Değerlendirilmesi Methodological and Contextual Investigation of Metaphor Analysis Studies in the Field of Educational Administration

This study aims to reveal the general situation of metaphor analysis articles published in scientific journals in the field of educational administration in Turkey between 2007-2016 years. The study was designed through qualitative survey method. The sample of the research consists of 38 articles. Document analysis was used as the data collection tool. It was found that most of the articles were written in 2014 and by two authors, the most common method was qualitative research, the pre-service teachers were frequently chosen as participants and the most frequently used analysis technique was content analysis. It is among the study findings that the concepts expressed through metaphors were populously themed for their function and characteristics in the articles. Anahtar Kelimeler eğitim eğitim yönetimi metafor analizi metaforik algı


Introduction
The opportunity to access written sources, brought about by developing technology, provides scientific journals to reach larger audiences.As the knowledge in scientific journals is accessible for everyone, they enhance the cumulativeness of scientific knowledge.From this point of view, scientific journals are of capital importance for world-wide development of science (Arık and Türkmen, 2009).
The word of "metaphor" meaning figurative expression in Turkish Language (TDK, 2017), has been defined as a form of thinking and seeing rooted in individual's comprehension by Morgan (1998).Although the metaphor is literally a figure of speech which is used in order to ornament opinions, it has overreached its artistic content in time and become a form of consideration mediating to perceive the world in a more scientific way (Morgan, 1988).The attention towards metaphor studies started after 1990 and increased consistently (Cornelissen et. al., 2008).
According to Lackoff and Johnson (2015), metaphors are linguistic tools created by people for the purpose of understanding, making explanations, regulating and organising the world.Perceptions expressed through metaphors present one-way comprehension and facilitate some comments to be featured.Not only do the metaphors create an allegoric meaning but also they present some data related to a more complicated intellectual structure.In general, the metaphors make it easier to understand similarities while they enable researchers to ignore differences (Tulunay-Ateş, 2016).On the other hand the metaphor, a basic intellectual mechanism, provides the chance of embodying a comprehension in which both physical-social experiences and the available knowledge are used together.Intangible concepts defined by metaphorical clusters overlapping each other at some certain points guide the researcher for significant conclusions.It is one of these important conclusions that each metaphor indirectly obviates the others by emphasizing a certain aspect of a concept (Lakoff and Johnson, 2015).
People transfer existing definitions and concepts toward a less known area by the help of the metaphors.These transferred definitions and concepts provide a phenomenon to be understood and explained better.Moreover, transfer of the features of a well-known situation to a situation not defined yet aids new knowledge to be accessed (Morgan, 1998).Additionally, the metaphors mediate emergence of existing perceptions and, on the other side, they affect the way how the events are perceived.Thus, the metaphors are redefinition tools of events and facts, besides production initiators of new concepts according to the problem status (Goldstein, 2005).Aslan and Bayrakçı (2006) have declared the mapping and modelling power of metaphors in intellectual interpretation and configuration.The metaphors make it possible to clarify complex opinions, explanations and relations in independent fields such as science, politics, literature, and economics (Yıldırım and Şimşek, 2013).In other words, the metaphors hinder petty details and provide creation of a holistic perspective associated with a system or field (Çanak, 2013).
All of the organizational and administrational theories depend on latent images and metaphors.These images and metaphors disclose the distinguishing elements existing in recognition, comprehension and administration of organizations.Machine, organism, brain, culture, politic system, soul jail, flow and transformation, domination are some of the metaphors constituting the mentioned theories (Morgan, 1998).
The metaphors embody organizational variables, enable them being shared and contribute to comprehension of organizations (Heracleous and Jacobs, 2008).Metaphor studies, done in administration area, reveal how the organization is perceived by the other members of it within the scope of intra-organizational relationships of the administrator.The images created by the other members of an organization simplify defining the perceptions towards the administrator and thereby some clues can be reached about how the schools are administrated.In addition to these, the metaphor studies guide on the subject of school administration directing the whole society in accordance with the modern age necessities (Cerit, 2008).Şişman and Turan (2004) state that the schools like all other organizations have a nature in which a lot of symbols exist and are widely used.The fact that educational organizations are systems of symbols makes the studies done in this area more significant.
