LEADERSHIP IN STUDENTS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF ACCEPTING

LEADER'S ROLE IN CONDUCTING RESEARCH

A Research Paper
Presented to the
Faculty of the Senior High School Department
Agusan National High School
Butuan City

Lebrone James C. Alingasa

Arl Zeus Eithan L. Pasigna
Anton Lawrence P. Sabang
Christine Sai M. Balaba
Lyza P. Balili
Charmie T. Rafols
Kenneth Dave M. Bughao
Jacob Hermon C. Pescasio

MAY 2022
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Leadership is one of the essential skills needed in life. As said by Napoleon Bonaparte,

“Every French soldier carries a marshal’s baton in his knapsack”. Meaning, any person has the

potential on becoming a leader when placed under the right situation. Leadership is the ability to

influence others to achieve goals (R. Hughes, et al., 1996). Leadership starts with the act of

accepting responsibility. If a person cannot is afraid of taking responsibility, he or she cannot

become a leader. The crisis of leadership today is the mediocrity or irresponsibility of so many

men and women in power (J. Burns, 2012).

Most students in school develop the tendency to pass on the leadership role to someone

they think is competent, has the skills to handle most of the work, or had the experience. One of

the reasons for this is because of the assumption that the person they chose was a natural leader.

However, according to Loeb & Kindel (1999), leaders are made by circumstances, not by birth or

genetics.

There are several studies focusing on what is leadership and what are its required

qualities. However, there is little to no studies that focuses on the how students take on the

leadership role in relating to their education. Moreover, the researchers would like to find out

what students think of the leadership and how they assume a person to be suitable in taking such

role. Thus, the researchers seek to find the answers to the following questions:

1. What are the reasons why leaders accept their role in conducting research?

2. What are the qualities a person must have to be considered a good leader?

3. How do students think about the responsibilities of a leader?

 The researchers confine the study in conducting an interview with a minimum of ten (10)

participants. These participants are all among Grade 11 STEM Students of Agusan National

Senior High School S.Y 2021-2022.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the leaders’ reasons for

accepting his/her role of leadership and to find out what their members think of the necessary

qualities a leader must possess. This study will not only find out the necessary qualities a leader

must possess, but to also serve as a guide for future leaders in knowing what they must need to

know in being a leader.

CHAPTER II
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter discusses the literature and discoveries of other related researchers to whom

this study is related or has any relevance or similarity. This gave the author sufficient

background to understand the study.

Leadership

Mary Pratt (2017) defined leadership as the ability of an individual or a group of

individuals to influence and guide followers or other members of an organization. Research on

leadership has become a prominent scholarly and professional pursuit in an ever-changing,

highly complex, and multi-dimensional globalized world. In spite of an over-abundance of

scientific and anecdotal work, a myriad of leadership-related questions have remained

unanswered (Gandolfi et al., 2018).

Leadership is one of the key determinants associated with the success and failure of any

organization. Leadership style is the manner in which people are directed and motivated by a

leader to achieve organizational goals (Khajeh, 2018). Leadership captures the essentials of

being able and prepared to inspire others. Effective leadership is based upon ideas—both original

and borrowed—that are effectively communicated to others in a way that engages them enough

to act as the leader wants them to act. A leader inspires others to act while simultaneously

directing the way that they act. They must be personable enough for others to follow their orders,

and they must have the critical thinking skills to know the best way to use the resources at an

organization's disposal (Ward, 2020).

Leadership in Students

Harriet Nannyonjo (2017) stated that leadership is a critical aspect of all social endeavors.

In schools, talented leadership is essential to student achievement. School leadership impacts all

facets of education: teacher motivation, shaping the conditions and the environment in which

teaching and learning occurs, and interaction with the broader community. In many school

systems, effective school leadership is far from the norm. It is often simply assumed that school

leaders, irrespective of capacity, will discharge responsibilities and initiatives assigned to them.

Moreover, programs to prepare and or support school leaders are either lacking or ineffective.

Developing leadership in students is part of the remit of higher education institutions. In recent

decades, student leadership development programs have proliferated at universities worldwide.

