources to garner enhancement of performance amongst staffs and students (Dimmock,

2013). It is paramount for principals to enlighten staffs, educators, students and parents the

purposes and vision of a school. Akgün (2011) postulation suggested that the mission of a

school should comprise both the behaviour and roles of principals in the light of this. Many

educators yielded similar opinion in the issue afore-conferred, where attention were exerted

in identifying and disseminating the purpose of a school itself to its constituents. The issue

ensued boils down to the debate of whether the instructional-centric principle leadership

concept secure acceptance or not by the committee in school. The standardized test results

suggested there is an extension towards the obligations a principal shoulders, where these

obligation should not be limited to merely monitoring, evaluating and improving development

of students but instead concerting efforts with teachers in grasping the evaluation and

development progress of students. Hinging on this, a competent principal, in the raiment of

an instructional leader should be striving towards propelling the school to soar to greater

heights whilst upholding the current reputation and success thus-far accomplished. A

competent instructional leader (principal) with meritorious success are determined to be

continuously ascribing higher expectations regardless of the extent of current success

(Andrews & Soder, 2012). However, it is deemed deficient of that in a school principal’s

capacity to merely refining the process of teaching, development of teachers and

development of students. To evoke a highly effective and conducive educational

environment, constantly monitoring and evaluation are vital. In spite of growing recognition

and acknowledgement in this domain, existing literatures discoursing such area have been

relatively scant in Malaysia. In the light of that, this study is conducted to content with this

gap.

1.3 Significance of study

This study shed lights in a few areas. It is very important for the future studies related with the

topic and with similar educational objectives. Practically, it is deemed insufficient for a school

principal to solely assume the role of an instructional leader monitoring the development of

instructional based process in the school while providing relevant resources to educators and

students. It is momentous for a school principal to warrant attention on professional

development amongst the well-being of teachers and tutors on top of recognizing the

relationship between professional development of teachers and ensuing development of

students. Academically, this study helps researchers, educators and principals to better

comprehend the notion of leadership and its significance in the success of an educational

institution. It also contributes to existing literatures in Malaysia, further enlightening gaps

examined sparsely and providing contemporary evidences.

1.4 Conclusion

This chapter discusses the introduction of the study, which includes the research problem,

purpose of the study, importance of the study, research scope and

the dissertation organization.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

This chapter identifies and critically review past postulations that are deemed relevant in the

context of this study.

2.1 Leadership & Management

Leaders are born not made. While management is essentially learned, leadership on the

other spectrum, originates from the personalities and traits within an individual. There are a

few types of leadership. Leaders advocating the autocratic orientation are of best fit in the

circumstance of team games. On the hand, leaders employing a task-oriented style are of

best fit in the field of athletics. It is paramount to not overlook the fact that all leadership

orientations are accompanied by both advantages and disadvantages, it all hinges on a

leader to serve as the beacon of guidance and inspiration in different circumstances,

irrespective of the leadership orientation advocated. Here the author1pointing out different

definitions of the two concepts. Drucker (2001) described the notion of management as a

social based regimen in dealing with human behaviours and institutions. In Drucker’s (2001)

precedential research, a manager involves in inscribing of objectives, organizing, motivating,

communicating and developing people, which is deemed to be the core driver and catalyser

of an organization. Fundamentally, management locusts around the efficient allocation,

distribution and utilization of resources within an organization to accomplish pre-defined

common objectives (McMahon, 1992). In accordance to the postulation by Northouse (2004),

the notion of leadership is momentous across all sports categories owing to the fact that it

exert influence of behaviours. Leadership qualities can be found within captains of teams,

managers and team coaches, amongst both men and women with inherently different

inspirations. It is important to note that the notion of leaders is not constrained to team

captains, it can be attributed to coaches of teams and even an athlete himself or herself .

Within a team, all its constituents strive and work towards a common goal collaboratively and

thus it is not a daunting fact that both the manager and captain of a team share common

aspirations. It should be recognized that autocratic and task oriented leaders are inherently

different, and are respected in varying manners.

