Applied grounded theory research & consultancy
Understand what is shaping what happens. Decide what to do next.
Commissioned research for organisations facing questions that cannot be answered by description alone: why people respond as they do, what shapes their behaviour, how situations develop, and where change may be possible.
Start with your question
When you need to understand more than what happened.
Sometimes you already have data, feedback or an evaluation, but the conclusions are not satisfying – you still do not understand what is driving what you are seeing. Sometimes you are planning a service, programme or change and need to understand how people are likely to experience and respond to it. Sometimes the important question is still taking shape.
Why are people responding this way?
Explore the concerns, priorities and processes shaping behaviour rather than relying only on what people say they want or need.
What is getting in the way?
Identify the processes, conditions and competing demands that may be limiting engagement, uptake, change or progress.
What would be useful to change?
Develop an explanation that can help focus attention on the parts of a situation where action may make a meaningful difference.
What the research can bring
A clearer explanation of what is going on.
See the underlying process. Move beyond a collection of themes or opinions towards an explanation of how people are dealing with the situation.
Understand variation. See why the same service, change or situation may be experienced differently, and what appears to influence those differences.
Focus what matters. Distinguish central processes from background detail so that discussion and decision-making can concentrate on what appears most consequential.
Create a shared way of understanding the issue. A conceptual explanation can give teams a language for discussing a complex problem without reducing it to isolated findings.
Inform what happens next. Use the explanation to think more clearly about service design, communication, evaluation, policy, practice or managed change.
Generate questions worth pursuing. The research can show what needs further investigation as well as what can already be explained.
When might this approach be useful?
Applied grounded theory is particularly useful when the problem is complex, human behaviour matters, and you do not want to assume the explanation in advance.
- You have survey, interview or evaluation findings but still need to understand why people are responding as they are.
- You are developing or changing a service, programme or intervention and want to understand the experience of the people involved.
- People are not engaging, adapting or responding in the way that was expected.
- You need to understand a process that develops over time rather than take a one-off snapshot.
- You need an evidence-based explanation before deciding what to change.
What you may receive
Research shaped around the decision you need to make.
The form of the work depends on the question. A project may result in a conceptual explanation or grounded theory, a concise decision briefing, a fuller research report, a visual model, a presentation or workshop for your team, and a discussion of implications and possible next steps.
The aim is not to produce recommendations detached from the evidence. It is to develop an explanation that helps you see the situation differently and make better-informed choices about what to do next.
Ways of working
From a focused question to a complete study.
Scope the question
Clarify what you need to understand, what is already known and whether grounded theory is the right approach.
Shape the research
Agree an appropriate design, data sources and level of involvement—from specialist input to an independently conducted study.
Develop the explanation
Collect and analyse data iteratively, following what becomes important rather than forcing the study into a predetermined framework.
Use the findings
Present the conceptual explanation in a form that supports discussion, learning and decisions about what happens next.
Why grounded theory?
Let the explanation develop from the research.
Grounded theory is useful when you do not want to impose an explanation too early. Data collection and analysis develop together, allowing the research to follow emerging questions and comparisons. The result is a conceptual explanation grounded in what is happening in the situation being studied.
For purchasers, the value is not the methodological terminology. It is the opportunity to understand a complex human situation in a way that can inform what you do next.
How we might work together
I undertake applied grounded theory research and consultancy for global, national and local organisations. Depending on the project, I can conduct an independent study, work alongside an existing research team, or provide grounded theory methodological and analytical expertise within a wider piece of work.
A first conversation is usually the best place to begin. Tell me the question, difficulty or decision you are facing. We can explore whether grounded theory is likely to help—and, just as importantly, whether another approach would suit the question better.
Start with the problem
What do you need to understand?
You do not need to know whether grounded theory is the right method before getting in touch. Tell me what you are trying to understand and we can start there.