Grounded theory for undergraduates

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Grounded theoryfor undergraduates

• Alasdair Gordon-FinlaysonSchool of
  PsychologyLiverpool John Moores University

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So - whos doing what?

• A quick data-gathering exercise!

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My context

• History
• Inherited from previous lecturer who had little
  experience of qualitative research
• Part of year-long research methods module
• Teaching
• Five 2-hour lectures
• Five 1-hour workshops
• GT (this year scrapped additional DA section)
• Assessment
• 2,500-word research report on any topic(plus
  proposal) approx. 6 weeks
• Two exam questions (1 hour total)

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Characteristics of GT

• Production of theory that is grounded in the data
  gathered
• Data collection analysis undertaken
  simultaneously
• Theoretical sampling
• Memo-writing
• Constant comparison
• Delay of literature review

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Why teach GT to undergraduates?

• Common methodology (especially across
  disciplinary boundaries)
• Highlights some interesting epistemological
  debates
• Method perhaps more easily taught than some
  others
• Reflexive analytic
• Easy to tie in to subject areas (health, social,
  organisational)

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Caveats?

• Current ongoing methodological debates might
  cause confusion
• Epistemological concerns (how positivist is GT?)
• Difficult to teach solely via lectures, workshops
  a great boon (but resourcing issues of course)
• Ian Parker (2005) Beware the false promise of
  GT! Qual. Psych Introducing Radical Research
  and other such misconceived criticisms

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Teaching GT

• Ideal Hands-on sessions with real data
• Will always be slightly artificial given time
  constraints
• Can student have collected their own data?
• How far can students get with the analysis during
  workshops?
• Multiple workshop sessions with homework
• Assessment How real can you make it?
• Marking a coding exercise vs full research
  project
• Some early decisions need to be made

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Decisions, decisions (I)

• Glaser vs Strauss vs Charmaz or Clarke, or
  others
• Positivist vs Interpretivist vs Constructivist?
• Need to decide to what extent youre going to
  address this
• Glaser vs Strauss very bitter but interesting!
• Flicks combination of both G S (also C)
  perhaps easiest to teach practically
• Strauss Corbin clearest guidelines (Basics),
  but its this that Glaser objects to
• Difficulties getting hold of Glasers texts

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Flicks presentation of GT coding

• From Flick, U. (2002). An Introduction to
  Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks Sage.
• Theoretical Coding
• Segmentation
• Open coding (descriptive)
• Focused coding (conceptual) - Charmaz
• Axial coding (categorising)
• Selective coding (core category)

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Coding issues

• Confusion of terminology between various coding
  models need to be clear with students
• e.g. see Walker, D. Myrick, F. (2006).
  Grounded theory An exploration of process and
  procedure. Qualitative Health Research, 16 (4),
  547-559.
• In vivo vs constructed code titles first step
  from description to analysis
• Balancing pedagogic ease vs. coding fetishism!!!

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Decisions, decisions (II)

• Full vs. Abbreviated
• Most important factor probably time available
• Abbreviated GT lends itself to undergraduate work
  because of time issues, mainly
• A priori sample selection
• Substantive, not formal, theorising
• However, abbr GT not well documented in the
  literature (but see Willig 2001)

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Things my students struggle with

• Not moving on from fine-grained coding (spending
  hours coding line-by-line)
• Not doing enough memo-writing
• Not fully explicating categories (properties,
  etc)
• Surface / descriptive work vs more in-depth
  analytic work in their research projects
• Time!!!

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Things my students are good at

• Coming up with interesting research questions!
• Model-building
• Substantive theorising

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Things my students love

• Interviewing!
• I feel like Im actually doing psychology for
  the first time in my degree
• The chance to explore (remember?) their passions
  in psychology

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Resources Primary Texts

• Glaser, B. Strauss, A. (1967). The Discovery
  of GT Strategies for Qualitative Research.
  Chicago, Aldine.
• Strauss, A. Corbin, J. (1991). Basics of
  Qualitative Research Techniques Procedures for
  Developing GT. Thousand Oaks Sage.
• Glaser, B. (1992). Basics of Grounded Theory
  Analysis. Mill Valley Sociology Press.
• Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing GT A
  Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis.
  Thousand Oaks Sage.

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Resources Chapters

• Charmaz, K. (2003). Grounded Theory. In Smith,
  J.A. (Ed.) (2003). Qualitative Psychology A
  Practical Guide to Research Methods, (Chapter 5).
  Thousand Oaks Sage.
• Willig, C. (2001). Grounded Theory. In
  Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology
  Adventures in Theory Method, (Chapter 3).
  Maidenhead OUP.
• Langdridge, D. (2004). Grounded Theory. In
  Introduction to Research Methods Data Analysis
  in Psychology, (Chapter 16). Harlow Pearson
  Education.
• and of course
• Gordon-Finlayson, A.R. (in preparation for Aug
  2009?). Doing Grounded Theory. In Doing
  Qualitative Research in Psychology A Practical
  Guide. London Sage.