Limitations and Delimitations
The limitations of this study include the small number of teacher participants and
their geographic homogeneity. The sample was limited to seven teachers in a single
school in upstate South Carolina. The results may not apply to all schools in the United
States or even all schools in South Carolina. Another limitation is that data collection
took place over a single, limited period of time. Had the data collection occurred at a
different time or over a longer span of time, there is no guarantee that the responses
would have been the same. Despite the small sample size, I hope that the depth of the
interviews will provide a clear and nuanced understanding of the effect of leadership
styles on teacher morale that can have universal appeal. Other limitations include my
lack of experience conducting scholarly research and evaluating data. Finally, there was
also a potential that other factors outside my control—including the time of the
interviews, energy level of the participants, and any school conflicts—could have
influenced the responses.
Participants for this study were middle school teachers employed in a small rural
school district located in upstate South Carolina. This study examined specific behaviors
and actions of an effective middle school principal. Characteristics of leadership style
were measured through the use of adapted questions from both the LPI (Kouzes &
Posner, 2003) and the PTO (Bentley & Rempel, 1972) along with responses gathered
through semi-structured interview questions. Findings were not generalized to the
population involved in this study.