Investigating the Development of Adolescent Leadership Potential

Résumé du livre

My doctoral research project explored the development of adolescent leadership potential within a secondary Catholic school in Perth, Western Australia. Previous research efforts that looked at adolescent leadership did so by examining the perspectives of adults and children using a "snapshot" approach, but the longitudinal design of this project was chosen intentionally to investigate how leadership developed over time. Located within the interpretive paradigm, a 3-year longitudinal case study framed the data collection process. Data were collected from the staff and students most closely involved in a school-based student leadership development program through the exercise of four qualitative research methods. The methods included conducting semi-structured interviews, performing an extensive document search (of published literature and written communication at the school), taking researcher field notes (both in and out of interviews), and regularly maintaining a reflective field journal. These methods helped the researcher inductively conceptualize how one school-based program contributed to the development of adolescent leadership potential of participating students.