In a compendium, it plausible to identify management as a process in fulfilling the goals of the

organization via the utilization of human, tangibles and intangibles and financial resources in

accordance to allocation and priorities while taking into account of the external environment.

According to dictum with respect to management highlighted by Goodwin (2006), the concept

of management is unique as it has a contingent nature as opposed to universal, particularly in

application where there is no parallel or equivalent substitute for the science of management.

Dorros (2002) reinforced upon similar assertion, suggesting that the management of any

organization essentially boils down to its policies, organizational structures, processes and

cultures, which are acclimated to the context of which the organization aspires to attain its

objectives.

Moore (2012) identified management approach in 4 broad categories:

● Traditional bureaucracy – emphasized on vivid structure, hierarchical span of autonomy,

succinct accountability in terms of performance (Taylor, 2011); 

● New Public Management – focused on steering organization to be analogous to firms,

market operation hinges on competition for performance enhancement (Hood, 2010); 

● ‘Japanese’ organization model or ‘clan’– a ‘solidarity’ model identifying with and taking

pride in the citizenship of the organization as the crux of motivation.

● Professionalism – synonymous to ‘Japanese’ model’s assumption, in which it advocates

that performance improves when trust is granted and performance is not tightly monitored. In

terms of identification of citizenship, it may be within profession or organization, or two-folded.

Mintzberg (2010) classified the concept of management and leadership into three major types

which stated as below:

1. Informational – monitor (seeking information associated to task), disseminate (distributing

information to others in an organization) and public relation (relaying information externally)

2. Interpersonal – encompasses representation (fulfil both social obligations and legal

obligations, assuming the role of a symbolic leader), leading as leader (directing, empowering

and training subordinates) and liaison (eliciting and managing contacts both internally and

externally)

3. Decisional – entrepreneur (seeking and determining novel, new and innovative ideas on

top of initiating improvement-based measures), conflict management (resolving issues or

disputes and crisis) and resource allocation (identify, set forth and allocate resources based

on priorities)

Differences pertaining to the concept both of management and leadership are intellectually

discoursed. Similar to management, leadership hails upon another widely debated concept

with respect to organizational performance. Even though it seems a straightforward and

simple concept it is quite hard to say precisely what it refers to, that is why such as

management, there is an abundance of definitions regarding leadership. The understanding

of the three M’s will be largely determined by one perspective on organizational learning.

According to Ortenblad (2002), there are 2 fundamental perspectives under the concept of

leadership and these perspectives lead leaders to different paths. The perspectives are

identified as futuristic perspective and interpretive perspective. Under the semblance of

futuristic perspective, individuals are essentially agent of learning in the context of the

organization. A positive culture of learning and environment is provided for these individuals

and knowledge garnered through such process is retained outside of the individual under the

organizational memory. On the other continuum, the interpretive perspective conceptualizes

upon the idea that reality is recognized as a subjective phenomenon, knowledge depends on

context, learning as societal practice as interaction between individuals. Knowledge however,

is not storable as it arises and is determined by circumstances. In a nutshell, management

and measuring the learning organization is a predicament. Under interpretive perspective,

such task is interpolated between relativism and contextualization. Due to constant change in

norms, measurements are rendered difficult due to relativism. Learning is ultimately oriented

on circumstantial basis rather than truth should the situation or context is the determinant of

knowledge. The implications of such a perspective are widespread including business ethics and cultural morality. The bandwagon of this popular paradigm should not be jumped upon too quickly.

