Leadership Development of Elders in the Presbyterian Church (USA)

Proposed Title of the Study

Leadership Development of Elders in the Presbyterian Church (USA)

Statement of the Problem

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has no church-wide method of training its (non-paid) leaders, including elders. As a result, individual churches develop their own leadership development programs, with varying degrees of success.

Research Questions

Primary Research Question: To what extent does the Presbyterian Church (USA) provide leadership development training for its elders, who are non-paid leaders of the church’s volunteers?

Additional Objectives or Questions: What leadership development content and methods would be beneficial for elders (and other non-paid leaders of volunteers) within the PC(USA)?

Importance or Significance of the Study

In today’s time-strapped culture, recruiting and maintaining a robust and motivated cadre of volunteers is critical to the work of non-profit organizations, including those who volunteer to be leaders in faith-based organizations. When leaders are not well-versed in the unique challenges in leading volunteers, volunteers may stop volunteering. Though some studies have been conducted regarding volunteer retention, little information appears regarding leadership development programs for those who lead the volunteers, especially within faith-based organizations.

Topics in the Literature Review

A variety of topics will be studied, including evaluation of leadership development programs, leaders of volunteers, leaders in non-profit associations, leaders in faith-based organizations, and retention of volunteers.

Methodology

To investigate this topic, a mixed methodology will be employed with a sequential explanatory strategy. As stated by Creswell, the qualitative results will “assist in explaining and interpreting the findings” of this primarily quantitative study (Creswell, 2003, p. 215).

Data Collection

An electronic survey will be conducted within two or more presbyteries in the southeastern United States. Existing leadership development materials will be studied. Additionally, in-depth interviews will be conducted, either face-to-face or over the telephone, with a small sample of elders from the relevant prebyteries.

Data Analysis

To analyze the quantitative and qualitative data this mixed methods study, Onwuegbuzie and Teddlie (2002) described a seven-stage process; the authors note that “although these seven stages are somewhat sequential, they are not linear” (as cited in Onweugbuzie, 2002, p. 527). The stages are data reduction, display, transformation, correlation, consolidation, comparison, and integration. Table 1 describes each stage and offers an example of several of the earlier stages.

 

Table 1

Data analysis in mixed methods research

Stage	Definition
Data reduction	Reducing the dimensionality of the quantitative data and qualitative data. Examples: For quantitative data: via descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis; for qualitative data: via exploratory thematic analysis, memoing.
Data display	Describing pictorially the quantitative data and qualitative data. Examples: for quantitative data: tables and graphs; for qualitative data: matrices, charts, graphs, networks, lists, rubrics and Venn diagrams
Data transformation	Qualitative data are converted into numerical codes that can be represented statistically (i.e., quantitized; Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998 ) and/or numerical data are converted into narrative data that can be analyzed qualitatively (i.e., qualitized; Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998 ).
Data correlation	Quantitative data are correlated with the qualitized data.
Data consolidation	Both quantitative and qualitative data are combined to create new or consolidated variables or data sets
Data comparison	Comparing data from the quantitative and qualitative data sources
Data integration	Quantitative and qualitative data are integrated into a coherent whole, or two separate sets (i.e., quantitative and qualitative) of coherent wholes

Note: Adapted from “Why can’t we all get along? Towards a framework for unifying research paradigms,” by A.J. Onwuegbuzie, 2002, Education, 122 (3), p. 518. Copyright 2002 by A.J. Onwuegbuzie.

 References

Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2002). Why can’t we all get along? Towards a framework for unifying research paradigms. Education, 122(3), 518.

Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Leech, N. L. (2004). Enhancing the interpretation of “significant” findings: The role of mixed methods research. The Qualitative Report 33(7), 770-792.