From the aspect of educational administrators, the metaphors are convenient tools for elaborately investigating the relationships among all shareholders of the school and existing manner of administration (Ben-Peretz, Mendelson and Kron, 2003).The metaphor is preferred primarily in educational studies in order to explain complex concepts and phenomena (Semerci, 2007).The opportunity of expressing their own real opinions and emotions, which is presented to the employees by metaphors, increases the significance of the metaphors in educational administration studies (Çakıcı and İslamoğlu, 2012).
One of the other functions of the metaphors in educational studies is that they reveal the beliefs and assumptions about the role which the teachers provide to education, their students and themselves in the academic process (Ben-Peretz, Mendelson and Kron, 2003).Along with explaining the variables and the dynamics of educational organizations, metaphors' crucial roles in providing schools and teachers with educational activities bring them into prominence according to Tolunay-Ateş (2016).From a similar point of view, Çelikten (2006) has expressed that the teachers whose aims are to improve their teaching can also make use of these tools.
There have been disadvantages of the metaphors in addition to their advantages.While they declare a single dimension of a subject, they may result in ignorance some other dimensions.For instance, the "machine" metaphor stated for organisations does not include "person" dimension and thereby falls behind.Therefore, the risk of distortion is relatively high.Additionally, they contain prejudice as some rational and structural dimensions are exaggerated (Morgan, 1998).On the other hand, some metaphors can be deliberately used to twist social reality.For example, expressing an organization by "family" metaphor in total quality management can serve for the concern of increasing the employees' degree of loyalty or covering employer-employee conflict (Yıldırım, 2001; as cited in Çakıcı and İslamoğlu, 2012).Furthermore, a lot of details are ruled out even though the metaphors present a quite strong point of view about a certain phenomenon.The fact lying on the lexical basis of the metaphors is that a metaphor is just a symbol of the expressed phenomenon, not its whole form (Yob, 2003).The mentioned strengths and weaknesses of the metaphors generate a discussion whether these items are supportive or restrictive (Draaisma, 2007).In this context, this study will reveal current situation of the metaphor studies concerning the field of educational administration and published in journals of educational sciences in Turkey.The findings and conclusions of the study will help the researchers for their future metaphor analysis studies in terms of methodological matters such as determining their methods, sampling techniques, data collection tools.Besides, the researchers studying on educational administration will be able to see the content of metaphor analysis studies in a holistic frame by this study.

Purpose of the Study
This study aims to reveal the current situation of metaphor analysis articles published in scientific journals in the field of educational administration in Turkey between 2007-2016 years in terms of methodology and context.

Problem Statement
Metaphor studies done in administrational area reveal how an organization is perceived by the organization's other members within the scope of intra-organizational relationships of the administrator.From the aspect of educational administrators, the metaphors are convenient tools for elaborately investigating both the relationships among all shareholders of the school and existing manner of administration (Ben-Peretz, Mendelson and Kron, 2003).Within this context, this study will reveal the existing methodological and contextual situation of the metaphor studies concerning the field of educational administration and published in journals of educational sciences in Turkey.

Method
This study has been designed through qualitative survey method.The qualitative survey method purposes determining the nature and characteristics of objects, societies, institutions, and events (McMillan and Schumacher, 2001) and this method provides understanding idiosyncrasy of a population (Johnson and Christensen, 2000).In accordance with the purpose of the study, it has been decided that the most relevant method is qualitative survey as it aims to define the nature of metaphor analysis studies.
Purposeful sampling from non-probability sampling methods has been used.In order to collect the data for the study, the journals of social and educational sciences published in Turkey in last 10 years have been investigated and the metaphor analysis articles have been picked out.Then the articles on educational administration have been selected.38 articles have been found as relevant for the study and they have comprised the sample of the study.Document review has been used as data collection technique for the study.The documents can be used as more efficient data sources in the qualitative researches during which the data cannot be obtained through observation or interviews (Yıldırım and Şimşek, 2013).