2.2 Instructional Leadership

According to Glickman (2002), instructional leaders are able to succinctly comprehend the

participation of teachers in terms of professional practice decision making should they hear

out, seek clarity, encourage two-way communication on top of reflect and verifying

perceptions among teachers. In essence, instructional leaders are actively involved and

drenched in the teaching and learning process. Withal to that, teachers are most often than

not, deeply attuned to teaching and process of learning, thence they are well entrenched with

the experience of designing a more conducive learning climate and a more robust teaching

process for students (Gümüşeli, 1996). As such, the employment of shared instructional

leadership, where concerted efforts between principal and teachers on the domain of

curriculum is highly epitomized. Under Glickman’s (2002) scholarly articles, this model

proposed that the principal seek ideas, new insights and experience of teachers and

collaborates with them. High autonomy in terms of control is given to the teachers, while the

leader is given lower control in the realm of actual decisions Glickman (2002). Albeit school

principals are obligated to perform varying duties depending on the environment and other

underlying factors, existing literature suggested that a handful of fundamental works

pertaining to instructional leadership development have been probed into (Şişman, 2014). It

should warrant our attention that the behaviour of instructional leadership varies across

different studies. With respect to the same author’s postulation, the roles of a principal

advocating instructional leadership are: (1) defining mission of a school, (2) managing

curriculum and teaching, (3) supervising and evaluating instructions, (4) monitoring

development of students and (5) developing appropriate school environment. Principals are

capable of managing schools in an effective manner should they employ instructional

leadership behaviours. Alluding to this, it is deemed crucial for principals to meet the

essences of an instructional leader in the quest of development of students and training of

teachers (Akgün, 2001). Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the instructional

leadership roles of school principals from the viewpoint of elementary school teachers.

School leaders or principals, do not deal directly with the students, but indirectly affect the

students’ performances via recruiting high-performance teachers, assigning classrooms

suitable to their majors, and encouraging professional development among the teachers.

Instructional leadership is indeed an essential part of providing necessary resources to

ensure effectiveness in the classroom, leading to good students’ outcomes (Horng & Loeb,

2010). However, it is important not to overlook that the teachers’ are the direct link to the

students, which will help in the students’ learning process. The two must come together; good

instructional leadership and good quality teachers. Looking at previous researches done,

different instructional management styles are linked to different levels of job satisfaction. For

a change, this present research will explore the relationship between the opinions of the

teachers regarding their principal’s leadership styles, with the level of the teachers’

engagement at work, irrespective of their level of job satisfaction. This is because some

teachers may not be satisfied with their superior but still maintain good quality work due to

their sense of responsibility, while some may choose to act up and not want to do their job

properly. As described by the Oregon Primary Care Association, employee satisfaction is the

situation when the employees work in a content environment that makes them happy.

However, employee engagement is more multi- dimensional, relating to how enthusiastic and

committed the employee is. Therefore, an important element in this present research is that

the researcher is going one step ahead because even job satisfaction is sufficient to retain

employees, it does not boost productivity; while employee engagement increases productivity

among employees. Thus, this research can give light to the future of schools to improve their

performances by implementing instructional strategies that can promote employee

engagement among teachers. In addition to that, when a principal’s instructional

management is perceived as relevant and appropriate by teachers, these teachers will be

able to grow in terms of “commitment, professional involvement, and willingness to innovate”

as mentioned by Sheppard (as cited in Hallinger, 2015).

2.3 Related Literature Review

According to Northouse (2004), "a leadership skill and knowledge is inextricably related to the

application and implementation of problem-solving skills in organizations. Darf (2010)

highlighted that the ability of leaders in determining complicated organizational issues and

subsequently formulate a solution hinges on their knowledge. Knowledge is recognized as

the gathering of information and mental configuration, also known schema, in organizing the

accumulated information. Once a leader formulates information into knowledge, Individuals

are observed to be more inclined in following leaders that demonstrate expertise power.

Greenberg & Baron (2013) discovered that the power of information has diminished because

of the advent of technology, resulting in higher availability and accessibility of information in

the millennium era. It was the stark opposite in the decades back then where information was

accessible by the top management and only disseminated to relevant parties on a need-to-

know basis. Drenched in information and knowledge this era, leaders should actively use

these information and knowledge to benefit followers, along with the organization as opposed

to for the purpose of power accumulation. Kluge (2011) research yielded that knowledge

management is the emerging leadership challenge. Taking the vantage point of leadership,

knowledge management is interpreted in general as a science. Due to the nature of

knowledge, managers find it a predicament to determine conduits that are capable of

