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Taking corrective actions based on updated data to enhance and maintain the quality of education;
Creating conducive conditions to engage internal and external stakeholders in quality assurance activities.
A mixed methods research approach was adopted to appropriately answer the main and the other related research questions. Leadership competence in assuring the quality of HLIs' input, process, output, and the outcome was explored using questions in the questionnaires and interviewees, document analysis, and observations.
4.3 POPULATION AND SAMPLING
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learning institutions located in different parts of the country. The targeted population of regular students and permanent academic staff was 490,320 (419,366 public; 70,954 private) and 35,134 (32,631 public; 2,503 private) respectively (Ministry of Science and Higher Education, 2019). It is necessary to identify and state the size of the population in any given study (Creswell, 2014).
4.3.2 Sampling and sample design
A sample design is a researcher's technique or procedure for selecting a sample from a given population. Sampling is the process of selecting a representative or respondents from a given total population, and the chosen respondents constitute a sample (Pandey & Pandey, 2021). Researchers also use sampling to select the groups of objects, persons or phenomena that they observe (Nugent, 2010). A sample is a portion of the target population researchers intend to study to generalise to the target population (Punch & Oancea, 2014).
Four (two public and two private) HLIs were selected from the total population of 322 HLIs as the targeted sites for this study, using stratified random sampling. In this process, specific characters or homogenous of the population are represented in the sample by dividing the population into non-overlapping subsets called strata (Neuman, 2014; Till & Matei, 2016; Creswell, 2014), in order to make accurate generalisations based on the population sample. The HLIs were accordingly stratified into two categories according to their year of establishment. Those HLIs with more than 20 years since their establishment were classified as category 1, while those less than 20 years old were category 2. From category 1, two (one public; one private) HLIs were selected using the simple random sampling technique in which each HLI has an equal chance of being selected (Creswell, 2014). From category 2, two (one public; one private) sample HLIs were selected using purposive sampling based on the researcher's knowledge. The reason for using purposive sampling in selecting the samples from category 2 was to include those HLIs in which graduating students and staff members had four or more years of working experience in their institutions, excluding newly established HLIs. As a result, four HLIs (two private; two public) were selected (see Table 4.1).
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4.3.2.1 Sample selection for quantitative research
For the quantitative component of this study, a random sampling method was used.
Random sampling is one of the probability sampling methods in which every item in the targeted population has an equal probability of being selected in the sample (Pandey & Pandey, 2021; Kothari, 2004). Probability sampling involves selecting each contributor from a complete list of potential members of an identified target population (Saunders & Townsend, 2018). The strategy is efficient and preferred for selecting a sample from a given population (Neuman, 2014; Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). By applying a multi‐stage sampling technique in which the researcher chooses multiple samples in various stages (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018), representative colleges, faculties, departments, students and academic staff were chosen.
First, five colleges from each public HLI and three colleges from each private HLI were selected. Then, after selecting the colleges of the sampled HLIs, one department from each college was randomly selected. From each selected department, by applying the multi-stage sampling procedure and systematic random sampling techniques, 10 graduating regular students and 10 permanent senior instructors with more than four years of working experience and possessing at least a master’s degree were chosen.
Multi-stage sampling procedure is selecting samples by obtaining a list of names of the individuals from a given cluster (Creswell, 2014). Systematic random sampling is selecting every i-th item on a list so that the chance of each person being selected is equal (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018; Pandey & Pandey, 2021). The rationale for selecting permanent senior instructors and graduating regular students was that they were sufficiently mature and had a long period of exercise and knowledge of the leadership system and activities performed in assuring the quality of education of their institution.
Each selected department's list of instructors and students was collected from the respective colleges' record offices. By applying the relevant sampling techniques, as explained in the previous paragraphs, a total sample of 320 respondents (160 regular graduating students and 160 permanent instructors) were selected from the four sampled HLIs (see Table 4.1). Based on the sample results, the researcher drew inferences about the population. Inference refers to the statistical framework for
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generalising to the whole population based on the results obtained from the selected sample (Till & Matei, 2016).
Table 4.1: Number of samples selected from graduating students and senior academic staff members/instructors from each department
University Name Owner- ship
Colleges selected
Depart- ments selected
Sample selected from
each department Students selected from HLI
Instructors selected from HLI Students Instructors
Admas (ADU) Private 3 3 10 10 30 30
Arba Minch (AMU) Public 5 5 10 10 50 50
Harambee (HRU) Private 3 3 10 10 30 30
Wolkite (WKU) Public 5 5 10 10 50 50
Total 16 16 40 40 160 160
4.3.2.2 Sample selection for qualitative research
For the qualitative component of this study, sample selection was made using a non- probability sampling approach to get a representative sample covering different characteristics. Non-probability sampling is a procedure that does not consider the chance that each item in the population is included in the sample (Pandey & Pandey, 2021; Kothari, 2004). By applying the non-probability sampling, key participants and co-researchers were selected for the interviews. The selection process considers selecting those participants who have been perceived as possessing deep knowledge of the information needed and contributing to the study. Moreover, it considers the participant's ability to communicate effectively and be comfortable with the researcher's presence at the research site. The non-probability sampling techniques most often used in qualitative research are purposive, volunteer, haphazard, and quota sampling (Saunders & Townsend, 2018). Of these, purposive sampling using maximal variation sampling, in which diverse individuals are chosen who are expected to have diverse perspectives on the given study (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018), was applied in selecting the sample participants for the interviews. The sample in qualitative research is more likely to be selected by applying purposive sampling (Yin, 2011).
Purposive sampling is a technique in which the researcher applies personal knowledge and opinion to identify those informants from the population to be included in the sample. Therefore, based on the researcher's knowledge and judgement in the area
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of higher education system, the following were selected: one professional/researcher engaged in the area of higher education, one ETA (the then HERQA) expert from external stakeholders, one quality assurance head, one academic staff member, one student, one college dean and one academic vice president from each sampled HLI.
This generated a total of 22 informants for the semi-structured and unstructured one- to-one interviews. Focus group discussions were also conducted with the student councils of the three universities. As a result of the busy exam schedule of ADU’s student council, a focus group discussion was not conducted. A summary of the name list and number of the selected sampled participants from external stakeholders of HLIs, and from each sampled HLI, is presented in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2: Samples selected for semi-structured and unstructured interviews
List of samples No. of
samples Interview type I. From external stakeholders of HLIs 2
Professional engaged in the area of higher education 1 unstructured
ETA expert 1 unstructured
II. From each sampled HLI 23
quality assurance head/representative 1x4=4 semi-structured
Academic staff 1x4=4 semi-structured
Student 1x4=4 unstructured
Mid-level leadership/college dean 1x4=4 semi-structured Top level leadership/academic vice president 1x4=4 semi-structured
Focus group discussions 1x3=3 semi-structured
Total 25
A focus group discussion was also conducted with the student council/union of the three sampled HLIs. The intention of interviewing the above-listed participants was to obtain an in-depth understanding of the HLIs' leadership influence in assuring the quality of education and to triangulate the quantitative findings with the qualitative findings.
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4.4 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES AND INSTRUMENTS