Why Must Everything Be So Complicated? Demands and Challenges on Methods for Analyzing School Improvement Processes

In the recent years, awareness has risen by an increasing number of researchers that we need studies that appropriately model the complexity of school improvement if we want to increase our knowledge about school improvement substantially and to close the identified research gaps within this field (Feldhoff T, Radisch F, Klieme E, J Educ Admin 52(5):565–736, 2014; Hallinger P, Heck RH, School Effect School Improv 22(2):149–173, 2011; Sammons P, Davis S, Day C, Gu Q, J Educ Admin 52(5):565–589, 2014). So far, respective quantitative studies, that appropriately consider those complexities, have hardly been realized because of the high efforts of current methods and costs involved (Feldhoff T, Radisch F, Bischof LM, J Educ Admin 2(54):209–240, 2016). It is, therefore, apparent to look for new, innovative methods that can adequately take into account the complexity of school improvement. For a reasonable search and selection of innovative methods, it is necessary to describe the systematic complexity of school improvement and the resulting requirements for the methods in more detail. This is a central goal in this chapter. For this reason, we present our framework of complexity. We then formulate questions that will prompt the reader to reflect critically upon the methods in general and especially in this volume.