improving performance on top of fostering a learning organization where knowledge flows

both horizontally and vertically. Kluge (2011) also asserted that chief executive should

demonstrate knowledge and ensure it is dispersed throughout the entire organization. To

reinforce this, an organization is likely to meet dire consequences should a senior manager

failed to embrace knowledge management as opined by experts (Rosenburg, 2014). The

leadership model conceptualizing on dynamic personalities is deemed infeasible in the wake

of this new era and should not be epitomized upon. It is important for the leaders in the

millennium to garner knowledge and display adequate competency in convincing followers as

subordinates in this era frames not only on a solid common goal but also the expertise of

leaders, in addition to how the expertise is derived from. In essence, learning is an integral of

leadership in a contemporary view. On the other hand, McCollum & Zhao (2012) proposed

that leaders are accountable for 3 basic tasks: “creating strategies to adapt [the] organization

to the environment, building a structure that is capable of implementing [the organization’s]

strategy, and building the capacity of the members of the organization” (Spears, 2012). It is

not a daunting fact that these tasks requires continuous organizational learning through

exchange for information and knowledge tacitly and explicitly. Holmqvist (2014) suggested

that in a learning organization with knowledge management, leaders should reshape and

reform their perspectives for drive of establishing a more human oriented organization not to

mention enriching the lives of its constituents.Leadership and Knowledge Management (KM) intermingle the vision and influence of leadership with the available knowledge base within the organization. When effective leadership elicits and draws upon the myriads of experience, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge inherent in the work force in synergistic fashion creating shared vision, the organization sits like a space shuttle ready begging for launch. Under a dynamic

and highly competitive marketplace, it is imperative for organizations that have achieved

current success to embark on the pursuit of knowledge harnessing and potential alignment.

By this virtue, Goldsmith, Morgan & Ogg (2014) propounded that,"Nothing is more important

to the success of knowledge management initiative than the support of leaders and the

visibility of KM role models. Generally speaking, the higher up in the organization these role

models are the better". Mark Effron (Goldsmith, Morgan, & Ogg, 2014) contended that “the

sheer concept of knowledge management is fundamentally flawed it involves neither

knowledge nor management and therefore cannot be expected to succeed”. Conversely, he

proposed that there is a vested need to help organization in truly sharing intellectual capitals

workers possess.

2.4 Summary

In summary, the author outlined the difference between leadership and management

concepts. Also the author critically reviewed past literatures pertaining to the notion of

leadership and management, along with their underlying implications and impacts. Past

literatures similar or related to this study were also delved into in the subsequent section. A

conceptual framework is then developed on the basis of reviewed literatures, in addition to

hypothesis development.

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction This chapter probes into the methodologies employed by this research, including the

research design, the study’s context and sampling method, instruments used, data collection

procedure, and the methods for analysing the data. According to Leedy and Ormrod (2005a),

a study’s research methodology is crucial as it will determine the type of instruments and

tests that will be used in the study. In a nutshell, the research methodology will help to guide

the researchers in conducting the research. In addition, it also aims to investigate whether

this perception will influence the teachers’ work engagement in the school leadership styles,

and if this makes any difference in the engagement at work among the teachers. The

proceeding sections will further discussed the research methodology of this current study.

3.1 Research Design

Research design is defined by Kerlinger & Lee (2000) as the blueprint for research of a study,

hence, in line with Selltiz (1986), a good research design will assist the researchers in

identifying and explaining the variables as well as in subsequent collection and analysis of

data. As this study focuses to investigate the teachers’ opinions regarding their principal’s

leadership styles and the influence of these perceptions on their engagement in their works,

this study adopts a mixed method study because it not only focuses on a real life

phenomenon, but also the link between perception and engagement on work. By adopting

this design, the researcher believes that it will provide more comprehensive analyses of the

research topic.

