Leadership and human relationship

Sultan Muhammad

Definition of leadership:

·       School leadership” is the process of enlisting and guiding the talents and energies of teachers, pupils, and parents toward achieving common educational aims. This term is often used synonymously with educational leadership in the United States and has supplanted educational management in the United Kingdom”.  Wikipedia

·       Leadership is "organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal.”

·       "Leadership occurs when one person induces others to work toward some predetermined objectives."  Massie

·       "A manager takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go but ought to."  Rosalyn Carter

Definition of Human relationship:

·       Human relationship: An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. Human relationships are formed on different circumstances; it could be cultural, social family, friendship, work and social groups. Leadership and human relation go side by side, you cant chose between them, and you have to choose them altogether. 

Leadership is all about relationship, there is a good leader behind every successful task, and tool of every successful leader is good human relationship. A leader inspires other with his character and earned the trust with whom he interact. He gives respect to his staff members and treats them like a family. He knows the problems of staff members and helps them at the time of crisis.

Relationships involve some level of interdependence between two parties and people in a relationship tend to influence each other by different means; share their thoughts and feelings, and engage in activities together with trust.

Educational leadership depends on human relation, it all about relationship at every level, Relationship with teaching staff, administrative staff and students. Without good relation with teacher it is impossible for a leader to achieve good academic result. Without the help of administrative staff and teachers it is almost impossible to run a school in proper order, teachers are the soul of a school and without the help of them the school would be a chaos. Therefore good relations between leader and his school teachers are very important for the improvement of school and the over-all performance of teachers.

Teacher student relationship is also very important. A good relation between them will lead the school to better performance and academic achievements, which will be success on the part of leader, therefore it is the responsibility of a leader to provide them better environment where teacher and students could develop better relationship. Get together from time to time and tour of teachers and students outside the school. Arrange co-curricular activities in the school where teacher and student both participate.

Relationship of the leader with his colleagues in educational institute:
 

Milo Stuart states, “The relation of the principal to his teachers should be the most intimate of any. If a teacher fails, the principal fails; if the teacher succeeds, the principal succeeds. To sum up what the principal’s job is, I shall call him a referee the captain of the ship the boss of the firm a juvenile judge before whom tribunal come out not only the culprits but the adults who frequently contribute to the pupil’s shortcomings. He is a promoter who must project the future of his institution and convert the public to his plan. He is a social physician to every parent who has wayward son who needs attention. He is a friend in need to pupils and to all the homes in which misfortune comes. His power, his activities, even the good he does, can not be measured by a material yardstick.”

The role of the leader in educational institution is very Delicate and critical. He keeps his relation with all stakeholders of the school and keeps balance in them, fighting and quarrelling students, reluctant and difficult teachers and complaining parents. The leader will establish good relation between all of them. He seeks their whole hearted cooperation in all the activities of the school, academic, co-curricular and administrative.

In leadership and human relation lot of things are common,

• I admit I made a mistake: take blame for the failure
• You did a good job: appreciate other for the success
• What is your opinion: open to suggestion from others
• If you please: give respect to others
• We: sharing responsibility
• Minimum use of the word "I"
• One who cannot empathize with others will never become a true leader. 

Bibliography

• Khaki, J., & Safdar, Q. (2010). Educational leadership in Pakistan:  ideals and realities. Karachi: Oxford University Press
• M. Sultan Mohiyuddin,(1999) School Organization and Management Lahore, West Pakistan Publishing company Ltd.
• Rao Ush, (1991) Education technology Bombay, Himaliya publishing house
• 1.6, a. f., respectively), 2., & between, (. t. (n.d.). ANALYTIC HIERARCHY ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN EDUCATION AS RATED BY SELECTED EDUCATION, COMMUNITY, AND BUSINESS MEMBERS IN.