The data of the study has been analysed through content analysis.The main purpose of the content analysis is to reach certain concepts and relationships that can explain the data collected (Yıldırım and Şimşek, 2013).Years, number of authors, publishing journals, samples, number of the participants, concepts expressed through metaphors, research methods, data collection and analysis techniques, and thematisation criterion of the articles have been coded within the context of content analysis.Then, the researchers have placed the codes individually under the created categories.The reliability of the study has been calculated by Miles and Huberman (1994) formula [reliability= consensus/ (consensus + dissidence)] and found as [431/(431+25)] 94 %.

Findings and Interpretations
The findings about the years, number of authors, journals, samples, number of the participants, concepts expressed through metaphors, research methods, data collection and analysis techniques, and thematisation criterion of the articles have been presented at this part.The numerical distribution of the investigated articles in terms of publication year has been identified and listed in Table 1.Investigating Table 1, it has been recognised that the maximum number of articles were published in 2014 (n=10, 26.32 %).Additionally, it has been understood from the table that numbers of the articles per years show a stable increase from 2008 (n=2, 5.26 %) to 2014 and a sudden decrease at the rate of 50 % in 2015 (n=5, 13.16 %) and 2016 (n=5, 13.16 %).
The articles have been investigated in terms of the journals in which they were published and the results have been presented at Table 2. Investigating the table, it has been seen that the journal publishing the maximum number of metaphor analysis articles in last 10 years is Educational Administration: Theory and Practice (n=5, 13.16 %).
The findings about the author numbers of the investigated articles have been given in Table 3. Investigating the table, it has been observed that 50 % of the articles (n=19) were written by 2 authors.The number of the articles written by a single author is 13 (34.21%) and the number the of articles written by 3 authors is 5 (13.16 %).Only 1 article was written by 4 authors.
Numerical distribution of the investigated articles in terms of participant types has been presented in Table 4. Considering the table, it has been realised that the most preferred types of participant in the metaphor analysis studies are pre-service teachers (n=10, 26.32 %), students (n=5, 13.16 %) and teachers (n=5, 13.16 %).It has been seen that some researchers chose different participants together and studied with students, teachers, parents and administrators (n=2, 5.26 %); teachers, administrators and inspectors (n=2, 5.26 %); students, teachers and pre-service teachers (n=1, 2.63 %).It has attracted attention that the main components of the educational administration, school principals (n=1, 2.63 %), have been rarely chosen by the researchers.Besides, there has not been found any article that places singly the inspectors who are important shareholders of the schools as participants.
Numerical distribution of the concepts analysed through metaphors has been presented in Table 6.Investigating the table, it has been deduced that the most frequently analysed concepts through metaphors in last 10 years are school administrators and principals (n=8, 21.05 %) and school, school administration and Turkish educational system (n=8, 21.05 %).On the other side, it has been determined that some organisational concepts like organisational culture (n=1, 2.63 %), skill management (n=1, 2.63 %), technological leadership (n=1, 2.63 %), learning school (n=1, 2.63 %) have been studied in addition to some concepts affecting educational administration indirectly like e-school (n=1, 2.63 %) and course of school practice (n=1, 2.63 %).
The numerical data of the preferred research methods in investigated articles have been stated in Table 7. Considering the table, it is understood that the qualitative methods (n=29, 76.32 %) are preferred more frequently than the other methods when the articles are designed.Any information of preferred research method has not been stated in 8 articles (n=8, 21.05 %) while the mixed method has been used in 1 article (n=1, 2.63 %).
Regarding the table, it can be expressed that phenomenology (n=18, 47.37 %) from qualitative methods has been used in a great majority of the metaphor analysis studies in the field of educational administration.Also it has been found out that qualitative survey method (n=5, 13.16 %) is the second most preferred research method.On the other side, it attracts attention that the information of research method in a study is as content analysis.Content analysis is a widely used qualitative research technique used for data analysis.
