Merit pay in education: quantitative and qualitative research

For the purpose of this semester’s work in educational research, I will concentrate on learning more about merit pay in education. For me, this topic was found at the intersection of personal interest and professional curiosity. From the personal side, my husband is a high school physics and chemistry teacher, a career that he left an MBA and six-figure marketing salary behind to pursue. He is passionate about teaching science and equally so about the inefficiencies of the administration of teacher pay and performance. As a human resource professional, I have experienced the impact and intricacies of merit pay and performance management programs, albeit in the corporate world. I want to look closely at “research” that has already been done on the topic and identify a problem area where additional data may shed light on the validity of designing and implementing pay for performance models in our nation’s schools.

Based on experience and education, I know there are many social, economic and political forces at play in performance management and merit pay systems in the corporate environment. There is constant debate about what performance is and how to measure it adequately and objectively. Based on an initial online review, these same arguments surround the topic when it is discussed in the field of K-12 education. Identifying some of the forces that impact the effectiveness of pay for performance systems was a “jumping off point” for the identification of quantitative and qualitative research problems.

Quantitative research problems identify, specifically define and objectively observe the interactions between variables to confirm or deny expected relationships. An example of a quantitative research question in the area of merit pay in education is “Do high school students who are taught by teachers receiving base salary plus performance incentives perform better on end-of-course evaluations than students who are taught by teachers receiving base-salary only?”. In order to identify the relationship between performance and incentive pay in such a quantitative study, it will be critical to control the variables and structure of the research. For example, the two compensation models will need to be rigorously defined and implemented for chosen subjects and methods to measure end-of-course performance will need to be established.

Qualitative research problems provide an opportunity to observe what participants naturally do in reaction to psychosocial influences or changes in the physical environment . An example of a qualitative research question in the area of merit pay in education is, “Do teachers who participate in merit pay programs experience increased morale or engagement behaviors?”. In the context of this study, a researcher might interact with participating teachers over a period of time to observe, understand and identify the effects of performance pay programs on their professional activities and attitudes about teaching.

My next challenge will be to navigate the very active debate about what constitutes performance measurement and the value of incentive pay in the education field. As I pursue this research topic, especially in undertaking the literature review, I intend to carefully identify the underlying policies, methods, definitions and models that are reported in order to identify a pressing need that my research can fulfill.