           Google. Retrieved May 23, 2011, from

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FLdQZ77hBMcJ:purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/WFE0000047+top+20+educational+leadership+skills&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com

• Muhammad, S. (2008). Education: Leadership in Islamic Perspective. Education.Retrieved May 24, 2011, from http://research-education-edu.blogspot.com/search/label/Leadership%20in%20Islamic%20Perspective

The Role of Principal

By Dr. Sultan Muhammad Khan

keywords ;The Role of Principal, Responsibilities of  the Principal, principal is a  leader,

Principal is the most important person in a school. Every thing depends on him. The importance of the principal and viewing him as a leader is not a new concept. If a principal is a good leader, the school will have success stories. A good principal is do not afraid others people skills and wisdom but he use there skills and wisdom for the improvement of institution. It is the quality of a leader to share leadership with others and turn them in to good leader from them. Principal is not an instructional person, he did not teach he supervise, he guide other how to teach, what to teach and when to teach.

1.                  Shape staff roles for teachers and allocate time for meetings.

2.                  Keep the school's goals head of all things and try to achieve these goals

3.                  Works closely with distract education office to ensure the school remain on the right track to achieve goals.

4.                  principal create budget for annual spending and repair of school if any, also create schedule for school which is best for teacher and teaching learning process.

5.                  Ensure to achieve academic expectations, and fulfill the challenging curriculum requirements and it objectives,

6.                  Create team of teachers to monitor the school performance and create future leader for school administration.

7.                  Build strong relationships between teachers, students and community.

8.                  Keep discipline in school.

9.                  Supervising teaching from time to time by different means.

·         Evaluation of students

·         Help teacher for more reflective and insightful about their methods of teaching.

·         Observe classroom teaching.

10.              The principal role is to monitor student progress and assessment of student knowledge according to objectives of curriculum.

11.              Promoting collaborative problem solving and open communication

12.              Collecting data, analyzing data, and use that data to identify school needs

13.              Implementing and monitoring the school improvement plan

14.              Plan Strategies for classroom management and teachers to monitor student understanding and academic progress.

15.              Introduce tested Research-based practices in school for improvement in the performance of teachers and students.

16.              Introduce multiple methods of teaching in school.

17.              Collaboration with stakeholders in the process of school improvement 

18.              Communicates and share school vision, goals for the future and progress for the attainment of goals to parents, community and staff members.

19.              Recognizes the contribution of parents and community in the process of ongoing school activities and celebrates it on parent’s day to motivate the community members.

20.              Nurtures and develops the leadership capabilities of staff, parents and community members.

21.              Identify the weakness of staff members and plan various training course for them to improve their skills in that particular area.

22.              Identify performance instruction indicator that link to achieve key goals and objectives.

Leadership skills

Sultan Muhammad

Leadership is the ability of a person to lead a group of people to achieve a given task, Leadership is an inspiration for the people, and those people are leaders who inspire others. Leaders are present around us, we can see them in every day life, when some one among them attain the level where he can demonstrate and exercise his ability for the common purpose, they excel and then we recognize them as a leader

Mohammad (peace be upon him) is the greatest leader of world, in the history of mankind there is no other person who can reach to his level or status. He is model for all humanity, how to lead the people, if we read all the modern books about leadership today, we will see the qualities of Mohammad (peace be upon him) in these books.

Here is a list of skill which is necessary for a leader.

1.         Inspired people: Leader inspires others by his actions and character.  

2.         Educational Vision: leader has a clear vision for the institution future goals and a clear plan for achieving those goals.

3.         Management Skills: Improving institutional effectiveness by initiating change in

Procedures and organizational goals

4.         Agent of Change: leader is the agent of change. He brings new changes to institution and always welcome to new change.

5.         Open-minded: Leaders always accept new ideas and suggestions despite his view.

6.        Acceptability: Leader is the person who is acceptable to all.

7.        Diagnostic skills: Diagnose the problem and bring solution to the problem.  

8.         Decision making: A leader should have the ability to decide. What to do, why and when to do. Quick decision making is an essential skill of a leader

9.         Communication skills: communication skill is the most important skill of a leader, with communication he builds good relation with staff, students and community members.  

10.       Planning skills. Planning skill help leader to organise activities in school e.g. teaching activities, co-curricular activities, administrative activities and education organization need from time to time.  

11.       Sharing Leadership: sharing responsibilities with teaching staff and develop them for the role of leadership

12.       Dynamic: leader is dynamic and ready to lead any time when ever he needed.

13.       Man of words: leader is the man of words and it gives trust to his follower that he will do what he said.

14.       Innovative: leader is Innovator in nature and he Support new change and take vital steps to complete a project.

