Purpose and Objectives
The purposes of the study were to determine the typical leadership behaviors or practices of rural leaders and the language they used to describe these behaviors or practices. Prompted by questions from the interviewers, the target population identified themes about leadership. The researchers theorized that if common leadership themes could be identified,an instrument measuring the effectiveness of leadership development programs could be developed. The information gathered from the focus groups and interviews and the implications of that information upon the potential development of an assessment tool are discussed below.