Collective negotiations in public education is a relatively recent development that has tended to erode the principal's options, managerial authority, and professional status. The recent introduction of the "management team," an attempt to ameliorate this situation, has placed principals in the "management" camp in an adversarial role with teachers, who are viewed as "labor." Educational literature contains little to address this philosophical and practical dilemma. This study, based on a University of Oklahoma doctoral study (1984), sought to determine whether school district size and length of time the school district has been negotiating are causal factors in differential perceptions of secondary school principals' role in collective bargaining. A modified perception assessment instrument was administered to 255 school board presidents, superintendents, secondary school principals, and local education association presidents. Analysis of variance and t-test techniques were used to test 18 hypotheses related to 6 basic research questions. Findings showed that the length of negotiating time was not a causal factor in the four groups' differential perceptions. School district size was found to be a significant causal factor. Significant perception differences were found between role partners in large and small school districts. Perceptions of local education association presidents differed significantly from those of other role groups. Included are a questionnaire sample and 13 references. (MLH)