However, the contested understanding of the term ‘leadership’ has resulted in lack of clarity

regarding how this may be ‘developed’ in higher education (Skalicky et al., 2018).

There have been few studies in the past on how student leadership experience influences

academic performance and none that offer a detailed study of the short- and long-run effects of

such experience (Deng et al., 2020). Student leadership is when students are given the

opportunity to take significant responsibility for their learning and experiences. When students

understand that they have the most to gain from their learning, they begin to realize the vested

interest they have in their education and how important it is for them to put forth their best

efforts. Student leadership supports educators in achieving one of their primary goals to equip

students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in college, their careers, and

anywhere life takes them (Gordana, 2020).

Characteristics of a Leader

Some think that leaders are predestined people, who possess special qualities of personal

charisma, intelligence, wisdom, and political skills that make them superior to other people and,

consequently, allow them to have power and influence over those people. Others think that a

person becomes a leader not by innate personal characteristics but by the development of

qualities that allow him or her to become a leader (Silva, 2021).

Essentially, leaders should be skillful at innovativeness at work to achieve goals (Tran et.

al., 2020). Studies also show that it is easier to become a leader if the person is outgoing,

pleasant, organized, emotionally stable, and open to new experiences and if, in addition, comes

from a well-established family and had opportunities in childhood and/or in the youth of

acquiring some leadership experience (Epitropaki, 2019).

High-quality leadership is essential for the numerous groups that shape the way we live,

work, and play. The leader is the one who is most optimistic. The leader boosts the expression of

confidence when the team feels down. The leader is the one most enthusiastic when the team is

performing poorly. He encourages his teammates strongly and exerts the most effort on the field

(Fransen, 2017).

A leader is hopeful, confident, optimistic, transparent, resilient, ethical, and future

oriented. A good leader is genuine, has self-awareness, and is supportive. He has people skills

and decision-making skills, self-discipline, and a good attitude (Olanrewaju and Okorie, 2019).
Struggles of a Leader

Every leader will face struggles, but some struggles are common enough that a person

can learn from the bad experiences of others and avoid the trouble and risk of taking them to

themselves. Leading without character will practically guarantee struggle. Character in

leadership means consistently doing the right thing and the best thing. Leaders lose respect when

they have to rely on demands and control—and losing respect is fatal to leadership. Leaders may

try to demand respect and control outcomes. But respect is earned, not demanded, and outcomes

are outside your control (Daskal, 2017).

A leader should provide inspiration. As a leader, your team is looking to you to provide

inspiration and motivation to complete their work. This can feel tough in a challenging work

environment or if you’re not feeling motivated yourself. There will be times when you have to

make hard decisions. It might mean making an unpopular choice or taking an action that upsets

someone but is best for the business overall. In those moments, you can feel alone and

unprepared for the task ahead. It is also hard for a leader to stay calm especially when he is under

a lot of pressure in doing the role or he is having to lead through a crisis (Wooll, 2021).
 CHAPTER III

DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

This chapter includes the overall approach and objective of the research. It also

discusses the participants, the study's site, the researchers' responsibilities, and the collection of

data and analysis. Further, this chapter shows the procedure the researchers employed to

establish trustworthiness and credibility.

Overall Approach & Rational

The methodology used by the researchers in this study is a qualitative approach and

interviews in collecting data. According to Halkias and Neubert (2020), Qualitative research

plays an essential role in the investigation of leadership and management problems, given that

they remain complex social enigmas even after tons of ink has been spilled on behalf of these

phenomena for longer than anyone cares to remember. Qualitative methods support investigators

in finding interpretive contexts in which leadership is defined through daily lived experiences.

The interview is one of the data collection techniques for qualitative researchers. Distinct from

other methods, discussions have unique features that make them superior. As such, the current

study explores relevant issues that are linked to interviews, especially aspects that make them

central to qualitative data collection (Adhabi and Anozie, 2017).

Moreover, the research design employed in this study is the descriptive

phenomenological approach. Researchers wishing to conduct descriptive phenomenological

studies may struggle to find answers to the complex questions that arise (Leigh-Osroosh, 2021).

