For example in my PhD study, the main concern of online learners is finding the time to study and temporal integration is the core category which explains how the concern is resolved or processed. Different types of learners employ different strategies: Jugglers and Strugglers employ successful temporal integration strategies which enable them to study (with more or less pain), whilst Fade-aways and Leavers are unsuccessful and fail to complete the programme. Understanding how temporal integration does or does not happen has implications for learning design and learner persistence.
For the nurses of Nathanial’s study, their main concern was moral distress and the core category which processed their concern was moral reckoning. For McCallin’s interdisciplinary teams the main concern was client service delivery and the core category – pluralistic dialoguing. We recommend that you read these studies to get an idea of what a grounded theory is – and is not. You will find many good examples of grounded theory in this Reader.
Grounded Theory is simply the discovery of emerging patterns in data.
Grounded Theory is the generation of theories from data.
(Glaser in Walsh, Holton et al 2015)
(and thus is not owned by any one school or discipline); which guides you on matters of data collection and details rigorous procedures for data analysis. You can use quantitative data; or qualitative data of any type e.g. video, images, text, observations, spoken word etc.
Grounded theory is a research tool which enables you to seek out and conceptualise the latent social patterns and structures of your area of interest through the process of constant comparison. Initially you will use an inductive approach to generate substantive codes from your data, later your developing theory will suggest to you where to go next to collect data and which, more-focussed, questions to ask. This is the deductive phase of the grounded theory process. (See page 37 of Theoretical Sensitivity).
Grounded theory is first and foremost a research method. But the term ‘grounded theory’ is used in two ways:
Thus both the research method and the output of the research process have the same name, which can be confusing!
The problem is that from this perspective, you are not going to know what you are studying until you have completed a significant amount of analysis: the core category is the concept to which all other concepts relate; and its discovery signals the end of the open coding stage.
The core category names a pattern of behaviour and in this pattern “you are going to see the general implications”. Listen to Barney Glaser explain in this video.
As such it requires its own research design.
We can help! Find out more about mentoring and progress your study with Fellows of the Grounded Theory Institute.
Helen Scott PhD
1 November, 2009
The methodological stages are:
This is your area of interest. Examples of substantive areas included dying in hospitals in the United States (Glaser, 1967), online learning (Scott, 2007), a cafe (Rosenbaum, 2006), nursing practice (Nathanial,2007), management studies (Holton, 2007), work practices in journalism (Gynnild, 2007), interdisciplinary teams in health services (McCallin, 2007).Your study will be from the perspective of one of the groups of people of the substantive area. This group will be your substantive population e.g. nurses (Glaser 1967), online learners (Scott 2007), nurses who have practiced in direct contact with patients (Nathanial, 2007), knowledge workers (Holton, 2007 ) journalists (Gynnild, 2006), health professionals (McCallin, 2007).
A grounded theory may use qualitative data, quantitative data (e.g. Glaser 1964 and Glaser 2008) or a mixture of the two. Thus data types include but are not restricted to: collecting observations of the substantive area itself and activities occurring within the substantive area; accessing public or private record irrespective of form e.g. photograph, diary, painting, sculpture, biography, television broadcast, news report, survey, government or organisational document; conversing with individuals or a group of individuals, face-to-face or remotely either synchronously e.g. using video, audio or text chat, or asynchronously e.g using email or message forum.
Open coding and data collection are integrated activities thus the data collection stage and open coding stage occur simultaneously and continue until the core category is recognised/selected. (Note: there may be more than one potential core category). Open coding simply means code everything for everything – more on that in the section on getting started. Eventually, as a result of your hard work and systematic analysis, the core category and the main concern emerge. It’s not magic! The core category is the concept which explains the behaviour in the substantive area i.e. it explains how the main concern is resolved or processed. For example in my study the main concern was finding time to study and the core category was ‘temporal integration’. See Chapter 4 of Theoretical Sensitivity and Chapter 9 of Doing Grounded Theory for guidance on open coding (1).
The development of your theory is captured in your memos; few memos = thin theory. Method memos chronicle tussles with the method and help write the chapter on method. But most importantly theoretical memos are written about concepts and their (potential) relationships with other concepts. It’s a low risk activity, so don’t be concerned about writing ‘bad’ memos; your memos will mature as your skill and your theory develop. For excellent guidance on how to write memos see Chapter 5 of “Theoretical Sensitivity” and in particular page 89.
Now that the core category and main concern are recognised; open coding stops and selective coding – coding only for the core category and related categories – begins. Further theoretical sampling is directed by the developing theory (who do I need to ask to learn more about these issues?). and the data used to saturate the core category and related categories. See page 141 of “Doing Grounded Theory” for an explanation of when a code can be considered saturated and page 52 of Discovery for a discussion on comparison groups. When your categories are saturated:
(See Chapter 4 of “Theoretical Sensitivity” and Grounded Theory Perspectives III: theoretical coding). Sorting is another low risk activity and can be done several times: for instance, you might sort to find the gaps in your theory or in order to write a working paper. When you feel that your theory is well formed…
Job done!
If you follow the method as Glaser describes, you will end up with a theory. The quality of that theory will depend upon your skills and the skills you develop as you research.
Helen Scott PhD
1 November, 2009
Footnotes
(1)These are just two examples of where Glaser discusses open coding … there are others, these are offered as a guide.