Anglia Ruskin Research Online (ARRO)
Browse
DOCUMENT
GT_for_CL_research Accepted Version.docx (191.05 kB)
DOCUMENT
288558-Article Text-682054-1-10-20231229 (1).pdf (584.51 kB)
1/0
2 files

Investigating higher education course leadership practice – an argument for using grounded theory

journal contribution
posted on 2024-02-12, 13:24 authored by Nieky Van Veggel, Philip Howlett, Hilary Engward
The study of course leadership in higher education focusses on an understudied area of research, with a limited number of publications discussing the role of the course leader in higher education, and a distinct lack of research on how course leaders in higher education undertake their professional practice. This lack of a pre-existing theory points the researcher towards grounded theory to investigate and generate a new theory on course leaders’ experiences. Since leadership, and therefore course leadership, is an inherent complex social process, selection of grounded theory as a research methodology to explain how course leaders in higher education practice seems a logical choice. Grounded theory has been successfully used to investigate phenomena in education and in leadership practice in other disciplines. We therefore argue that grounded theory is an appropriate selection for research in education and higher education settings for areas of research where no theory currently exists. Moreover, grounded theories focussing on professional practice have been published in various contexts demonstrating that it is an appropriate method for investigating course leaders’ professional practice. Finally, this paper outlines some perceived weaknesses of using a grounded theory approach for researching course leadership, and offers means to navigate these.

History

Refereed

  • Yes

Volume

23

Publication title

Advanced Education

ISSN

2410-8286

Publisher

National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute"

File version

  • Accepted version
  • Published version

Item sub-type

Article

Affiliated with

  • School of Nursing and Midwifery – Cambridgeshire Outputs

Usage metrics

    ARU Outputs

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC