Confronting methodological challenges in studying school leader time use through technological advancements

Abstract

Among the multitude of studies that have examined an array of variables related to school leadership, only a small percentage have rigorously examined how school leaders spend their time. The complex role of school leaders poses challenges to common methods of collecting data about school leader time use, which subsequently threaten the validity of researchers’ claims. In this study we identified three prevalent challenges to studying school leader time use, and applied technological advancements in an event sampling methodology framework to mitigate the challenges associated with studying school leader time use. We used new technology and event sampling methodology to collect data, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. during 28 consecutive days, on the time use of 11 school leaders. Our system of notification and response achieved an overall response rate of 85% and enabled the collection of school leaders’ perceptions of their time use as they worked in multiple locations over an extended period of time. Finally, we have proposed a research agenda to study rigorously the time use of school leaders.