What is Grounded Theory?

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What is Grounded Theory?

• Kathy Charmaz

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Imagine collecting intriguing qualitative data
early in your research

• I So, how has life been for you?
• S Well, as you can tell, it's been very busy.
  Between babies and marriage and life, uhm, it's
  kind of hard to explain, but it's been a lot
  different than being on my own because people
  rely on me now. So part of it has been good
  because I can see that I'm not the only one that
  has good days and bad days, everybody does. They
  might not be physical, as much as psychological,
  but everybody has kind of good days and bad days,
  as moods and things too.

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Qualitative data (cont.)

• Uhm, I guess the main thing, I had a fight with
  my husband before coming here, and what I'm kind
  of seeing from that is the main thing that I
  still have a little bit of guilt attached to or
  hard time, or is hard for me, is I don't know how
  much responsibility is mine, like what I should
  take on all the time.

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What if you planned to conduct a qualitative
research project, wouldnt it help

• To ensure that your data are rich and useful?
• To be able to gather inductive data without
  getting lost in it?
• To have systematic strategies for collecting
  your data that aid you in creating an
  original analysis?

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Grounded theory can help you

• Gather rich data through guiding your data
  collection
• Get started in early data analysis
• Use flexible guidelines for managing your
  research
• Keep focusing your analysis to make it more
  original and useful

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What is grounded theory?

• A systematic method of conducting research
• that
• Begins with an inductive approach
• Involves engaging in simultaneous data
  collection and analysis
• Consists of several flexible guidelines
• Emphasizes constructing the analysis
• Aims to construct middle-range theories

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What is grounded theory? (cont.)

• A method that goes beyond induction
• - Its strategies lead to making
  conjectures and hypotheses and to checking
  them
• -Therefore, the researcher engages in
  deductive reasoning as inquiry proceeds.

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What does grounded theory help you to accomplish?

• This method
• Enables you to study processes
• Helps you explicate what is happening in your
  field setting
• Keeps you focused on your data and emerging
  analysis
• Supports you in developing an original
  theoretical analysis

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How do grounded theorists conduct research? We
engage in

• Making systematic comparisons throughout
  inquiry
• Interacting with our data, codes, and
  categories
• Doing analytic writing from the
  start memo-writing
• Making early links between the empirical
  world and theoretical ideasand checking
  themtheoretical sampling

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Wouldnt it be helpful to have a few questions
to guide your research?

• Grounded theory gives you general questionsand
  points the way for you to develop further
  questions specific to your research problem and
  emerging analysis
• Grounded theory helps you to keep your research
• Manageable
• Efficient
• Exciting!

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Which questions do grounded theorists use when
coding data?

• What is happening? (Glaser, 1978)
• What is this data a study of? (Glaser, 1978,
  p. 57 Glaser and Strauss, 1967)
• What theoretical category does this datum
  indicate? (Glaser, 1978)
• What does the data suggest? Pronounce?
• From whose point of view?

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Wouldnt it be helpful to have guidelines for
coding qualitative data?

• Use line-by-line coding as an initial tool for
  opening up the data
• Ask what is happening in each bit of data
• Compare data with data
• Statement with statement
• Story with story
• Incident with incident
• Then compare code with code

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Coding for what is happening

• So part of it has been good because I can see
  that I'm not the only one that has good days and
  bad days, everybody does.
• They might not be physical, as much as
  psychological, but everybody has kind of good
  days and bad days, as moods and things too.

Identifying a positive Recognizing other peoples good and bad days Qualifying their good and bad days Viewing good and bad days as universal
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Comparing Statements Sara Shaw Taking a broader
view beyond self

• So part of it has been good because I can see
  that I'm not the only one that has good days and
  bad days, everybody does.
• They might not be physical, as much as
  psychological, but everybody has kind of good
  days and bad days, as moods and things too

Seeing beyond self Discerning the content of good and bad days
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Comparing statements Nancy Swensen dealing with
her illness on a bad day and her mother with
AlzheimersBeing caught in chaos

• And if Im trying to get dinner ready and Im
  already feeling bad, shes in front of the
  refrigerator. Then she goes to put her hand on
  the stove and I got the fire on. And then shes
  in front of the microwave and then shes in front
  of the silverware drawer. And-and if I send her
  out she gets mad at me. Thats when I have
  really a really bad time.

Making a bad day worse Escalating chaos See also, Arthur Frank (1995) The Chaos Nar-rative
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Comparing responses to bad days Marty Dealing
with bad days

• Were a friend who has multiple sclerosis kind
  of like mutual supporters for each other. And
  when she has her bad days or when we particularly
  feel poor me, you know, Get off your butt!
  You know, we can be really pushy to each other
  and understand it.

Reciprocal supporting Having bad days Disallowing self-pity Issuing reciprocal orders Taking the criticism
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Realizing that once bad days have become good
daysJohn

• What used to be bad days laughing now are good
  days but the quality of things, I think, is
  declining, you know, from , say a couple of years
  ago when I didnt think about it that much. And
  there would be isolated days when I had a lot of
  congestion and things like that. But thats
  all.

Shifting criteria of good and bad days Defining declining health Comparing past and present
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What is constructivist grounded theory?

• It is a contemporary revision of Glaser and
  Strausss (1967 Glaser 1978) classic grounded
  theory that
• Assumes a relativist approach
• Acknowledges multiple standpoints and realities
  of both the grounded theorist and the research
  participants
• Takes a reflexive stance toward our actions,
  situations, and participants in the field
  setting, and constructions of them in our
  analyses.

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How does constructivist grounded theory advance
data collection?
It fosters building explicit what and how
questions into the data collection She said,But,
fortunately, I had the experience of at some
point surrendering, you know. I asked, What does
that mean to you, surrendering? She said, It
means that I don't have, I can't control it and
to look at what it has to teach me. Just, you
know, let it tell me what it needs to tell me.
You know, that willingness and that acceptance.
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Data collection in constructivist
groundedtheory
And you don't always get, you know, I don't
always get that right away because here I could
have had a lot of "control" over my life, and
then I didn't have control anymore, and so it
didn't come instantly, but I was willing to
surrender and to look at what was going on. But
it did come, it did happen. And I'm always much
more at peace after I'm able to do that anyway.
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Where Does Constructivist GT Take Us? This
approach leads us to

• Assume that what we take as real is
  problematicand that our analyses are
  interpretive
• Look for multiple definitions of reality
• Pay close attention to languageand action
• Examine how experience is constituted and
  structures are enacted

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In sum, what is grounded theory?

• An inductive, comparative, and interactive
  approach to inquiry that offers several
  open-ended strategies for conducting emergent
  inquiry.

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Wouldnt be helpful to?

• Advance studies in your discipline?
• Have a point for discussing contemporary issues
  in qualitative
• inquiry (Henwood and Pidgeon 2003)?
• Adopt a flexible method with emergent
  methodological strategies rather than
  prescribed rules?
• Try grounded theory!