SURVEY LIMITATIONS

The survey design includes some underlying assumptions that bring with them inherent limitations. First, the ASERT upon which the survey questions were based is designed as an enabling framework for distributed leadership. It is built on an underlying assumption that distributed leadership is a suitable leadership approach for higher education and does not set out to question this. Second, the survey questions are based on the perceptions of the participants rather than any independent quantifiable measurement. In summary the survey was not designed to identify the benchmarks for distributed leadership to be used in developing the framework and tools, rather it was designed partly to assess whether these dimensions and criteria are present in the learning and teaching initiatives selected and partly to refine our understanding of these dimensions. While acknowledging these limitations, the major findings are reported, interpreted and discussed, as a process of criterion validation.

SURVEY POPULATION

The survey was carried out between May-August 2012, resulting in 175 responses of which 110 completed the entire survey. Forty-seven Australian higher education institutions were represented, although eleven of these institutions recorded only one response. It is estimated that sixty of the 175 respondents were from leaders of ALTC/OLT funded projects that had adopted a distributed leadership approach to achieve build leadership in learning and teaching.