RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

96 PLANNING EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Organizational culture concerns values, assumptions,
beliefs, espoused theories and mental models,
observed practices, areas of conflict and consensus,
the formal and hidden messages contained
in artefacts, messages, documents and language,
the ‘way we do things’, the physical environment,
relationships, power, control, communication,
customs and rituals, stories, the reward system
and motivation, the micro-politics of the school,
involvement in decision-making, empowerment
and exploitation/manipulation, leadership, commitment,
and so on.
Methodology
Organizational culture is intangible yet its impact
on a school’s operations is very tangible. This
suggests that, while quantitative measures may be
used, they are likely only to yield comparatively
superficial information about the school’s culture.
In order to probe beneath the surface of the
school’s culture, to examine the less overt aspects
of the school’s culture(s) and subcultures, it is
important to combine quantitative and qualitative
methodologies for data collection. A mixed
methodology will be used for the empirical data
collection, using numerical and verbal data, in
order to gather rounded, reliable data. A survey
approach will be used to gain an overall picture,
and a more fine-grained analysis will be achieved
through individual and group interviews and focus
groups (Box 3.6).
Instrumentation
The data gathered will be largely perception based,
and will involve gathering employees’ views of the
(sub)cultures. As the concept of organizational
Box 3.6
Understanding the levels of organizational culture
Levels of
culture
Instruments
Easy to
uncover Tangible Superficial
Non-participant
observer
Artefacts
Observational
data
Documentary
data
Qualitative data
Enacted
values
(behaviours)
Survey
questionnaires
and numerical
measures
Qualitative data
Underlying
assumptions
Qualitative and
ethnographic
data
Interviews (group
and individual)
Hard to
uncover
Intangible Deep Participant
observer
Face-to-face