The data collection tools used in the investigated articles have been ranked in Table 8.Although a significant similarity stands out when the table is taken into consideration, the researchers stated the data collection tools they used through different expressions like written form (n=14, 36.84 %), semi-structured interview form (n=7, 18.42 %), personal interview form (n=1, 2.63 %).However, it has been observed that all of the data collection tools include "… is like…Because…" statement claiming the intellectual metaphor related to a certain concept and its reason.It has been determined that in addition to the written forms, drawings of the participants (n=4, 10.53 %) have been used for metaphor analysis in some studies.Some researchers have chosen saving and examining their interviews by voice records (n=4, 10.53 %).Different expressions about measurement instruments, such as open-ended survey form (n=2, 5.26 %), survey (n=2, 5.26 %), survey and semi-structured interview form (n=1, 2.63 %), scale and open-ended question (n=1, 2.63 %) have been encountered.
Numerical distribution of the investigated articles, according to the data analysis techniques, has been given in Table 9. Regarding the table, it has been inferred that content analysis (n=34, 89.47 %) is the most common technique.Only in 1 (2.63 %) article, quantitative data analysis techniques have been used.Descriptive analysis (n=2, 5.26 %) from qualitative data analysis techniques have been preferred in some studies while any information of data analysis technique is not available in 1 (2.63 %) article.
The criteria regarded in thematisation of the metaphors reached in the articles are classified in 5 main groups and the distribution of the articles according to these groups is given in Table 10.Investigating the table, it has been determined that the themes have been mostly created according to the functions and characteristics (n=26, 68.42 %) of the concepts intended to be analysed.For instance, in accordance with the data collected in a study which aims to determine the metaphorical perceptions of the students towards the school principal, the themes were created as "leader, captain, researcher, king, master of education".Similarly, the themes were stated as "as a disciplined and strict environment, as an environment teaching profession, as an entertaining and beautiful envi-ronment…" in another article aiming to determine the metaphorical perceptions towards the concept of school.
It has been found out that the metaphors were assessed within firmer and more clear borders in the articles in which the concepts were divided into themes according to the theoretical dimensions (n=6, 15.79 %).For example, the themes were grouped within the theoretical borders of the concept in a study for determining the perceptions of the pre-service teachers towards evaluation and listed as "diagnostic, formative, and summative".The metaphors were categorized as "positive, negative, neutral or both positive and negative" in the articles in which the themes were specified according to the feelings of the participants (n=4, 10.53 %).In 1 article, the themes were created separately according to both the theoretical dimensions and the functions of the concept.The researchers grouped the metaphors in terms of the organ drawn in a human body in the articles where the thematisation was done according to the represented unit in a whole (n=1, 2.63 %).

Discussion
The metaphors have great importance in terms of revealing the perceptions towards a concept in the fields of social sciences because they are linguistic units having high power of representing various intellectual relationships.The data obtained shows that metaphor analysis studies in educational administration display a regular increase until 2014 but the same number of articles cannot be reached after 2014.The fact that research and analysis methods develop and vary in line with the developments in social sciences and thereby especially some certain research methods lose their popularity in a short time can be shown as the reason for this result.Additionally, it is another finding that the largest number of articles has been published in Educational Administration: Theory and Practice journal.It is a reasonable consequence when it is taken into account that this journal is a specific publishing of the field giving place to the articles of educational administration and the scopes of the other journals.
The samples are chosen from pre-service teachers in an important number of the articles.It is considered that the most prominent reason for that situation is accessibility of this participant group for academics.On the other side, the fact that the pre-service teacher are the individuals who will constitute the future educational organisations makes the studies done with this sample more significant.However, the studies revealing the perceptions of the teachers and principals in service towards school administration and organisational concepts should be paid attention at least as much as the ones involving the pre-service teachers.This is a requirement in order that existing conditions and problems of educational administration can be explained and analysed.Additionally, it is a remarkable absence that there is not a study only involving supervisors who are an inseparable shareholders of educational administration.
