Effective Development of Faculty Members at the College of Education at Ha'il University - Research Proposal Example

Leadership styles and their impact on the effective development of faculty members at the College of Education at Hail The rapid development of today’s modern society has led to a contentious topic pertaining to education and its role in the growth of science. Quality education is largely responsible for improving sciences. However, most people debate that leadership is the most important component of the education sector. This is due to many reasons, one of which is its role in moulding leadership. Therefore, the following proposal will explain the plan of research in leadership styles and their impact on the effective development of faculty members at the College of Education at Hail University in Saudi Arabia. The proposal will focus on the following areas: enquiry, literature review, significance of research, aims and questions. Moreover, this proposal will look at research methodology, including data collection, sampling of this research with great detail, validity and reliability and conclusion. Introduction Leadership takes great interest in today’s modern societies because it plays an important role in the objectives of institutions as the world lives in the twenty-first century. There are challenges in all areas, including leadership of the educational process and all of its dimensions. Therefore, there is no way for an institution to find success without educational leadership. The success of any institution in achieving its goals and mission is linked to the behaviours of the leader and his style. The leaders needs to show his qualities of leadership, which are often his personality and his ability to recruit potential employees to work constructively to build positive relationships among co-workers, improve work performance and motivate employees by giving them continuous coaching. From this, we can see how important leaders are at universities for achieving the objectives of the university and the overall success of its mission. Researchers are interested in educational leadership because they want to create a system for recognizing patterns of leadership. Patterns are a major role in the success or failure of institutions in general and educational institutions in particular. Universities are the backbone of our educational system because of the tasks carried out in the preparation of technical personnel and qualified academics to work in the areas of education, the economy, and the political arena. This is implemented through plans and community development programs in the various areas of daily life. Moreover, these areas are varied, so they are too difficult to be mastered by one person. Therefore, this research focuses on leadership styles in the university because of their important role in preparing the future generation for their role in society. In fact, the leaders of universities do not have the same leadership style; they exhibit all styles because they are different in their personal and professional dealings through their actions and work. Also, they have different educational philosophies, and have different thoughts on things such as preparation, coaching, experience and their perception of leadership. The Areas of Enquiry As you know, universities are the leaders of education in their communities. Additionally, they help to develop research academies and solve many contemporary problems in education, especially colleges of education. This research will divide the limitations of the study to four parts: 1 - Academic Limitations: Focus is on the leadership styles (deans and the heads of the academic departments) at the College of Education at Ha’il University and their impact on the effectiveness of faculty members. 2 - Geographical Limitations: Focus will be about the location of the College of Education at Hail University, which is located in Hail in the north of Saudi Arabia. 3 - Time Limitations: The study will be conducted only this year (2012). 4 - Human limitations: This section will focus on the dean of the College for Education and the department heads and faculty members at the College of Education at Hail University. Literature Reviews (I have already done it) The Importance of the Research Globally, education is strongly involved in the development and improvement of the communities throughout the developing world (Aikaman & Unterhalter, 2005). A large number of studies focus on helping humans to achieve their aims through different types and stages of training (Nsubuga, 2003). The best way to do this is with education. In addition, from the significance of educational leadership, leaders have directed control over social activities through their different styles of leadership; each style has its own advantages and disadvantages. From the above, it is clear that leadership styles can contribute to the effectiveness of faculty members. This research will help develop the effectiveness of faculty members of any institution in the following four ways: 1 - The importance of the study looks at leadership styles and their implications on the effective development of faculty members. 2 - Helps leaders at the College of Education at Hail University by identifying the best leadership style to develop the performance of faculty members. 3 - This study provides feedback to leaders to develop their performance and improve their skills at the College of Education at Hail University. 4 - This study opens new horizons for researchers in university administration to continue research in this area. The Aims of the Research This research will identify the kinds of leadership styles at the College of Education at Hail University. In addition, it will analyse the relationship between leadership styles and their impact on the development the effectiveness of faculty members through the relationship between leaders and faculty members. The study seeks to achieve the following objectives: 1 - Identify an educational leadership style for the dean and department heads at the College of Education at Hail University. 