15.       Team Builder: Focuses activities toward increasing the effectiveness of the staff members.

16.       Know the Talent: He knows the skill of people with whom he is working and gives them responsibilities according to their skill.   

17.       Humble: Down to earth and respect his staff members. 

18.       Coach: Leader is like a good guide and trainer for his staff members.

19.       Community Building: As the role of the educational leader widens, so does the need for these leaders to build a network of relationships inside and outside the school. The community are consists of school, teachers, students, parents and other members of the community. It is the duty of a leader to bring them together.

20.       Sphere of Influence / area of concern: the leader knows about his shortcoming and speciality.

21.       Embrace error: leader accepts failure and don’t blame others.
 

http://research-education-edu.blogspot.com/search/label/Leadership%20and%20human%20relationship

Bibliography

1.6, a. f., respectively), 2., & between, (. t. (n.d.). ANALYTIC HIERARCHY ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN EDUCATION AS RATED BY SELECTED EDUCATION, COMMUNITY, AND BUSINESS MEMBERS IN. Google. Retrieved May 23, 2011, from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FLdQZ77hBMcJ:purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/WFE0000047+top+20+educational+leadership+skills&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com

Defense Mechanisms

By Sultan Muhammad Khan

Psychoanalytic theory was presented by Sigmund Freud, a great psychologist of 19th century. Psychoanalytic theory is the study of human mind and how it responds during the time of crisis or grief. Defense mechanisms are unconscious state of mind. Our minds find a way out for our emotions and satisfy us, take away us from unpleasant circumstances. It is the conflict between ego and super ego, one made a person emotional (sorrow, angry, unpleasant) and the other make it bearable and provide a way out from this unpleasant emotional condition. Defense mechanism is protection form undesired emotions and help during the time of grief and sorrow but some times it can take wrong turn and could be very dangerous. Defense mechanism some time can split the personality of a person which led to a more difficult stage where one needs the help of a qualified professional to help him and bring him on the right track. After Sigmund Freud Psychoanalytic theory, the psychologists paid attention to the state of mind and they start the study of mind. They find different types of defense mechanism in people, some are harmless and some are very harmful. Even in some cases some take dangerous shapes which not only dangerous for the person who had it but for other people too. Here are some types of Defense mechanisms.

• Undoing it is the state of mind where one tries to take back his previous behavior. This type of Defense mechanism is not very harmful. If they insulted some one they tries to get them back and compensate them by praising them extremely 

• Fantasy, also called day dreaming, is a defense mechanism where one starts imaging thing which is not happening to him in real life. If a person is not respected in real life he will start imaging him self in a life very he will be respected by all and the people will love him for his great personality or position. This type of defense mechanism is not harmful to others but is harmful to the people who have it because they left behind in real life.

• Compartmentalization it is a process where one divided him self in compartments mentally where one part follow good values and other have no values. Where some time he will follow the law and other time he will try to find loopholes and excuse for not abiding the law. It is an unconscious act by his part. It is like two minds in one body. 

• Compensation it is defense mechanism where one tries to compensate his weakness and stress on his strong area it is also called the process of psychologically counterbalancing
• Projection in this type of defense mechanism the person blame other for being hostile to him, the fact is other way around. He himself is hostile person and he projects his image on others. Some time he would unreasonable to his spouse but he will thank that his spouse is unreasonable to him
• Denial it is a defense mechanism where one refuses to accept the reality that he is in problem. It develops during childhood, where he denies that he is afraid of dark or he is not afraid of parents after doing something bad or accepts that he is in a painful situation. He looks other way and do not face the fact or reality unless it catch himt and he has no way to hide from it.
• Displacement it is the redirecting of feelings and anger to other person who had nothing to do with it. It is like in school when a bully angry or hit a weak boy and he could not respond to him, he take out his feeling on smaller boys or on pets. It is harmful defense mechanism for others. Innocent people are targeted due to it. In office boss is angry on staff and the person who is target of that anger redirect it to others, wife, children or neighbors.

• Reaction Formation. It is a defense mechanism where one can’t express his true emotions of unhappiness toward a job or task given to him by some one. He converts his feeling of unhappiness and unwillingness to opposite thoughts and shows his willingness and happiness for that task. He became very kind.