3.1.1 Mixed Method Research Design

Creswell (2007) described the mixed method research design as a blend of both qualitative

and quantitative research administration. As mentioned in Sage (2007), the convergent

mixed method research design is a research design that adopts a data collection approach in

the orientation both qualitative and quantitative manner concurrently. In the context of this

study, the first and third research question will be answered using the quantitative method

while the second research question will be answered quantitatively. The chosen quantitative

instrument is a set of survey questionnaire while interviews will be conducted with the

respondents to gather the qualitative data to answer the second research question. The

proceeding section will describe the research questions, research hypotheses as well as the

qualitative and quantitative data collection methods adopted for this research.

3.2 Research Questions and Hypotheses

3.2.1 Research Questions As mentioned earlier, the primary data for this postulation are sourced both qualitatively and quantitatively. The data for qualitative analyses are

obtained from the responses from the interviews and the data are mainly used to answer the

second research question. Meanwhile, quantitative data to answer research questions one

and three. To recall, the research questions for this study are as follow:

RQ 1:2 What are the perceptions among the teachers on their

principal’s instructional leadership in a primary school in Cheras, Selangor?

RQ 2: How can the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) be altered to fit

a collectivistic culture?

RQ 3:13 What is the relationship between the teachers’ perceptions on their principal’s management style and their levels of engagement at work?

3.2.2 Research Hypotheses

According to Franken, Wallen & Hyun (2012), the hypothesis developed for a research

predicts the possible outcomes of the study. By incorporating the hypotheses of a study, the

researcher can make the intended reader to think more deeply on the possible research

outcomes. Furthermore, stating a research’s hypotheses can build up the anticipation for the

readers, hence, making them more engaged and involved in the paper. Parallel to other

research, this paper will state the null hypotheses for this research. The null hypotheses refer

to the hypotheses which the research will try to reject, instead of accept. This is because the

null hypotheses state the negative outcome of the study. In line with this, the null hypotheses

for this study are as follow: Ho1 = There is a negative perception among the teachers on their

principal’s instructional leadership. Ho2= The Principal Instructional Management Rating

Scale (PIMRS) cannot be altered to fit a collectivistic culture. Ho3=13There is no relationship between the teachers’ perceptions on their principal’s management

style andtheir levels of engagement at work. Consequently, the research questions and the

research hypotheses determine the type of instrument and data analysis method that can be

used to obtain and analyse the data for research. The research methods for both quantitative

and qualitative research design are presented in the proceeding section.

3.3 Quantitative Research Method

3.3.1 Survey Questionnaires

This study also adopts the quantitative survey research design as described by Creswell

(2007) where a set of questionnaire is used to probe answers from the sample. The research

uses this method because it can help elicit specific answers from the respondents. In this

study, the respondents answer the questionnaire by rating the statements given using a 5

point Likert scale (Franken, Wallen & Hyun, 2007). The use of the Likert scale will help the

respondents to determine their specific perspective on the statement given as the scale

ranged from 1 (truly disagree) to 5 (very agree). To avoid ‘neutral’ and undetermined

responses, the research replaces ‘neutral’ as the middle scale with agree. The 5 point likert

scale that will be used for the questionnaire is as follow:18Strongly Disagree (1) Somewhat Disagree (2) Agree (3) Somewhat agree (4) Strongly Agree (5) The questions in thequestionnaire are based on the34Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) frameworkby Hallinger (2003). This framework

rate the quality principal’s instructional management rating. Even though the teachers

themselves can use the framework to rate their principal, the elements in the framework will

be reconstructed into a set of questionnaire for easier data collection and analyses. This is

because by putting these elements into a questionnaire form, the research can direct the

respondents’ responses to help answer the research question. In general, this set of

questionnaire will help to answer the first and third research questions. This research method

is chosen for these two questions as they probe on perceptions and relationship use which

require more precise, focused inputs from the respondents. As mentioned earlier, the use of

the questionnaire format will help steer the respondents’ answers so that they correspond

with the research questions. The sets of questionnaire will be distributed among the samples,

who are teachers serving in a primary school in Cheras, Selangor. These teachers are

teaching various subjects and levels in the school. The survey questionnaire has 50 closed

ended questions which are divided into 3 main sections, based on the elements in the PIMRS

framework. The aims of the questions are first, to elicit the teachers’ perception on the

principals’ leadership styles and second, determine the relationship between the teachers’

perception with their work engagement in the school. An example of the questions in the

questionnaire is as follow; Focus 2: Managing the instructional program ( PIMRS) The

principal is able to coordinate the curriculum accordingly. SD 1 SWD 2 A 3 SA 4 SWA 5 The

principal is able to supervise and evaluate the instructions. SD 1 SWD 2 A 3 SA 4 SWA 5