2 - Detect the impact of the study’s variables (experience, age, and field of study) from the view of faculty members on leadership styles for the dean and department heads at the College of Education at Ha’il University. 3 - Detect an educational leadership style of the dean and department heads at the College of Education at Hail University to activate the performance of faculty members from their own points of view. 4 - Identify the best leadership style for good quality learning in order to create a curriculum for the future. Research Questions: This research will achieve its aims through the following questions: 1 - What kind of leadership styles are used by the dean at the College of Education at Hail University? 2 - What kinds of leadership styles are used by department heads at the College of Education at Hail University? 3 - What leadership styles do faculty members prefer? 4 - What is the relationship between leadership styles and the effective development of faculty members? Methodology of Research The research will focus on two main steps: identifying the leadership styles at the College of Education at Ha’il University; investigating the relationship between leadership styles and effective development of faculty members at the College of Education at Ha’il University. To conduct this research, both a qualitative and quantitative approach will be used. Qualitative and Quantitative Methodology The most important part of a research project is research design. Cohen (2007) says that research design is governed by the notion of fitness for purpose. The purpose of the research determines the methodology and design of research". There are two main kinds of research that are commonly used in education studies. The first one is qualitative while the second is quantitative, where we can collect data and then accurately represent them, "although mixtures are possible" (Gillham, 2000). A qualitative approach is good for considering the "how" and "why" questions. These different types of approaches are used for different kinds of data. For example, the qualitative research is good for “soft data”; however, the quantitative is more suitable for “hard data”. In addition, the qualitative data can also be used for data in the form of speech, such as interviews (Have, 2004). However, quantitative research is for information that can appear statistically and can be shown in table form (Have, 2004). The quantitative method is also used for separating the implications of causes and effects. In addition, this method can be helpful for laboratory experiments and surveys of opinion from which statistical data can be extracted (Thomas, 1997). Qualitative research has some specifications that can discriminate it from the quantitative method. According to Maxwell (1996), using qualitative research can achieve some specific purposes. First, it helps the researcher to grasp deep events, situations, actions and participants involved in a study. Second, it is convenient for considering the specific context through which the participants operate. Third, it differentiates between unexpected and expected phenomena. In addition, it focuses on theories in relation to the phenomena and helps with critical reflection on the factors of study, such as events. Moreover, Campbell (1997: 122) points out that qualitative research assumes that "reality is socially constructed and that the variables are complex, interwoven and difficult to measure". Most researchers argue about the research process, but they show similarities in the logic that helps researchers to blend the possible approaches. The decision about the kind of research and data depends on the issue of the study. Denzin and Lincoln (2003) state that qualitative research differs from quantitative research in some significant ways; these points of difference turn on different ways of addressing the same set of issues. They return always to the politics of research and who has the power to legislate correct solutions to these problems". Questionnaire First of all, questionnaires are designed for the purpose achieving a main goal of the research. For example, through questionnaires researchers can collect data that cannot be obtained without asking questions. The different plans and types of questionnaires depend on the subject, situation and method of data gathering. The steps for preparing a questionnaire are as follows: (1) specify the required information; (2) define the supported information; (3) and determine the relationship between the subject areas and questionnaire. In addition, there are three types of questions: open or closed, spontaneous or prompted and open-ended or pre-coded (Ian Brace, 2008). Moreover, there are some important points to think about before writing a questionnaire. For example, questions should be ordered from most important to least important, are easy to read, clear to understand, have accurate meanings, and are easy to answer within a short time. If some questions are multiple choice questions, then there should be more than four options for each question. Justification for the Choice of Method (Interview) One of the most known methods of collecting data in educational methodology is through an interview. An interview comprises two sides: the interviewer and the interviewee. From an interview, the interviewer can get accurate and direct data straight from the interviewee (Cohen, 2007). Moreover, this kind of technique in collecting data in educational research has a huge number of advantages, such as critical thinking, more flexibility, in-depth answers and personal interaction (Robson, 2002). In interviews, much more information can be conveyed in a short amount of time. In some cases, an interview can take considerable time, depending on how much the interviewee cooperates. As Kumar mentions, interviewing is "time-consuming and expensive to conduct" (1999: 115). This kind of interview occurs when travel is required to reach distant places; even if the location is near, it still requires effort and money. Furthermore, a factor of personal bias could appear with the interviewer (Robson, 2002). Another negative point of the interview method comes from the fact that the "quality of data obtained depends upon the quality of the interaction between interviewer and interviewees and the skills of the interviewer in conducting a face-to-face interview" (Kumar, 1999: 115). As a result, through in-depth interviews, this study can investigate what are the kinds of leadership styles and analyse their impact on the performance of faculty members. The Interview Types There are three main types of the interview: full structured, semi-structured and unstructured (Bryman, 1988: 45). This research will use a semi-structured interview because it helps to achieve the aims of this research. In addition, a semi-structured interview gives more flexibility for greater information about each answer because it allows in-depth explanations (Masor, 1996). According to Cohen (2003), the interview design must be relative to the purposes of research and the situation between the interviewer and interviewee. Cohen also points out that there are two types of questions used for interviews: direct and indirect. Tuckman (1972) notes that "during the interview, the biases and values of the interviewer should not be revealed, and the interviewer should avoid being judgmental. The interviewer may have to steer respondents if they are rambling off the point, without being impolite. However, the interview should be sensitive towards the interviewee, accurate and contain interactive ideas. Sampling Design The best way to conduct sampling is take a small portion of the population. For example, doctors take a drop of blood for testing, but they do not take all the blood from someone’s body because a smaller sample still has the same feature as a larger sample. According to Vogt, a sampling shape is a list of the population from which all sampling units are drawn (1993: 202). Probability sampling and non-probability are two kinds of sampling according to Coleman (2007): In probability sampling, the researcher must have access to each individual person in the population from which the sample is being drawn, and each member of the population should have exactly the same chance of being selected as every other. The non-probability sample method is where the researcher does not have access to the whole population. The researcher cannot state the likelihood of an individual being selected for the sample in this way. Moreover, this research has chosen non-probability sampling for a number of different reasons. First, it makes analysing data easier in terms of depicting the results. The second factor is that the researcher cannot deal with all the research scope. There are multiple types of non-probability sampling: convenience sampling, quota sampling, dimensional sampling, purposive sampling and snowball sampling (Cohen, 2007: 104). The dissertation will focus on purposive sampling and convenience sampling in order to generate the necessary data for the research. Purposive Sampling and Convenience Sampling According to Cohen (2007: 103), “researchers choose the cases to be included in the sample on the basis of their judgment of their typicality. In this way, they build up a sample that is satisfactory to their specific needs". For instance, this dissertation has chosen one dean, five department leaders and thirty faculty members of the College of Education at Ha’il University. This will help the researcher to narrow the research sample. In this situation, the researcher’s purpose is to choose this sampling method because it will be the main process of getting data for this researcher. Cohen (2007) mentions that the convenience sample does not represent any group apart from itself. It does not seek to generalise about the wider population. For a convenience sample that is irrelevant. The researcher must take pains to report this point that the parameters’ generalisability in this type of sample is negligible. Consequently, the researcher will be able to achieve the aims of the study: identifying the leadership styles and their impact on the effective development of faculty members. Moreover, this will enable future studies to look at leadership styles and their effectiveness on faculty members. The Sample Size Plowright (2011) argues that “non-probability sampling involves selecting cases that do not necessarily represent a wider population, but have information that will contribute directly to answering the research question” (p. 42). This means the choice of sampling used depends on how much the purpose of research is achieved by answering questions. Cohen (2007: 92) says that data can be collected from a smaller group or a subset of the total population in such a way that the knowledge gained is representative of the total population...under study. From the above, it can be clearly seen that this research will use purposive and convenience sampling forms, which are the dean, five department heads and thirty faculty members from the College of Education. From this sampling method, the researcher can be able to identify and analyse the leadership styles and their impact on the effective development of faculty members at the College of Education at Ha’il University in Saudi Arabia. Validity and Reliability Validity and reliability are main pieces of evidence for determining the effectiveness of any research outcome. In educational research, researchers should analyse whether or not the results are based on an accurate theory. However, achieving validity and reliability are difficult, especially when data comes from people who change their opinions depending on the situation and circumstance. According to Lincoln (1995) several standards can be used to achieve trustworthiness in qualitative research. These include triangulation, member checks, thick description, purposive sampling and practising reflexivity. Neuman (2008: 178), likewise, states that: perfect reliability and validity are virtually impossible to achieve. Rather, they are the ideals that researchers strive for. Validity refers to the degree to how accurate the chosen method measures what it is supposed