Drafted in a More Generous and Open

¶ … drafted in a more generous and open manner than questions in surveys should be, there would be greater difficulty in coding them, and more less commonly used methods may have to be found to code some of the questions.

How long have you been part of the new principal program?

(a) 1-3 years = 1 (b) 3-5 years = 2 (c) 5-7 years = 3 (d) 7-10 years = 4; (e) 10 years + = 5 (f) unreadable answer or 0 years =

Tell me about your job.

This is an open-ended question that cannot be coded. Seeking a measure that converts open-ended response to quantitative coding, I selected Newman, Webb & Cochrane's (1997) approach that was initiated for critical thinking within an online discussion forum and has 40 codes in that category such as designations for relevance, justification, novelty etc. These codes are also useful since they seem relevant to our study. We can leave Newman et al.'s (1997) concept 'critical thinking' as it is since its sub-terms seem relevant to the principal's experience. Imitating Newman et al.'s (1997) method, we append a plus (+) or a minus (-) to indicate whether the respondent's sentence contributes to (+) or detracts from (-) his enthusiasm and feelings of accomplishment as principal. Using Newman et al.'s (1997) example, neutral sentences will be eliminated from analysis. The job satisfaction ratio will be worked out in the following way: Satisfaction= (x+-x-) divided by (x++x-) where x+ is the count of sentences with principal sense of accomplishment. Positive numbers approaching 1 indicate the highest level of sensation of accomplishment.

3. What skills should new principals have before starting as a principal?

This too is a challenging question to code due to the way that it is stated. I may therefore append a list of theoretical skills, distributing them in sets of similar characteristics and according each a code digit. This will be followed by an empty set coded for instance as 5. For example:

(a) {Leadership, administrative etc.} = 1 (b) {critical thinking, inquisitive etc.} = 2 (c) {sympathetic, active listening etc.} = 3 (d) {relationship skills, good with children etc.} = 4 (e) { }= 5

4.What supports does the director provide the administrator to support the new principal?

See above. I would treat this in the same way as question #3, selecting sets with congruent theoretical skills that would be appropriate for principal to expect.

5. What approach would you suggest to collect data to demonstrate how the new principal benefits from the principal support system?