• Acting Out is a defense mechanism where a person can’t express his extreme behavior he just said I am angry at you. On the other hand another will use a more practical way to show his expression like punching some thing as a result it release pressure from him. This type of defense mechanism some time harmful for one self. He can hurt himself in the process.

• Regression is defense mechanism in which the person reversion to an earlier stage of development when he face of unacceptable thoughts or impulses. In some cases adolescent that is under pressure, fear and anger may start bed wetting again show signs of earlier childhood behaviors.

• Repression is defense mechanism where one unconsciously blocks unacceptable feelings and thoughts. The problem is that they are doing it unintentionally. It comes out with a different behavior which could harmful in some cases. 

• Disassociation is a defense mechanism, when a person loses track of him self and create another personality or another representation of their self in order to continue in the moment. He lose track of time. People with the history of childhood abuse suffer from this kind of disassociation. It is a very serious disorder which is very harmful for the person who has it. He sometime disconnects from the real world and lives in a different world which is not real.

• Rationalization it is a defense mechanism where one finds different explanations for his failure putting and sees things in different perception. If  boy dumped a girl who like her very much, she reframes the situation in her thoughts that he was a loser

• Sublimation is a defense mechanism where a person channels energy of unacceptable feeling to a more useful feeling. Redirecting unacceptable or harmful impulses into productive use.

• Assertiveness is defense mechanism where person stress on the needs and thoughts which is respectful. They express their self in a very respective manner and people listen to them when they spoke. They are very assertive and have a strong communication skill. in some cases it is a very helpful defense mechanism

Bibliography

Bondi, L. 2005: Making connections and thinking through emotions: between      geography and psychotherapy Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

Elliot, A. J. (1999). Approach and avoidance motivation and achievement goals. Educational Psychologist

Nast, H. 2000: Mapping the “unconscious”: racism and the oedipal family Annals of the Association of American Geographers

http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/15-common-defense-mechanisms/

By John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/155704/defense-mechanism

http://www.planetpsych.com/zPsychology_101/defense_mechanisms.htm

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (more than 10 million sold!)
Stephen R.Covey

Lubna Toheed Lubna Toheed

12 tips for development of teacher

by khan

A good Supervisor helps with the teachers in their professional problems and arrange professional development program for teacher. Supervisor gives priority to the needs of teacher for effective teaching. Different ways through which a supervisor could help a teacher in their professional growth and development:

· Teachers need continuous training and awareness about new ways of teaching

· Identification and Development of the skills of a teacher

· Enhance the experience of teacher through teacher training workshops, teacher tours and visits to other schools

· Teachers involvement in day to day activities

· In-service training opportunities for the teachers

· Orientation of new teacher to school and community and helping him in class room environment

· New refresher courses for teacher to gain new experiences for utilizing their skills effectively

· conversion course for the teacher to help him to move on from old course to a new course

· Arrange skill Development program to use computer in classroom and give demonstration and presentation.

· Internal skill development program by arranging audio and video training equipments

· Keep the teacher up to date with global educational changes

· Provide video conference facility to teachers to see the teacher of developed countries in real class room environment

http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/supervirsory-tips-for-professional-development-of-teachers-in-the-21st-century

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

by Amin Marwat

INTRODUCTION
The instruments that are employed to collect new facts or to explore new fields are called tools. It is of vital importance to select suitable instruments and tools. Different tools are used to collect different types of data. The use of a particular research tool depends upon the type of research proposal. The researcher may use one or more of the tools in combination for this purpose. Such tools or methods of data collection include tests, interviews, questionnaire, observation etc.
SIGNIFICANCE
The progress of any educational program very much depends upon well conduction research. It postulates sufficient, reliable and valid facts. Such facts are normally obtained through a systematic procedure which involves various devices. Each research tool is appropriate in a given situation to accomplish a specific purpose. These tools should be used together or in combination as they supplement the work of each other.
Jhon W. Best (1992, P.159) commented that like the tools in the carpenter box, each is appropriate in a given situation, to accomplish a particular purpose. Each data collecting device has both merits and limitations. However, for effective result each tool has its own significance. It must be used according to the required situation.