to measure (De Vaus, 2002). The following are the two kinds of validity: Content Validity: According to Cohen, with content validity, the instrument must show that it fairly and comprehensively covers the domain or items that it purports to cover (2007: 109). From this, the content validity measures how much a researcher can achieve the aims of the study. In addition, face validity is the first basic step of validity. It is a judgment by the scientific community that the indicator really measures the construct (Neuman, 2008: 183). Construct Validity: To establish construct validity, the researcher would need to be assured that his or her construction of a particular issue agreed with other constructions of the same underlying issue (Cohen, 2003: 138). In processing and making a valid evaluation of this research, the researcher will discuss some information about leadership styles and their impact on the effective development of faculty at the College of Education at Ha’il University. This will be done with the dean, department heads and faculty members through individual interviews. Also, the researcher will prepare the interview questions in English and the supervisor will check the questions in terms of wording and face validity. Next, two fluent experts in both English and Arabic will help the researcher translate the questions into Arabic. For validity of the translation, the researcher should confer with other experts in English and Arabic and use diverse sources of information to help the researcher investigate the main information about the data. The other concept, reliability, indicates the extent to which an experiment, test or any measuring procedure yields the same result on repeated trials. In other words, the research results are reliable only if another researcher, using the same procedure and studying the same phenomenon, arrives at similar or comparable findings (Sekaran, 2003). Moreover, Cohen (2007) indicates that if it were to be conducted in a similar context with a similar group of participants, it would render similar results". This means that the outcomes would be the same if they were conducted by another researcher. In this respect, Sarantakos (2005: 88) says that reliability refers to the capacity of measurement to produce consistent results". Likewise, researchers should choose their resources of data carefully for different reasons, such as getting realistic answers with a minimum proportion of bias (Hair, 2003). This is also done to ensure that, when collecting the data, there are no logical flaws and also that participants are given suitable time for answering questions (Hair, 2003). Conclusion Ultimately, this proposal has outlined the plans and procedures to be used to achieve the aims of this research. Also, it has shown the areas of enquiry and main information about literature reviews—leadership styles and their impact on the effective development of faculty members at the College of Education at Ha’il University in Saudi Arabia. In addition, this study presented the aims, questions and methodology, which is mixed (qualitative and quantitative). The researcher has also explained the way of generating data through specific sampling methods. Next, the researcher will analyse the results and look at the relationship between the findings and theories in order to give recommendations. Appendix Activity Beginning Date 2012 Finishing date 2012 Potential problems How I will solve the problems Read many books to create questions for the interviews 15\ 5 25\ 5 I do not have enough information I will discuss with my supervisor Data collection 01\ 6 10\ 7 I do not have enough information I will discuss with my supervisor Data analysis 20\ 7 10\ 8 I do not have enough information I will discuss with my supervisor References Aikman, S. & Aikman, S. & Unterhalter, E. (2005) Beyond access: Transforming policy and practice for gender equality in education, London: Oxford. Bryman, A. (2004) Quantity and Quality in Social Research, London: Routledge. Campbell, T. (1997) ‘Technology, multimedia, and qualitative research in education,’ Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 30, (2):122. Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2007) Research Methods in Education, London Routledge. Coleman, M. & Briggs, A. R. J. (2007) Research methods in educational leadership and management, 2nd edn, London: Sage. Denzin, N. K. and Lincoln, Y. S. (2003) The Landscape of Qualitative Research: Theories and Issues, London: SAGE. De Vaus, D. A. (2002) Surveys in Social Research, London: UCL Press. Gillham, B. (2000) Case Study Research Methods, London, Continuum. Hair, J. et al. (2003) Essentials of Business Research Methods. London: Wiley Have, P. T. (2004) Understanding Qualitative Research and Ethnomethodology, London, Sage. Kumar, R. (1999) Research Methodology: A Step-By-Step Guide for Beginners, London: Sage. Lincoln, Y. (1995) ‘Emerging criteria for quality in qualitative and interpretive research,’ Qualitative Inquiry, 1, (4): 275-289. Masor, J. (1996) Qualitative Researching, London: Sage Maxwell, J. (1996) Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach, London, Sage. Neuman, W. (2008) Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, Harlow, Pearson. Nsubuga, Y. K. K. (2003) Development and examination of secondary in Uganda: Experience and challenges, Kampala: Uganda. Plowright, D. (2011) Using mixed methods: frameworks for an integrated methodology, Los Angeles; London: SAGE. Robson, C. (2002) Real world research: a resource for social scientists and practitioner researchers, Oxford, Blackwell. Sarantakos, S. (2005) Social Research (3rd Ed). Palgrave Macmillan Houdmills, Basingstone, Hampshire, NY. Sekaran, U. (2003) Research Methods for Business – A Skill-Building Approach. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Thomas, R. (1997) Quantitative Methods for Business Studies, London, Prentice Hall. Tuckman, B. W. (1972) Conducting Educational Research, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Vogt, W.P. (1993), Dictionary of statistics and methodology, London, Sage. Read More