Page 15 - Journal 89-3 Full

case study (Marshall et al., 2013) and created a manageable amount of data to be
analyzed while providing enough data to determine themes and lead to findings
(Young & Casey, 2019).

Methodology
This research was designed as a qualitative case study, which allowed me to
interview a small number of participants and gain rich information about their
experiences as both novice and mentor teachers. Through gathering short-answer
and in-depth responses to online interview questions and follow-up in-person
interviews, I was able to address the stated problem and the three research questions.
Results of the online survey were gathered electronically. Follow-up one-to-
one interviews were recorded using the Zoom audio recording feature for remote
interviews and iPhone voice recording for in-person interviews. I transcribed these
recordings verbatim and analyzed the data manually using content analysis. The first
step in the analysis process consisted of open coding with the purpose of coding the
data without preconceived themes or responses in mind. When this was complete,
axial coding was used to consolidate the data and begin to find commonalities
leading to themes.

Limitations and Delimitations
I identified several limitations to this study. Due to the rural nature of the
school district, a small number of participants was available. The limited number
of participants and qualitative nature of the study limited my ability to generalize
the results. Additionally, some participants may not have been fully open in their
responses if they were currently enrolled as mentees in the induction program or were
currently serving as mentors in the program. Another limitation was that although
participation in the study was voluntary, participation in the induction program is a
district requirement.
I took several steps to mitigate these limitations. The information from the online
survey and follow-up in-person interviews was reported confidentially, without
identifiers, to increase the probability of responses being both complete and honest.
All participants had the opportunity to review their online survey responses and view
the transcript of their in-person follow-up interview for accuracy. Although the results
of the study are not directly generalizable, the results do, nonetheless, contribute
to the current body of knowledge addressing the importance and understanding of
the relationship between mentor teacher and novice teacher and the effect of this
relationship on perceived job satisfaction.
I developed several delimitations in designing and implementing this study. The
study took place during part of one semester of one school year. Mentees who were
participating in their first year in the induction program would not yet have completed
a full year with their mentor. I addressed this delimitation by recruiting participants
who had completed the 2-year induction program as well as those currently
participating in the program. I opted to include some first-year teachers in the study
to gain the perspective of truly novice teachers. The study was also delimited in that
it addressed only the experiences of participants in relation to the induction program
and how the mentor-mentee relationship may have impacted perceived teacher job
satisfaction. The study did not address the wider issues of teacher retention and
attrition other than in relation to the mentor-mentee relationship.

Educators’ Choice 13