TYPES OF RESEARCH TOOLS
There are varieties of tools of research used in collecting data .These include:
Tests
Questionnaires
Opinionnaire or attitude scale
Quantitative interviews
Qualitative interviews
Focus groups
Observations
Quantitative observations
 
TESTS
As data gathering devices, tests are among the most useful tools of educational research, for they provide the data for most experimental and descriptive studies in education. The instruments have been designed to describe and measure sample of aspects of human behavior. These instruments assess variety of human abilities, potentials achievements and behavior tendencies. They possess different degrees of validity reliability and applicability.
TYPES OF TESTS
The following types of tests designed for different purposes are briefly described.


A. ACHIEVEMENT TEST
Achievement tests attempt to measure what an individual has learned his present level of performance. Most tests used in schools are achievement tests. They are particularly helpful in determining individual or group status in academic learning. Achievement test scores are used in placing, advancing or retaining students at particular grade revels.
B. APTITUDE TEST
Aptitude tests seek to assess the level of achievement that an individual can attain in some particular academic or vocational field. In other words, aptitude tests attempt to predict an individual capacity to require improved performance with additional training.
C. PERSONALITY TEST
It is concerned with the non-intellectual aspect of human behavior. Personality scales are usually self report instruments. The individual check responses to certain questions or statements. These instruments yield scores. Which are assumed or have been shown to measure certain personality traits or tendencies?
QUALITIES OF A GOOD TEST
The qualities of a good test are:
Validity; in general a test possesses validity to the extent that it measures what it claims to measure.
It is reliable A test is reliable to the extent that it measures accurately and consistently, from one time to another.
Objectivity: A test should yield a clear score value for each performance the score being independent of the personal judgment of the scorer.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Questionnaire is a self report data collection instrument that each research participant fills out as part of a research study. Researchers use questionnaire to obtain information about the thoughts, feelings, attitudes beliefs, values, perceptions, personality and behavioral intentions of research participants.
According to John W. Best (1992) a questionnaire is used when factual information is desired, when opinion rather than facts are desired, an opinionnaire or Attitude scale is used.
FORMS/KINDS OF QUESTIONNAIRE
The researcher can construct questions in the form of a closed, open pictorial and scale items.
1. Close form
Questionnaire that calls for short check responses as the, restricted or close form type. They provide for marking a Yes or No a short response or checking an item from a list of suggested responses.



Example
Whey did you choose your graduate work at this university? Kind indicate three reasons in order of importance, using number 1 for the most important, 2 for the 2nd most important, and 3 for the 3rd most important.
Convenience of transportation
Advice of a friend
Reputation of institution
Expense factor
Scholarship aid
Other
(Kindly specify)
Even when using the closed form, it is well to provide for unanticipated responses. Providing an “other” category permits the respondent to indicate what might be his most important reason, one that the questionnaire builder had not anticipated.
Advantages of the close form
It is easy to fill out.
It takes little time by respondents
It is relatively objective
Easy to tabulate and analyze
Answers are standardized.