It has been determined that the sample sizes of the articles dense between 0-99 and 100-199 participant range whereas some of the studies reach more than 1000 participants.Considering that almost all of the articles are structured by qualitative methods and the data are collected through interviews, it can be expressed that the quantity of the participants involved in the studies is higher than it should be.Because the purpose of the interview technique is to make holistic and deeper analyses by means of the data collected from limited number of participants and to comprehend the people showing the same or different characteristics (Türnüklü, 2000).
It has been ascertained that the concepts analysed through participant metaphors vary but the studies mostly focus on the concepts of "school, school administrators, educational system and supervisee" in the studies.The metaphors provide expressing intangible concepts in concrete and more comprehensible words besides making unknown ones known (Lackoff and Johnson, 2015).From this scope, explaining more intangible concepts existing in educational administration and attaining intellectual relationships are possible.It is expected that researchers use this advantage of the metaphors in analysis of organisational concepts.
The research method is one of the most crucial factors specifying the direction of a research.The correct decision of the research method also increases the overall quality of the research (Arık and Türkmen, 2009).Explanation of the chosen method in the research provides the reader with interpreting the research and understanding the research process at maximum level.It has been noticed that there is significant lack of information about the method in the investigated articles.It attracts attention that a large number of articles do not mention the research method and the method is not stated explicitly in most of them.Moreover, the content analysis is expressed as the method some researches.Nevertheless, content analysis is not a research method but a data analysis technique.In the literature there is a conflict among the definitions of content analysis.Although some researchers define content analysis as qualitative research method (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005), most of the researchers have stated that content analysis is a systematically review for determining existing trends and research results in a specific research discipline (Çalık and Sözbilir, 2014;Yıldırım and Şimşek, 2013;Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2007).On the other hand content analysis can be done within the scope of different research methods such as survey, phenomenology, and ethnography in social science researches.Therefore it cannot be considered as a research method on its own.In the light of this information, the criticism that the research method is not cared enough in the articles can be remarked.
The remarkable mistakes and absence about the research methods of the articles also appear in data collection tools and data analysis techniques.It has been stated that written forms are used in the data collection process but is neither the structure nor the content of these forms not explained in most of the articles.It has been noted that the data is collected through open-ended questions but it is not mentioned how the answers are recorded.It has been observed that the question types are the same of each other in the studies although the data collection tools are indicated in different words.Survey and open-ended survey questions are some of the expressions used for explaining the data collection tools.However, it is considered that as the survey is a more suitable data collection tool for larger samples, it remains incapable in qualitative studies.It can be concluded that there is a general misconception in the metaphor analysis studies in the field of educational administration.The fact that the metaphor analysis is a newish research tendency and the number of the publications is limited in this area might be among the reasons of this consequence.
As a large part of the social reality comprehension and a certain part of the physical wold perception are metaphorical, the metaphors play an important role in the evaluation of personal realities (Çetin and Evcim, 2009).Therefore, it is possible to reach different relationships and results in accordance with the aim of a research when the metaphors are analysed.The articles have been interpreted according to the thematisation criteria and it has been determined that the concepts expressed through a metaphor are grouped in terms of its function and characteristic.It has been understood that the researchers have a common tendency to determine the existing situation rather than revealing different relationships.The metaphors are categorised in terms of being negative or positive in some of the articles.The metaphors provide the opportunity of revealing different details of participant perceptions differently from other accustomed interview techniques.Therefore, determining only the feeling obtained by metaphors might result in ignorance of deeper and more detailed consequences that can be reached by the researchers.
An unfinished sentence as "… is like … Because …" is demanded to be answered by the participants.This type of questions forces the participants to describe a concept immediately by a word and thereby lets the participants produce only one metaphor.However, a participant might have more than one justified metaphor related to a concept.Hence, it is assumed that recording the face-to-face interviews and then picking the metaphors from the collected data will provide obtaining more objective and more favourable data.
It is suggested for future researchers to choose the concepts that they will analyse through metaphor considering their potential to reveal more complex relationships.In this way, metaphor analysis technique will have been used more efficiently.Additionally, in case that the researchers provide variety in terms of their themes, they will present more elaborate conclusions to the readers.When collecting the data, recording face to face interviews will help not only to the researchers determine more metaphorical expressions but also to the participants to produce different metaphors.