Thinking through an Administrative Problem: Processing Differences between Expert, Average, and True Novice Responses.

The fundamental question in creating coding categories for an open-ended questionnaire is how to transform a complete transcript into manageable pieces of data. This paper describes the methodology involved in coding qualitative data derived from an evaluation of the Cognitive Approaches to School Leadership (CASL) program. The first task was to develop a suitable methodology for coding think-aloud data so as to analyze the ways in which respondents processed the problem case. The second major task was to apply the coding system and explore ways in which analysis might be conducted. The final model contained 4 functions and 10 operations, giving a 40-cell matrix. The data indicate that nonprincipals approach the problem on an entirely case-specific basis, and that principals are more likely to operate from a schema that allows them to define the problem faster and more comprehensively. The results provide an indication of a typical problem-processing pattern and its components. The four dominant behaviors used by principals in solving problems included conclusion/reasoning, problem/reasoning, detection/action, and attack/action. Five figures and eight tables are included. (Contains 14 references.) (LMI)