Adopted from: Hallinger (2003)

3.3.1.2 Sampling for Quantitative Survey

As mentioned earlier, the samples for the quantitative survey comprise of the teachers

teaching in the selected school and the sampling method used for this survey is convenience

sampling, as mentioned in Franken, Wallen & Hyun (2007). It was argued that convenience

sampling cannot be representative of the whole population of teachers in Malaysia, hence,

the result of this study will only applicable to the specified school and principal studied. Even

though this might be problematic, this is unavoidable since for time, cost and logistical

reason, the study is only focused on one particular school. Therefore, the researcher decides

to adopt convenience sampling anyway for economical and logistical reasons. According to

Sage (2007), the sample size for a study can be determined using this formula, Z 2 * (p) * (1-

p) ss = c2 Figure 3.1 Formula for sample size8Where: Z = Z value (e.g. 1.96 for 95% confidence level) p = percentage picking a choice, expressed as decimal (.5 used for sample size needed) c = confidence interval, expressed as decimal (e.g., .04 = ±4) Based on the population of 120 teachers, the optimum sample sizeis

54 for the confidence level of 95%, which means the researcher is determined that there is

only 5% probability that the results are obtained through chance. Here the confidence interval

is 10, which signifies the research is sure that the results will be similar if the30questions are asked to the sample size within the margin of10 higher or lower value, for instance,

either 44 (54-10) 0r 64 (54+10 in this case.

3.4 Qualitative Data Collection Method

3.4.1. Interviews

To obtain the qualitative data to answer research question number two, a series of interviews

will be conducted with the respondents. As the questions will be based on the adoption of the

PIRMS framework in rating educational leadership, the respondents will be selected from

teachers who answered the survey questionnaire mentioned previously. After they are

selected, the research will brief the respondents of the framework, its benefit and how it can

be used to improve their working environment and how it can be altered to fit the collectivistic

culture in the school. Since the researcher considered the topic on opinion and perceptions

as a private matter and to ensure confidentially as the subject matter is their superior, the

interviews conducted will be face to face, individual interviews. As its name suggests, during

the structured interviews, teachers will be asked a predetermined set of questions which has

been designed to answer the research questions, especially research questions number 2.

The use of the structured questions is beneficial for researches as it can save time by

maintaining the focus on the topic and help in obtaining a more refined and focused as

mentioned in Frankel, Wallen & Hyun (2007). The interview responses will be recorded and

all the inputs will be transcribed. The interviews will be conducted in mainly in English, but

provisions will be given for teachers who are not fluent or not confident to use English to

answer the questions in Malay. The responses in Malay will be translated for the purpose of

data analysis.

3.5 Data Analysis

As mentioned earlier, this study adopted a mixed methods research design. Hence, the data

analysis will be done qualitative and qualitatively. First, the data from the qualitative data

analysis, as mentioned in Creswell (2007), will be analysed through a series of coding while

the quantitative data obtained through questionnaires are analysed via SPSS software.

3.5 Quantitative Data Analysis

The data obtained from questionnaires are analysed using SPSS software. There were two

types of data that were obtained through the SPSS analyses. These data can be categorised

as descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Basically, the descriptive statistics are ‘on the surface’ data that helps describe the data, for instance, the samples’

demography and the frequency of specific elements. On the other hand, inferential statistics

were drawn from the descriptive statistics to make inferences either to accept or reject the

hypotheses of the study.

