CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the overall plan of this study to unveil the leadership styles among
teacher grade leaders in selected elementary schools in the Division of Himamaylan City. It
specifically presents the: (1) Research Design; (2) Research Method; (3) Study Participants and
Setting; (4) Instruments; (5) Validity of the Instrument; (6) Reliability of the Instrument; (7)
Data Gathering Procedure; (8) Data Analysis Procedure; (9) Ethical Considerations.

Research Design

The overarching design of this study about teacher leaders was descriptive
phenomenological, which is used to describe how human beings experience a certain
phenomenon. This was a qualitative study, given that the researcher’s general objective was to
explore the roles, experiences and personal stories and different sets of leadership styles
exhibited by the teacher grade leaders in their leading roles in their respective schools. Merriam
& Tisdell (as cited by Carter, 2018) emphasizes the characteristics of qualitative research that
captures the holistic picture of the phenomenon by gaining an in- depth understanding of
individual participants where its focus is on meaning, process, and understanding rather than a
numeric analysis of data; the process is inductive; and the product is richly descriptive” (p. 15).

This qualitative study pursued an understanding of the following questions:

1. What kind of leadership styles are adopted by the teacher grade leaders in the

Division of Himamaylan City?

2. How teacher grade leaders’ leadership style/s contribute to the pupils’ achievement?

3. How teacher grade leaders’ leadership style/s impact on teachers’ effectiveness?

4. How teacher grade leaders help shaping the school’s culture?

Since these research questions sought unveil the teacher leadership styles of teacher

grade leaders in selected schools in the Division of Himamaylan City and to gain a thorough

understanding of their contribution to pupils’ achievement, teachers’ effectiveness and school’s

culture. qualitative research was utilized for this study. This qualitative study involved an

inductive exploration of the data to identify recurring themes, patterns, or concepts and then

describing and interpreting those categories.

Methods

In order to adequately answer the research questions presented in this study, the

researchers utilized a non-experimental qualitative descriptive phenomenology research design.

After receiving the written permission to conduct research from the principals of their respective

schools, surveys and request letters via email and were personally sent to these teacher grade

leaders in an effort to find out which individuals were willing to participate and were the best fit

for the purpose of the study. These surveys consisted of multiple choice and open-ended

questions which determined demographic information as well as whether or not potential

participants had an information-rich cases related to the phenomenon of interest.

The researchers analysed their demographic profile in order to determine which teacher

grade leaders could participate. The researchers employed a strategy called purposeful

sampling to identify, select and gain insight from cases that meet the predetermined criterion of

importance (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 96). Participants were contacted by phone or email to

set up personal interviews. In the actual study, participants consisted of 6 teacher grade

leaders identified according to the definition and presented criteria.

Study Participants and setting

Morrison (2007) defined population as a well-defined group of individuals, things or

elements that fit a certain specification (as cited by Singano, 2015). Therefore, population is

that group from which a researcher wants to get information relevant to the study to make

some conclusions. In this research, the study population included six teacher grade leaders in

selected elementary schools in the Division of Himamaylan City.

 Validity of the instrument

According to Amin (2005), validity refers to which a method of data collection presents

what it is supposed to do, or extent to which a method of data collection measures what it is

supposed to measures (as cited by Singano, 2015). In this research, to establish validity of

instruments, the researchers consulted with three master teachers to discuss the validity of the

instruments and then administered a pre-test to five teachers so as to correct any errors that

might be identified before the conduct of the study. Finally, researchers sat with their adviser

and discussed the validity of the instruments in order to get final draft of the instruments.

Reliability of the Instrument

Veal (2006), established that reliability is the extent to which the scale brings the same

research findings if the research were to be repeated later or with a different sample of subject

(as cited by Singano, 2015). According to Bell (1997), there are several means for checking

reliability in scale and tests. These are such as test, retest, and alternative forms methods or

split half method (as cited by Singano, 2015). As he recommends, reliability of this study

instruments are ascertained by pre-testing the instruments before going to the field. In

addition, member checking will be utilized wherein the researchers solicited the participants’

views of the credibility of the findings. Cited by Carnazo (2016), it involves “taking data,

analyses, interpretations and conclusions back to the participants so that they can judge the

accuracy and credibility of the account” (Creswell, 2007). Carnazo (2016) added that this

technique used by researchers is one most plausible means to indicate the accuracy, credibility,

and validity of the qualitative research instrument (Yanow and Schwartz-Shea, 2006).