Grounded Theory

What is Grounded Theory?

• Qualitative methodology which aims to move beyond description and to generate theory that is 'grounded' in the behaviour/words/actions of participants
• Goal=generate a theory rather than test a hypothesis
• Aim=to understand the research situation and to discover the theory implicit in the data, as such it is inductive
• Inductive reasoning-begin with specific observations and measures, begin to detect patterns and regularities, formulate some tentative hypotheses that we can explore, and finally end up developing some general conclusion/theories
• Development of GT-Glaser and Strauss
• Argued there was too much emphasis on the verification of existing theory
• Used to generate theory in areas where little is known
• Questions appropriate: designed to study actions and processes, individual processes, interpersonal relations

Distinguishing Characteristics

• Simultaneous data collection and analysis
• Codes and categories developed from data, not from preconceived hypotheses
• The development of theories to explain behaviour and processes in a substantive area
• Memo making
• Theoretical sampling-may focus on particular groups based on analysis
• It's not exactly a theory-grounded in data to form a theory
• Saturation-particular for grounded theory, keep going until you can't get anymore from data
• Sensitising concepts-those background ideas that inform the overall research problem (starting point for a qualitative study)
• Delay of the literature review-if you start it before then it will become deductive, but if you ignore it then you might be developing a theory that has already been developed

Data

• Sources of data-can be single or multiple and may include:
• Interviews
• Observations
• Focus groups
• Life histories
• Conversations
• Novels
• Case studies
• Public records
• Personal journals
• Data collection
• Simultaneous data collection and analysis means that the researcher's emerging analysis shapes their data collection procedures
• This early analytical work leads to collecting more data around emerging themes
• This enables the researcher to avoid collecting masses of unfocused data

Theoretical Sampling

• Consists of anyone who may be knowledgeable about the phenomenon of the study
• Sampling is led by what emerges from the data and is aimed towards theory construction, not for population representativeness

Interviewing in Grounded Theory

• Devise a few broad, open-ended questions. You can then invite detailed discussion of the topic in the interview
• Important to ensure that questions are not leading, that you're not imposing preconceived concepts
• A constructionist interviewer would attempt to elicit participant's assumptions, implicit meanings and tacit rules

Coding in Grounded Theory

• Open/initial coding-->focused coding-->raising focused codes in conceptual categories
• Open coding
• The process of breaking the data into distinct units and labelling these
• The transcribed interview is analysed line by line in an attempt to identify key words/phrases
• Coding is unfocused and 'open'
• Constant comparison: involves comparing differences and similarities within the data and facilitates the reintification of concepts, comparing data with data, statement with statement etc
• Focused coding
• Synthesises and explains larger segments of data
• Involves using most significant and/or frequent line by line codes to lift data to a higher level of abstraction
• Developing categories
• Look at the list of focused codes and see whether they have anything in common, ask how they relate to each other and to larger categories, put codes together into larger abstract categories (constant memoing will help)
• The core category-must be central and account for a large proportion of behaviour, must be based on recurring theories drawn from data and must relate/be meaningful to other categories
• Selective coding and saturation
• Cease open coding and to limit coding to only those variables that relate to the core category, can only begin once researcher is sure the core category has been identified, stop collecting data and analysing when your categories are 'saturated'

Types of Grounded Theory

• Essentialist (discovering realities)-'discovery' of theory from the data, theories thus 'emerge' from the data
• Social Constructionism - highlights human participation in the construction of knowledge, and focuses on ways in which discourses and interactions produce reality
• Social Constructivism - more focus on how individuals construct 'their' reality in interaction
• Constructivist/constructionist GT - closer attention to language use, assumes the relativism of multiple social realities, emphasis on discursive devices through which participants construct 'their' reality and give meaning to their lives, acknowledges ambiguity and inconsistency, considers research and method as equally constructed

Reflexivity-Personal & Theoretical

• Scrutiny of experience/decisions/interpretations
• As researchers, we need to be aware of our personal/social/cultural contexts and how these impact on how we interpret the world
• Theoretical/epistemological/methodological assumptions
• This scrutiny and transparency brings you into the process and allows your reader to assess how and to what extent your interests/positions/assumptions influenced the research

Evaluation of Theory

• Fit - how closely concepts fit with the incidents they're representing, and this is related to how thoroughly the constant comparison of incidents to concepts was done
• Relevance - a relevant study deals with the real concern of participants and evokes 'grab'
• Work ability - the theory works when it explains how the problem is being solved

Problems with Grounded Theory

• Time consuming and labour intensive, need to be flexible and patient
• Need to be aware of the 'double hermeneutic'- not only do participants interpret their experience, but you will also be engaging in 'an interpretation of an interpretation'=reflexivity
• Is what is produced really 'theory'?
• Impossible to free oneself of preconceptions in the collection and analysis of data-truly inductive
• Naïve to ignore the theoretical literature