3.5.1.1 Descriptive Statistics

The descriptive statistics are used to give an overview about the demography of the samples,

such as their years of teaching, their teaching experiences and their capacity of knowing the

principal. The descriptive analyses include finding the age of teachers and the mean years for

teaching. The analyses will also look at the capacity of their relationship with the principal

(e.g; in what level have you worked with principal?), the frequency of contact as well as other

variables. The data provided are crucial as they provide a general overview on the nature of

the relationship between the teachers and the principal, as well as being used to obtain the

inferential data to answer the research questions. The data from the analyses are also used

to supplement and support the qualitative data from the interview.

3.5.1.2 Inferential Analysis

Inferential statistics are procedures which allow the researchers to use data obtained from

the sample to make inferences, or assumption about the whole population (Hall, 2010).

These statistics show if the findings can be generalised into the whole population, therefore in

this research determine whether the data are significant enough to be generalised into the

entire population of businesses in the UK. However, as mentioned earlier, the population of

the study is only 120, which is the total number of the school and the determined sample size

is 54. Since the nature of the research is based on opinions on the principal’s leadership

styles, which is subjective, it is important to note that the findings can only be generalized to

the population of the school, rather than the whole population of teachers in Malaysia. In

inferential statistic, it is considered ideal to have a big sample size, this is because a large

sample size will most likely represents the result for the entire population. For this study, the

sample size that has been determined is 54 from the population of 120. In addition, the size

of the differences, or the effect size also determine the significance of the inferential statistics

analysis results. In interpreting the results for this study, the significance level of the

inferential statistics analysis actually determine whether the null hypothesis can accepted or

not. Hence, when there is a low significance level, the null hypothesis is accepted. The

inferential statistical test that will be conducted is the Pearson correlation (r). The Pearson

correlation test is a parametric technique for the analyses of the significance of the

relationship between the independent and dependent variables in the study. The data

obtained from survey and14analysed using the SPSS 19 software. The data obtained from the questionnaire responses will be categorized and tested to measure

the relationship between the variables categorical data, which is essential to answer the

research questions 1 and 3 and to test the hypotheses. Here, the relationships between the

responses in the questionnaires (which signify the independent and dependent variables)

were tested for their significance, a respond is significant if the alpha α value is less than 0.05

(α<0.01) , which means that there is less than 5% probability that the respond is not true and

the null hypothesis is accepted. If the α value in the test was more than 0.05, then the null

hypothesis is rejected.

3.5.2 Qualitative Data Analysis

3.5.2.1 Data Conceptualisation and Coding

To answer research question number 2, the transcription of the recorded video will be

analysed to look for specific codes that can help to answer this research questions. This,

according to Sage (2011) is the most crucial part of qualitative data analysis. This process

involved breaking down, or coding the contents into small chunks of ‘themes’ that are used to

answer the research questions. As mentioned in Mayring (2000), qualitative data analysis

can be done through two categories of procedures, which are inductive category

development and deductive category development. This study applied the deductive category

development, and followed the step model as shown here: Figure 321.2 Step Model of deductive category application (Mayring, 2000) Pursuant to this model, the

researcher formulates a prior theoretical derived aspect for analysis, which is the research

questions, and the analysis will be conducted in connection to the text. To deductively

analyse the data, a three step coding method as mentioned in Saldana (2008) will be used as

the preliminary coding procedure. The coding was conducted in three phases, as shown in

the table below: Column 1 (Raw Data) I think the PRIMS is very good model to adopt in this

school. This is because it can help us to be more organised and help the administration 1.1.1

Column 2 (Codes) very good model Column 3 (Themes) Applicability of the PIMRS in school

can be adopted A tool for organisation Administrative tool. can help us to be more organised

help the administration Table 3.2 Coding procedure of the data ( adapted from: Saldana

(2008). The coding process for this study will be conducted manually without the use of any

coding software. This is done by using the hard copy of the columns shown earlier, where the

transcription of the interview responses will be put into the first column. The research will

analyse the responses and the emerging codes will be identified and written down in the

second column, lastly the ‘theme’ of the research, in this case the applicability of the PIMRS

model un the school will be constructed based on the codes obtained in column 2. This

process will be done manually coding as it enables the researches to search for more refined

codes from the contents. In this process, the results can be obtained by revising the

categories and coding agenda for formative check of reliability and working through the for summative check of reliability (Mayring, 2000). Furthermore, the codes and

results from this process can also be used to supplement the quantitative findings to answers

research questions 1 and 3.

