Analysis of Qualitative Research Designs
In a research or evaluation process, the appropriateness of the qualitative designs is essential. This paper analyzes the qualitative design used in Useem’s (2009) article “Big City Superintendent as Powerful CEO: Paul Vallas in Philadelphia.” This article uses the case study qualitative design. Case study is suitable in a research interested in understanding how and why of a certain event (Rowley, 2002). In Useem’s study, the design was used because the study was aiming to understand how the change of using the Superintendent title in district schools to chief executive officers or chancellor affects the school performance.
The article problem statement was that the change of the Superintendent title in district schools to chief executive officers or chancellor increased the power of the Superintendent in some big district schools. Increase of power was vital because the Superintendents roles in school were being affected by the emergency of other stakeholders in the education system. The study had a purpose of understanding how the introduction of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 has affected the powers of the Superintendent in the management of district schools. To achieve this purpose, the sample for the study was derived from a multiple sources. The sample comprised of different groups that include groups for interview, in-depth interview, observations, documents analysis and analysis of reform meetings on schools. A multiple data collection techniques were employed to make the design effective. They included observation, documents analysis, and interviews.
In this study, respondent’s confidentiality is one of the ethical issues that need to be considered. The case study design applies data collection techniques that tend to seek much of personal information.
Qualitative inquiry studies behavior, experiences, and