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A WORKED EXAMPLE 97
culture is derived, in part from ethnography and
anthropology, the research will use qualitative and
ethnographic methods.
One of the difficulties anticipated is that the
less tangible aspects of the school might be the
most difficult on which to collect data. Not
only will people find it harder to articulate
responses and constructs, but also they may be
reluctant to reveal these in public. The more
the project addresses intangible and unmeasurable
elements, and the richer the data that are to be
collected, the more there is a need for increased
and sensitive interpersonal behaviour, face-to-face
data collection methods and qualitative data.
There are several instruments for data collection:
questionnaires, semi-structured interviews
(individual and group), observational data and
documentary data will constitute a necessary minimum,
as follows:
aspects of the school’s culture, e.g. values, assumptions,
beliefs, wishes, problems. Interviews will
be semi-structured, i.e. with a given agenda and
open-ended questions. As face-to-face individual
interviews might be intimidating for some groups,
group interviews will be used. In all of the interviews
the important part will be the supplementary
question ‘why’.
Observational data
Observational data will comment on the physical
environment, and will then be followed up
with interview material to discover participants’
responses to, perceptions of, messages contained
in and attitudes to the physical environment.
Artefacts, clothing, shared and private spaces,
furniture, notices, regulations etc. all give messages
to participants.
Chapter 3
Questionnaires
Questionnaire surveys, use commercially available
instruments, each of which measures different
aspects of school’s culture, in particular:
The Organizational Culture Questionnaire
(Harrison and Stokes 1992) looks at overall
cultures and provides a general picture in terms
of role, power, achievement and support cultures,
and examines the differences between existing
and preferred cultures.
The Organizational Culture Inventory (Cooke
and Lafferty 1989) provides a comprehensive
and reliable analysis of the presenting
organizational cultures.
Questionnaires, using rating scales, will catch
articulated, espoused, enacted, visible aspects
of organizational culture, and will measure, for
example, the extent of sharedness of culture,
congruence between existing and ideal, strength
and intensity of culture.
Semi-structured interviews
Semi-structured qualitative interviews for individuals
and groups gather data on the more intangible
Documentary data
Documentary analysis and additional stored data,
reporting the formal matters in the school, will
be examined for what they include and what they
exclude.
Sampling
First, the questionnaire will be given to all
employees who are willing to participate. Second,
the semi-structured interviews will be conducted
on a ‘critical case’ basis, i.e. with participants who
are in key positions and who are ‘knowledgeable
people’ about the activities and operations of the
school.
There will be stratified sampling for the
survey instruments, in order to examine how
perceptions of the school’s organizational culture
vary according to the characteristics of the
subsamples. This will enable the levels of
congruence or disjunction between the responses
of the various subgroups to be charted. Nominal
characteristics of the sampling will be included,
for example, age, level in the school, departments,
sex, ethnicity, nationality, years of working in the
school.