3.6 Validity and Reliability

3.6.1 Formative and summative check of validity and reliability

Validity and reliability are often the main concerns for the researchers in every research,

including this study. This is because a research needs to be valid in order to demonstrate that

it measures what it intended to do (Golafshani, 2003). Meanwhile, the reliability of a research

illustrates the trustworthiness level of the research findings (Creswell, 2007). Basically,

validity and reliability tests for a mixed method research like this addresses the questions of,

“How can the reader be convinced that the research fulfil its objectives and the results

obtained are representative of the truth?”

3.5.2 Validity Check

3.5.2.1 Qualitative Validity Check

Potter & Levine-Donnerstein (1999) mentioned that validity check for qualitative data, as

obtained from the interview to answer research question number 2, can be made through the

use of a coding scheme as shown in the preceding section of this chapter. This coding

scheme, as mentioned earlier, will lay out the variables for this study. Therefore, prior to the

analytical process, the researcher has constructed a coding schemes on the basis of

research question number 2 of. This coding scheme provide the fundamental key concepts

which will guide the analysis such as ‘the applicability’ ‘use of the PIRMS model’ and ‘the

challenges for the adaptation the model’. By using these phrases as guidelines during the

coding process, the researcher had made sure that the coding process was able to come up

with the answers for the research questions.

3.5.2.2 Quantitative Validity

One of the methods to ensure the validity of the quantitative instrument is through a validity

tests to check for the external and content validity for the questionnaire. Prior to distribution,

the questionnaire was sent to an editor to checking the contents and the words used.

3.5.3 Reliability Check

3.5.3.1 Reliability Test for Quantitative Instrument

The main for testing the reliability of a quantitative instrument is to measure whether the

instrument can consistently obtain the similar responses from the respondents. In order to

test the reliability of the questionnaire, it will be pilot tested with a group of 10 teachers, who

will not be involved in the real research. The responses from this pilot group will be analysed

and tested to obtain the Cronbach Alpha (α), or the alpha coefficient of the questions.

The12Cronbach alpha is shown as a function of the number of items in a test (50),the average covariance between item pairs and the variance of the total score oftest taken. This test is conducted through the SPSS 19 software and the α for

each item will be noted and the item with low internal consistency of 0.7 need to modified

while items below 0.5 will either be dropped and replaced. The table below shows the

margins for9internal consistency; Cronbach alpha external consistency α≥ 0.9 Excellent 0.9 ≥ α ≥ 0.8 Good 0.8 ≥ α ≥ 0.7 Acceptable 0.7 ≥ α ≥ 0.6 Questionable 0.6 ≥ α ≥ 0.5 Poor 0.5 ≥ α Unacceptable Table 3.3 Cronbach alphaexternal

consistency (Source: Bonnet, 2010)

3.6 Conclusion

This chapter delved into methodologies employed in conducting the research. The researcher has decided to adopt the28mixed methods research design, which entails

using both quantitative and qualitative content analysis research design. Both of these

designs were chosen because it can reduce the time consumed and cost for conducting this

research. The data were obtained from distributing a set of questionnaires which focuses on

that the teachers’ perceptions on the principal’s leader style and the relationship between the

teachers’ perception of the leaders’ style with their engagement at work. This questionnaire

will be distributed to 54 respondents who are the teachers teaching in the school. In addition

as series of individual, structured interview will be conducted with the teachers involved in the

survey. Their responses will be recorded transcribed and the data obtained will be analysed

through the procedure mentioned in the preceding sections. In addition, the SPSS software

will be used to analyse the quantitative data while the coding process was conducted to

obtain the desired answers for the research questions. A series of validity and reliability

checks were also conducted to ensure the research is valid and reliable.

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