A qualitative analysis of a community college mission statement as it appears in print and on the Web

Abstract

This basic, interpretive qualitative study's purpose was to identify, describe, and interpret community college mission statement messages as they appear in print and on the web site. Of particular interest were the analyses of each institution's similar, different, and unique messages. The additional analyses of these messages across all four community colleges examined in this study revealed unintended messages. The within-case inductive analysis was completed first to find emergent mission statement messages in the print materials and on the web site for each community college. Upon completion of the inductive analysis, a deductive analysis was conducted next using Newsom and Hayes (1990) mission statement component framework. Inductive and deductive cross-case analyses were completed to compare and contrast the messages across all institutions. Additionally, message levels (strong, sufficient, and weak) were assigned to each message as a further part of the analysis process. The mission statement messages found in the study's findings were presented in relationship to the limited community college mission statement literature. The findings propose the need to consider the addition of several messages found in the community college literature, but not found in the mission statement literature. The recommendations suggest institutions use an inductive and deductive checklist process to examine their print materials and web site for message consistency between the two mediums and alignment with the community college mission statement. The recognition of the web site as a more commonly used medium for community college stakeholders to obtain information supports the need to continually examine the web site for the community college's mission statement messages.