Limitations of the close form
It fails to reveal the respondents’ motives and does not always get information of sufficient scope and in depth and may not discriminate between the finer shades of meaning.
The open form
The open form or unstructured type of questionnaire calls for a free response in respondents own words.
For example
Why did you intend to take admission in M.Phil programme in IER University of Peshawar?
In what respects IER programme needs improvement
Advantages of the open form questionnaire
Open end questions are flexible.
They can be used when all possible answer categories are not known.
They are preferable to complex issues that cannot be condensed.
They allow more opportunity for creativity, thinking and self expression.
Limitation
There is possibility of collection of worthless or irrelevant information.
Data collected through open end questionnaire are not often standardized from person to person.
Coding is difficult and subjective.
Pictorial form
Some questionnaires present respondents with drawings and photographs rather than written statement from which to choose answers. This form of questionnaire is particularly suitable tool for collecting data from children and adults who had not developed reading ability. Pictures often capture the attention of respondents more readily than printed words, lessen subjects’ resistance and stimulate the interest in questions.
“To get better answers, ask better questions”
IMPROVING QUESTIONNAIRE ITEMS
There are no certain ways of producing foolproof questions; certain principles can be employed to make items more precise. A few are suggested here.
Define or qualify terms that could easily be misinterpreted.
What is the value of your house?
The meaning of the term value is not clear. It could mean the assessed value for tax purposes, what it would sell for on the present market, what you would be willing to sell it for, what it would cost to replace, or what you paid for it. These values may differ considerably. It is essential to frame specific questions such as, “What is the present market value of your house?”
Be careful in using descriptive adjectives and adverbs that have no agreed upon meaning. This fault is frequently found in rating scales as well in questionnaires. Frequently, occasionally and rarely do not have the same meanings to different persons. One respondent occasionally may be another’s rarely. Perhaps a stated frequency times per week, times per month would make this classification more precise.
Beware of double negatives. Underline negatives for clarity.
Are you opposed to not requiring students to take showers after gym class?
Be careful of inadequate alternatives.
Married € Yes € No
Does this question refer to present or former marital status? How would the person answer who is widowed, separated or divorced?
Avoid the double barreled question
Do you believe that gifted students should be placed in separate groups for instructional purposes and assigned to special schools?
Underline a word if you wish to indicate special emphasis.
A parent should not be told this child’s IQ score.
When asking for rating or comparisons a point of reference is necessary.
How would you rate this student teachers classroom teaching?
Superior Average Below average
Avoid unwarranted assumptions.
Are you satisfied with the salary raise that you received last year? A “no” answer might mean that I did not get a raise, or that I did get a raise, but I am not satisfied.
Phrase questions so that they are appropriate for all respondents.
What is your monthly teaching salary?
Some teachers are paid on a nine month basis, some ten, some eleven and some twelve. Three questions would be needed.
Your salary per month
Number of months in school term
Number of salary payments per month
Design questions that will give a complete response.
Do you read the Indianapolis star? Yes No.
A yes or no answer would not reveal much information about the reading habits of the respondents.
Provide for the systemic quantification of responses.
What are your favorite television programs? Rank in order of preference your first, second, third, fourth, and fifth choices.
The items can they be tabulated by inverse weightings?
1st choice 5 points
2nd choice 4 points
3rd choice 3 points
4th choice 2 points
5th choice 1 point
Consider the possibility of classifying the responses yourself, rather than having the respondent choose categories.
If a student were asked to classify his father’s occupation in one of the following categories, the results might be quite unsatisfactory.
Unskilled labor
Skilled labor
Clerical work
Managerial work
Profession
It is likely that by asking the child one or two short questions about his father’s work, it could be classified more accurately.
At what place does your father work?
What kind of work does he do?
The opinionnaire or attitude scale: The information form that attempts to measure the attitude or belief of an individual is known as an opinionnaire or attitude scale.
How an individual feels or what he believes, is his attitude. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to describe and measure attitude. The researcher must depend upon what the individual says are his beliefs and feelings. This is the area of opinion. Through the use of questions or by getting an individual’s expressed reaction to statements a sample of his opinion is obtained. From this statement of opinion may be inferred or estimated his attitude what he really believes.
Two procedures have been used extensively in opinion research.
Thurstone techniques
The first method of attitude assessment is known as the Thurston technique of scaled values. A number of statements, usually 20 or more, that express various points of view towards a group, institution, idea or practice are gathered. They are then submitted to a panel of a number of judges, who each arranges them in 11 groups, ranging form one extreme to another in position. This sorting by each judge yields a composite position for each of the items. When there has been marked disagreement between the judges in assigning a position to an item, that item is discarded. For items that are retained, each is given its median scale value, between one and eleven as established by the panel.
The list of statements is then given to the subjects, who are asked to check the statements with which they are in agreement. The median value of the statements that they check establishes their score, or quantifies their opinion.
Likert Method
The second method, the likert method of Summated Ratings, which can be carried out without the panel judges has yielded scores very similar to those obtained by the Thurston method. The coefficient of correlation between the scales was reported as high as +.92 in one study. Since the likert type scale takes much less time to construct, it offers an interesting possibility for the student of opinion research.
Likert Scale
The likert scaling technique assigns a scale value to each of the five responses.
Scale Value
a. Strongly agree 5
b. Agree 4
c. Undecided 3
d. Disagree 2
e. Strongly disagree 1
For statements opposing this point of view, the items are scored in this opposite order.
Scale Value
a. Strongly agree 1
b. Agree 2
c. Undecided 3
d. Disagree 4
e. Strongly disagree 5
INTERVIEW
The interview is in a sense, an oral questionnaire. Instead of writing the response, the subject or interviewee gives the needed information verbally in a face to face relationship.
Interview that are done face to face are called in person interviews; interviews conducted over the telephone are called telephone interviews.
The four types of interviews are:
The closed quantitative interview
The standardized open ended interview
The interview guide approach
The informal conversational interview
These four types can be grouped into quantitative interviews (which include the closed quantitative interview) and qualitative interviews (which include the standardized open ended interview, the interview guide approach and the informal conversational interview)
Quantitative interviews
When carrying out quantitative interviews, one must carefully read the words as they are provided in the interview protocol. The interview protocol is the data collection instrument that includes the items, the response categories, the instructions and so forth. The interview protocol in a quantitative interview basically a script written by the researcher and read by the interviewer to the interviewees. The interview protocol is usually written on paper for in person interviews and shown on a computer screen for telephone interviews.
The goal of the quantitative interview is to standardize what is presented to the interviewees. Standardization has been achieved when what is said to all interviewees is the same or as similar as possible.
The key idea here is that here quantitative researchers want to expose each participants to the same stimulus so that the result will be comparable. Not surprisingly, quantitative interview result in mostly quantitative data that are later analyzed using quantitative statistical procedure. The reason we say mostly because quantitative interview protocols often included a few open ended items. If an open ended question is asked in a quantitative interview however it is asked in exactly the same way for each participant in the study.


