CHAPTER 8 TEACHING AND LEADERSHIP
4.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
117 brain.” Both participant and researcher bring human frailty to the framing and understanding of language as well as the choice of words to describe the deeper aspects sought for in this, or indeed any, study. The reader will also respond or react according to his/her own interpretations of the semantics employed. Meaning emerges from usage in the real world, and in this instance it emerges from the real worlds of both teaching and leadership and not from dictionary definitions. “What we do when we use words and phrases is play the ‘language game’ which has an evolving set of rules that govern how the elements of language are used” (Willis, 2007, p. 103). In his 1922 treatise, Tractatus Logico-Philisophicus, on the use of language for reporting philosophical thought and research, Wittgenstein offered the view that something said is correct if it accurately portrays the facts of the physical world. “He argued that it is not possible to develop a transparent and precise language because the meaning of words depends on the context of use” (Willis, 2007, p. 103). My reporting in this study has been mindful of these traps and frailties.
Eisner (1998, p. 46) insightfully describes the cognitive nature of perception, and the ensuing limitations of research:
Related to not knowing the world in its pristine state – a kind of immaculate perception – is the framework dependent character of perception. Perception of the world is influenced by skill, point of view, focus language and framework […]. How shall teaching be perceived? Which [aspect] to choose depends upon the framework?
We secure frameworks through socialisation, professional and otherwise. What we come to see depends upon what we seek, and what we seek depends [...] on what we know how to say.
The selection of the teachers to be interviewed and observed presented me with several limitations. The teachers are subject to prejudices, misunderstandings and differing viewpoints, as are the school principals and any others contributing their views as to whom should be selected. By pre-judging certain teachers as ‘teachers who lead in classes”, the Pygmalion Effecti could be induced, whereby a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs in the interpretation of data received from interviews and observation.
118 The size, geographical distribution and composition of the convenience sample does not allow for sufficient representation of the population of teachers in eThekwini. Care will need to be taken by the reader in the reading of the study report to ensure that these limitations are considered, and that no generalisations are deduced, as none were intended.
The presence of an observer in the classroom may have provided a disturbing influence on the normal relationships, interactions and behaviours of the teacher and pupi ls. The researcher therefore encouraged the teacher respondents to discuss the situation with their pupils so as to best ensure that any effects arising out of the novelty of the observer would be minimised (as would any possible perceptions of him as a threatening intruder). On each occasion, when I was first introduced to a class prior to an observation lesson, I made an appeal for the lesson to be conducted as normally as possible. The children appeared to respond well to this, though it is recognised that there must certainly have been a degree of unavoidable in-authenticity to the lesson as a result of the uncommon situation of having a visitor in the classroom.
Participants responding to interview questions must feel no sense of intimidation. Every effort was therefore made by the researcher of this study to prepare the interview questions and pre-test them in controlled circumstances so as to ensure the most truthful perceptions were being elicited. However, the human element remains, and much depended on the circumstances pertaining at the time of each interview, many of which were beyond any control measure.
The Hawthorne Effectii – this refers to the potential influence over the behaviour of all research participants simply because they know that they are under scrutiny – must be noted and called to mind in the process of analysis. I did not find any particular example of this occurring, although clearly quite a few of the individuals that were chosen as participants appeared to enjoy the fact that they had been selected for the study and many were on their best behaviour at the start of the process.
Ellsmore’s experience in using film for teacher research led her to suggest that knowledge gained from “audience reception of texts must be treated with caution because the complexity of the viewing context, coupled with the social position of the individual viewer, impinges on reception of media content” (2005, p. xiii). People react to situations
119 in different ways, sometimes ignoring issues, which results in there being a variety of interpretations at different times, which are often unexpected (Ellsmore, 2005). The use of focus groups in the analysis of the content of the selected films for this study went some way to ameliorating this phenomenon because the participants were known to each other and were apparently comfortable with the situation.