RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

A WORKED EXAMPLE 95
Box 3.5
Aplanningmatrixforresearch
Time sample Stage 1 (start) Stage 2 (3 months) Stage 3 (6 months) Stage 4 (9 months) Stage 5 (12 months)
Principal/ Documents Interview Documents Interview Documents
headteacher Interview Questionnaire 2 Interview
Questionnaire 1 Questionnaire 3
Teacher group 1 Questionnaire 1 Questionnaire 2 Questionnaire 3
Teacher group 2 Questionnaire 1 Questionnaire 2 Questionnaire 3
Teacher group 3 Questionnaire 1 Questionnaire 2 Questionnaire 3
Students Questionnaire 2 Interview
Parents Questionnaire 1 Questionnaire 2 Questionnaire 3
University Interview Interview
teacher
educators
Documents
Documents
Chapter 3
the timing of the release of the final report
the timing of pretests and post-tests (in an
experimental style of research)
the timing of intensive necessary resource
support (e.g. reprographics)
the timing of meetings of interested parties.
These examples cover timings only; other matrices
might be developed to cover other combinations,
for example: reporting by audiences; research
team meetings by reporting; instrumentation by
participants etc. They are useful summary devices.
Aworkedexample
Let us say that a school is experiencing very
low morale and a researcher has been brought in
to investigate the school’s organizational culture.
The researcher has been given open access to
the school and has five months from the start
of the project to producing the report (for
a fuller version of this see the accompanying
web site, http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/
9780415368780 – Chapter 3, file 3.3.doc). The
researcher plans the research as follows:
Purposes
To present an overall and in-depth picture of
the organizational culture(s) and subcultures,
including the prevailing cultures and subcultures,
within the school.
To provide an indication of the strength of the
organizational culture(s).
To make suggestions and recommendations
about the organizational culture of, and its
development at, the school.
Research questions
What are the major and minor elements of
organizational culture in the school
What are the organizational cultures and
subcultures in the school
Which (sub)cultures are the most and least
prevalent in the school, and in which parts of
the school are these most and least prevalent
How strong and intense are the (sub)cultures
in the school
What are the causes and effects of the
(sub)cultures in the school
How can the (sub)cultures be improved in the
school
Focus
Three levels of organizational cultures will be
examined:
underlying values and assumptions
espoused values and enacted behaviours
artefacts.