**3. Methods**

The authors chose to implement a qualitative inquiry design for this study because it best fit the purposes of the research questions and the nature of the study [25]. This study is situational in its contextual emphasis on the public school environment of one sizable district in Abu Dhabi; personalistic in relying on the examination of participating principal supervisors' unique perspectives; and interpretive in its core essence. The qualitative methods employed by the researchers benefited them throughout the research process in similar ways to those outlined by Merriam and Tisdell: "in understanding how people interpret their experiences, how they construct their worlds, and what meaning they attribute to their experiences" ([26] p. 6). In the context of the present research, qualitative research methods helped them grasp principal supervisors' interpretations of their supervision and the meaning they gleaned from it.

Another characteristic of qualitative inquiry that contributed to the purposes of this study was its usefulness as an investigatory tool [27]. Through the use of qualitative inquiry, it was possible to continuously look into concepts and themes in order to discover the best explanations for the phenomena [28]. Qualitative research is allegedly superior to other forms of research in its ability to procure rich information about the phenomenon under study as well as recognize, investigate, and characterize its parameters [29]. A case study was chosen as a research method for this study. The case study is regarded by many, including Yin, as "one of the most challenging of all social science endeavors" ([30] p. 3). However, this technique fits with the goals and purposes of this study. Yin laid out the following definition for the case study: "an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon (the case) in depth and within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context may not be clearly evident" ([30] p. 16).

In order to understand the duties of principal supervisors, the difficulties they encounter, and the ideal circumstances they require to improve their long-term leadership performance, the researchers conducted interviews as a primary means of gathering data. Three male and three female principal supervisors (six total) agreed to participate in semi-structured, in-person interviews. An overview of the characteristics of the principal supervisors is provided in **Table 1**, including gender, years of experience, assigned school level, and the number of principals assigned to them. Principal supervisors in the Al-Ain district had between 2 and 7 years of experience managing principals. Additionally, the principal supervisors oversaw a cluster of schools within their assigned level and were tasked with managing and evaluating a number of principals.

### **3.1 Interviewing participants**

According to Seidman, interviews are conducted to comprehend the experiences of others, not to test theories [31]. Kvale underlined the goal of qualitative interviewing as a tool to explain central themes in each participant's universe [32]. However, in the process of gathering data through interviews, it is critical that the interviewer has a genuine interest in those whom they interview. That genuine interest should not be a simple statement at the beginning of an interview, but rather an interwoven part of the full interview process. In order to accomplish this, the interviewer must remove themselves from the spotlight and focus exclusively on the interviewee [31].

*The Roles, Challenges, and Needs of Principal Supervisors: A Case Study DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108834*


#### **Table 1.**

*Overview of principal supervisors (all names are pseudonyms).*

The researchers of this study conducted face-to-face interviews with each of the principal supervisors who participated. Each interview was approximately 2 hours in length, and the primary objective was to glean information about principal supervisors' perspectives on their experiences while serving as supervisors to school principals. As Kvale recommended, the researchers of the present study came to the interviews prepared with a thorough familiarity with the literature on the topic [32]. Delving into the research about a phenomenon greatly reduces uncertainty before an interview and helps interviewers refine their question sets to include those that are most impactful.

All of the interviews in this study were semi-structured to maintain an easy flow of conversation with some leeway to adjust the course of the interview while remaining focused on the topic at hand. Semi-structured interviews give the interviewer freedom to propose additional questions that might supplement or supplant those that have already been decided upon, which provides a chance to examine a specific case more thoroughly [33]. Following the semi-structured format allowed the principal supervisors who were interviewed to be more creative in their responses and feel at liberty to elaborate on closely related topics that might prove beneficial to the comprehensiveness of the data. Furthermore, this structure allowed each principal supervisor to tell their story in their own words and describe their experiences thoroughly. The researchers planned the timing and location of each interview to accommodate the schedules of each principal supervisor. The researchers briefly introduced themselves and explained the interview's purpose and objectives before the interview began. They used an IC recorder to electronically record each interview, which they later transcribed verbatim. They instructed the interviewees to choose the language they felt most at ease using to articulate their ideas and insights.

The researchers used a thematic analysis to find, examine, and describe the themes within the datasets collected from the interview transcripts [34]. Thematic analysis is used to organize qualitative data, untangle the twisted webs of data, and produce emerging themes to appropriately interpret them [35]. The thematic analysis made it possible for the authors to fully achieve the study's purpose and respond to the research questions. Before beginning the data analysis procedure, however, the researchers familiarized themselves with the information by reading each transcript numerous times to fully grasp them. Then, from the transcripts of each interview, they created numerous codes that highlighted the patterns and discrepancies between the stories and experiences. The codes were then meticulously organized into

appropriate categories with verbal examples from participants and quotes from the interviews for verification and corroboration.