This research is designed to answer questions about leadership in students as well as the factors
influencing their perceptions and view. The purpose of this is for researchers to learn and

understand why leaders accept their role, the qualifications required to become a good leader,

and students' thoughts regarding the responsibilities of leaders.

Site, Population, Selection and Sampling Strategies

The participant of this study is composed of Grade 11 STEM Students of Agusan

National High School- Senior High School Department in the school year 2021-2022. The

researchers applied purposive sampling in gathering participants for the study. Purposive

sampling is used in cases where the specialty of authority can select a more representative

sample that can bring more accurate results than other probability sampling techniques (Rana

and Saha, 2018). As the chosen models will be good respondents for that particular study, we

will almost get the real-time results, as members will have appropriate knowledge and

understand the subject well (Bhardwaj, 2019). A minimum of ten (10) Grade 11 STEM Students

from Agusan National High School were nearby and available for the interview and were chosen

as interviewees simply for the study.

Access, Role, Reciprocity, Trust and Rapport

The researchers gathered at Agusan National High School- Senior High School

Department in and out of the campus with access from the Principal's office to find close and

unoccupied participants for the study. The researchers' role was to seek and collect data from the

participants' responses to fulfill the study's objective. The interviewers introduced themselves

first, followed by the research topic before questioning. Participants have been made aware of

the nature of the research and prepared to provide data to help understand the inquiry. They have

greatly appreciated their time and efforts in contributing to the researchers' study. It is necessary
to consider how the participants benefitted from the research. Strategies such as rewards were

created for interchange with the participants. The interviewee and interviewer engaged with trust

and support built on mutual respect at the time of the interview.

Ethical and Political Consideration

All the data and information received from participants will be kept confidential and never

released publicly. The interview with Grade 11 STEM Students from the ANHS-SHS

Department participants was recorded to ensure that all responses were accurate and veracious.

From the start of each interview, the participant's consent to be recorded was confirmed to ensure

that they were aware of being taped. Furthermore, the study will not mention personal political

views and opinions. The researcher must keep the respondents' identities and responses

confidential (Christian, 2000).

Data Collection Method

Data were collected using the interview technique, including details of the study, additional

guidelines, and three major research questions. This qualitative technique for gathering data is

used when the interviewer wants specific information but wants to "find out what others think

and know" without imposing their worldview on the interviewee (Rubin & Rubin, 1995, p.5).

Documents were collected and evaluated as additional resources for the study. The researchers

devised queries that did not need the use of abusive and derogatory language. In addition, we

have prepared the materials to carry out the interview and the required papers to write down the

interviewee's answers. The interviews were conducted at the convenience of the participants,

such as in their dorm room, office, or the campus library. The discussions were all recorded and
transcribed, and checked for accuracy by the researcher and the interviewees. There was also

plenty of room for spontaneous questions and comments from participants and researchers.

Data Analysis

Data analysis is a critical component of qualitative research. After the researchers conducted

interviews with participants, they made a copy of their field notes to be used through the analysis

process. Transcripts made of recorded interviews were checked for accuracy against the original

recordings. The researchers made sure to adequately record the interview and take notes right

away, as well as maintain a sufficient level of confidentiality. The responses were obtained after

the consultation and translated from colloquial to English. The researchers examined the

interviews for similarities and differences. The researchers created categories of the findings

through a lengthy process of reading and re-reading the transcripts and categorizing the collected

responses. The researchers cross-checked the critical results from the literature review. The

findings and conclusions were reached and presented without bias.

Procedure to Address Trustworthiness & Credibility

Trustworthiness, according to Pilot & Beck (2014), refers to the degree of confidence in data,

interpretation, and methods used to ensure the quality of a study. The credibility of the study, or

the trust in the truth of the research and, therefore, the findings, is the most crucial criterion (Polit

& Beck, 2014). In this study, the researchers provided enough background information on the

research context to meet its credibility criterion. Authentic images of the phenomenon have been

shown for reliability purposes. Consent was requested from participants before the interview.

Participants were told their privacy and comfort would be a priority for the researcher. Their
anonymity also remains non-disclosure to protect the interests of participants better. No

fabrication was made during the whole procedure of the study.

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