Qualitative interviews
Qualitative interviews consist of open -ended questions and provide qualitative data. Qualitative interviews are also called depth interviews because they can be used to obtain in depth information about a participant’s thoughts, beliefs, knowledge, reasoning, motivations and feelings about a topic. Qualitative interviewing allows a researcher to enter into the inner world of another person and to gain an understanding of that person’s perspective.
The three types of qualitative interview:
The informal conversational interview:
This is the most spontaneous and loosely structured of the three types of qualitative interviews. The interviewer discusses the topics of interest and follows all leads that emerge during the discussion. Because there is no interview protocol in the informal conversational interview, it is a good idea to tape record the interview so that no important information will be lost.
The interview guide approach.
In the next approach to qualitative interviewing, the interview guide approach, the interviewer enters the interview session with a plan to explore specific topics and to ask specific open ended questions of the interview. These topics and questions are provided on an interview protocol written by the researcher before the interview session. The interviewer, however, does not have to follow these topics and questions during the interview in any particular order. The interviewer can also change the wording of any questions listed in the interview protocol
The standardized open-ended interview:
In the third approach to qualitative interviewing, the standardized open ended interview, the interview enters the interview session with a standardized interview protocol similar to the interview protocol used in quantitative interviewing. The key difference is that the interview protocol in the quantitative interview includes primarily closed ended items but the interview protocol in the standardized open ended interview includes primarily open ended items. In the standardized open ended interview, the questions are all written out, and the interviewer reds the questions exactly as written and in the same order to all interviewees. Some techniques for establishing trust and rapport are to explain who the sponsoring organization is to explain why you are conducting the research and to point out to the participant that this or her responses are either anonymous (no name or identification will be attached to the respondents data) or confidential the respondents name or identification will be attached to the respondents data, but the researcher will never divulge the respondents name to any one. A list of tips that you should find helpful if you ever need to conduct an interview.
Tips for conducting an effective interview
Make sure all interviewers are well trained.
Do background homework on the interviewees so that you will know a little about the people you will be interviewing.
Establish rapport and trust with your interviewee.
Be empathetic and remain neutral toward the content of what the interviewee says.
Use gentle nonverbal head nods and verbal “Um-hms” to show your interest in what the interviewee says.
Be reflexive (i.e. monitor yourself).
Make sure the interviewee is doing most of the talking not you.
Be sensitive to gender, age and cultural differences between you and the interviewee.
Make sure the interviewee understands exactly what you are asking.
Provide sufficient time for the interviewee to answer each question.
Maintain control of the interview and keep the interview focused.
Typically you should tape record the interview session.
After an interview is completed, check your notes and recording for quality and completeness.

