Abstract:
This paper highlights how the adoption of interviews and concept mapping can enable researchers to investigate leadership in the context in which it is placed. It has been argued for some time that leadership is “always context bound” (Foster, 1989, p. 42), yet the field of educational leadership has tended to see schools as being impervious to outside influences resulting in an incomplete picture of educational leadership (Bates, 2006). It has been argued that qualitative methods of data collection can enable research that enhances understandings of how contextual factors influence the exercise of leadership (Conger, 1998). Concept mapping, a technique that produces a visual picture or a map of the ideas of an individual or group (Trochim & Kane, 2005), has the potential to create a comprehensive picture of a leader’s perspectives. This is because of the way the data collection method provides participants with an opportunity to convey their perspectives of leadership visually, orally and in writing. Although, the technique has been used to uncover individuals’ understandings of educational leadership it is seldom employed as a technique of data collection in qualitative studies of educational leadership. The paper focuses on the following question: How can the use of concept mapping in conjunction with semi-structured interviews reveal the leaders’ everyday reality in a rich and realistic way? The paper describes the process of employing semi-structured interviews and concept mapping as a combined activity in a study which aimed to uncover faith-based school leaders’ perspectives of educational leadership and the contextual factors influencing those perspectives. As scholars have called for educational leadership research to create in-depth accounts of what leaders do in relation to their context (Bates, 2006), it is envisaged that this paper will be of use to those in the field. Firstly, the paper draws attention to a relatively underused data collection method which has the potential to enhance the field’s breadth and depth of inquiry. Secondly, this paper will be instructive for those who are seeking to understand the day to day realities of school leadership. Thus it is argued that by adopting this more contemporary research method, a researcher can create a more comprehensive picture of a leader’s perspectives of educational leadership and the contextual factors that influence their work.