This document is a companion guide to "A Descriptive Analysis of the Principal Workforce in Florida Schools" (Folsom, Osborne-Lampkin, & Herrington, in press). It describes the methods used to extract information from the Florida Department of Education database in order to conduct a descriptive analysis of the demographic composition, certifications, and career paths of the state's school leaders in the 2011/12 school year. This companion guide aims to help those interested in using similar databases in other states or contexts for replication or further extension. This guide describes the process of data cleaning, merging, and analysis, including: (1) Identifying and requesting data; (2) Creating functional datasets; (3) Merging datasets; and (4) Analyzing data. This applied research methods report outlines the process and procedures used to mine and analyze data from the Florida education staffing database. The report also provides directions and examples for conducting similar work with other administrative databases. Appendices include: (1) Sample project timeline; (2) Key Terms; (3) Sample data request; and (4) Data dictionary.