FOCUS GROUPS
A focus group is a type of group interview in which a moderator (working for the researcher) leads a discussion with a small group of individuals (e.g., students, teachers, teenagers) to examine, in detail, how the group members think and feel about a topic. It is called a ‘focus” group because the moderator keeps the individuals in the group focused on the topic being discussed. The moderator generates group discussion through the use of open ended questions, and he or she acts as a facilitator of group process. Focus groups are used to collect qualitative data that are in the words of the group participants. A focus group is composed of 6 to 12 participants who are purposively selected because they can provide the kind of information of interest to the researcher. A focus group is usually homogeneous, (composed of similar kinds of people) because the use of a homogeneous group promotes discussion.
The group moderator (The person leading the focus group discussion) must have good interpersonal skills and he or she must know how to facilitate group discussion. He or she needs to get everyone involved in discussing the researcher’s questions and not allow one or two people to dominate the discussion.
OBSERVATION
The next method of data collection involves something that we do most of our waking hours: observe things. Researchers are also observers of things in the world. In research, observation is defined as the watching of behavioral patterns of people in certain situations to obtain information about the phenomenon of interest. Observation is an important way of collecting information about people because people do not always do what they say they do. It is a maxim in the social and behavioral sciences that attitudes and behavior are not always congruent.
Observational data are collected in two different types of environments.
Laboratory observation is carried out in settings that are set up by the researcher and inside the confines of a research lab. An example would be a researcher observing the behaviour of children through a one way window in the researcher’s laboratory.
Naturalistic observation is carried out in the real world. Observing the behaviour of children in their classrooms is example of natural lactic observation. We now contrast how quantitative and qualitative researchers collect observational data.
Quantitative observation
Quantitative (or structured) observation involves the standardization of all observational procedures in order to obtain reliable research data. It often involves the standardization of each of the following. Who is observed (what kinds of people are to be studied, such as teachers or students), what is observed (what variables are to be observed by the researcher, such as time on tasks or out of seat behavior), when the observation are to take place (during the morning hour, during break time), where the observation are to be carried out (in the laboratory in the classroom, in the lunchroom, in the library, on the playground) and how the observations are to be done. Quantitative observation usually results in quantitative data, such a counts or frequencies and percentages.
Quantitative observation might also involve observational sampling techniques. One technique is called time interval sampling, which involves checking for events during time interval specified in advance of the actual data collection. An example of time interval sampling is a researcher observing student behavior for the first then minutes of every hour.
Another technique is called event sampling, which involves making observations only after a specific event has occurred. An example of event sampling is observing the behavior of students in a classroom after a teacher sends a student to the principal’s office.
Researchers conducting quantitative observation usually use checklists or other types of data collection instruments, such as a laptop computer to record the research data or a video-tape recorder for later coding.
Qualitative observation
Qualitative observation involves observing all relevant phenomena and taking extensive field notes without specifying in advance exactly what is to be observed. In other words, qualitative observation is usually done for exploratory purposes. It is also usually done in natural settings. In fact, the terms qualitative observation and naturalistic observation are frequently treated as synonyms in the research literature. Not surprisingly, qualitative observation is usually carried out by qualitative researchers.
The four main roles that a researcher can take during qualitative observation.
The complete participant takes on the role of an insider, essentially becoming a member of the group being studied and spending a great deal of time with the group and does not tell members they are being studied.
Participant- as -observer
Researcher spends extended time with the group as an insider and tells members they are being studied.
Observer as participant
Researcher spends limited amount of time observing group members and tells members they are being studied.
Complete observer
Researcher observes as an outsider and does not tell the people they are being observed.
SUMMARY
The instruments that provide for the collection of data upon which hypotheses may be tested are tools of research. From the great variety of these tools the research chooses those that are most appropriate to the sources of data that are most relevant and useful. The quantification of these data makes possible more precise analysis and interpretation.

Biblography
Akhtar, S.M.(1987) Educational Research, Rawalpindi, Sigma Press(p.93)
Best,J.W.(1970).Research in education(2nded) Printice . Hall,INC.,Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey(p,163)

Ghaffar, S.A.(2005), Research in Education and Social Sciences. The printman ,Peshawar(p.133)

Jonson, B. & Christensen (2008).(3rd ed) Quantitative, Qualitative and mixed Research Approach Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. (p.203)