Research and Evaluation
Research, evaluation, and learning agenda
Ubuntu Roots Coaching™ is presented as a framework for inquiry. It invites independent assessment of its conceptual coherence, feasibility, acceptability, cultural responsiveness, implementation conditions, and the questions it raises for leadership and relational practice.
Research Question Evidence Under Development
Why study this approach?
- The need to examine relational and community-centered approaches to leadership development
- The importance of culturally responsive coaching models
- The opportunity to explore how coaching can attend to the individual, relationships, organizational systems, and long-term leadership impact
- The need to study both potential benefits and potential risks
The framework requires independent validation before efficacy claims can be made. The questions below are offered as starting points for that work.
Proposed research questions
- How do participants describe the acceptability, relevance, and psychological safety of Ubuntu Roots Coaching™?
- Which components are most feasible in executive, organizational, educational, or community contexts?
- How do coaches operationalize the five dimensions consistently while adapting to context?
- How does the model relate to the quality of leadership reflection, relational awareness, stewardship orientation, and legacy thinking?
- What ethical, cultural, confidentiality, or implementation challenges arise?
- How do stakeholders experience consent-based involvement when such involvement occurs?
- How does this framework compare with more individual-centered coaching models in terms of perceived relevance, process, and experience?
- What coach preparation, supervision, and fidelity supports are needed?
Potential study designs
Options, not prescriptions:
Conceptual analysis and expert-panel review
Participatory design research
Qualitative interviews and thematic analysis
Feasibility and acceptability pilot studies
Mixed-methods studies
Pre/post exploratory coaching studies
Comparative process studies
Case-study research
Implementation and fidelity research
Longitudinal leadership and organizational-learning research
Suggested measures and data sources
Categories only; no proprietary instruments are named. Selection and validation would be the work of independent researchers.
- Client-reported coaching experience
- Psychological safety and perceived trust
- Relational leadership awareness
- Leadership self-efficacy
- Stakeholder or team feedback, where appropriate and consented
- Sense of belonging and connection
- Leadership stewardship behaviors
- Long-term orientation and legacy reflection
- Organizational climate or culture indicators
- Qualitative narratives, reflective journals, and interviews
- Coach fidelity and supervision notes, de-identified and ethically governed
Ethics and protections
- Informed consent
- Confidentiality
- Voluntary community and stakeholder participation
- Data minimization
- Culturally responsive research practices
- Clear scope-of-practice boundaries
- Referral pathways to qualified support
- Community consultation where relevant
- Institutional review board or ethics review where applicable
- Avoidance of extractive research
- Transparent governance of intellectual property and data ownership
Partnership invitation
We invite university labs, professional associations, doctoral researchers, and institutional partners to consider independent, transparent, ethically governed assessment of the framework.