The Study Design for the Analysis of the Scoring Work of School Inspection Teams

This chapter presents the research design and methodology of the study investigating the scoring work of school inspection teams. It begins by explicating some basic assumptions informing the research design, followed by the overall rationale for the selected qualitative research approach. Key aspects addressed include the selection of research sites in two German states (Lower Saxony and Thuringia), the recruitment of research participants, and the multiple data collection methods employed (shadowing, recording of scoring conversations, interviews, documents). The chapter details the data analysis methods for the different data types, with a focus on analysing the scoring discussions using an approach called Gesprächsanalyse (discussion analysis). Ethical challenges and considerations are also noted. Overall, the study adopts a naturalistic approach to examine the practical production of school inspection scores in context.