Sample
This study was based on the utilization of a sample of purpose. A list of all graduates
(n ¼ 45) in the Master of Education program (educational administration) since its
inception in 1995 was obtained from the registrar’s office of a leading Palestinian
university in the West Bank. The 45 graduates represented the first three graduating
cohorts of the program. Contact information by telephone or email was secured for 40
graduates to whom the data collection instrument (questionnaire) was sent. A total of
23 questionnaires were returned and served as the basis of analyses in this study. The
data collection process was conducted under the most difficult of conditions. The
region of the West Bank and Gaza Strip was in the midst of an Intifada where
communication and movement between cities was virtually impossible because of the military blockades, closures, and restrictions imposed by the Israelis. Although the
sample represented slightly more than one half of the targeted population, the returned
questionnaires were not limited to one cohort, but were distributed amongst the three
graduating cohorts.