GROUNDED THEORY DESIGNS

IN QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

Grounded Theory is the study of a concept! It is not a

descriptive study of a descriptive problem (Glaser, 2010).

Most grounded theorists believe they are theorizing about

how the world *is* rather than how respondents see it
(Steve Borgatti).

By
Sehriban Bugday
Outline GROUNDED THEORY DESIGNS
Definition of grounded theory

When do you use Grounded Theory?

Types of grounded theory designs

What are the steps in conducting Grounded Theory Research?

How do you evaluate Grounded Theory Research

Examples
How Did Grounded Theory Develop?
A grounded theory design is a systematic, qualitative procedure used to generate a
theory thatlate
In the explains,
1960s-at Two
a broad conceptualBarney
sociologists, level, a process,
G. Glaseran&action,
Anselm or an
L. interaction
about a substantive topic (Creswell, 2008).
Strauss

The
phrase "grounded theory" refers to theory that is developed inductively from a
corpus of data.

Grounded Theory is the most common, widely used, and populer analytic technic
in qualitative analysis (the evidence is: the number of book published on it) (Gibbs,
2010).

It is mainly used for qualitative research, but is also applicable to other data (e.g.,
quantitative data; Glaser, 1967, chapter VIII).
 Development of the Grounded Theory

Two sociologists, Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L Strauss, developed

grounded theory in the late 1960s.

University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center with patients who

were terminally ill- recorded and publicized their methods of research.

Glaser and Strauss developed a pioneering book that expounded in detail on

their grounded theory procedures, The Discovery of Grounded
Theory(1967).
 When Do You Use Grounded Theory?
When do you use Grounded Theory?

when you need a broad theory or explanation of a process.

especially helpful when current theories about a phenomenon are either inadequate or
nonexistent (Creswell, 2008).

when you wish to study some process, such as how students develop as writers (Neff,
1998) or how high-achieving African American and Caucasian womens career develop.
Methods

The basic idea of the grounded theory approach is to read a textual database and
"discover" or label variables (called categories, concepts and properties) and
their interrelationships.

The data do not have to be literally textual -- they could be observations of

behavior, such as interactions and events in a restaurant. Often they are in the
form of field notes, which are like diary entries.

Data Collection
Interviews
Observations
Documents
Historical Records
Vidoetapes
 Conducting a Grounded Theory Study

Rather than beginning by researching and developing a hypothesis, the first

step is data collection, through a variety of methods (This contrasts with the
scientific perspective that how you generate a theory).

From the data collected, the key points are marked with a series of codes,
which are extracted from the text.

The codes are grouped into similar concepts in order to make them more
workable.

From these concepts, categories are formed, which are the basis for the
creation of a theory.
 Conducting a Grounded Theory Study

Decide if Grounded Theory design best addresses the research

problem

Identify a process to study

Seek approval and access

Conduct theoretical sampling

Code the data

Use selective coding and develop the theory

Validate your theory

Write a grounded theory research report

 Types of grounded theory designs

There are three dominant designs for grounded theory:

1.Systematic design (Strauss and Corbin: 1998)

A systematic design in grounded theory emphasizes the use of data analysis steps
of open, axial and selective coding, and the development of a logic paradigm or a
visual picture of the theory generated. In this definition, three phases of coding
exist.
 Data Analysis

1. Open coding: The data are divided into segments and then scrutinized for
commonalities that reflect categories or themes.

After the data are categorized, they are further examined for properties that characterize
each category.

In general, open coding is a process of reducing the data to a small set of themes that
appear to describe the phenomenon under investigation.

Coding: is the process of naming or labeling things, categories, and properties.

Example:

Pain relief is a major problem when you have arthritis.

Sometimes, the pain is worse than other times, but when it gets
really bad, It hurts so bad, you don't want to get out of bed. You
don't feel like doing anything. Any relief you get from drugs that
you take is only temporary or partial.
One thing that is being discussed here is PAIN. Implied in the text is that the speaker
views pain as having certain properties, one of which is INTENSITY: it varies from a
little to a lot. (When is it a lot and when is it little?).

When it hurts a lot, there are consequences: don't want to get out of bed, don't feel like
doing things (what are other things you don't do when in pain?).

In order to solve this problem, you need PAIN RELIEF. One AGENT OF PAIN
RELIEF is drugs (what are other members of this category?).

Pain relief has a certain DURATION (could be temporary), and EFFECTIVENESS

(could be partial).
Examples of Purpose Statement and Research Question for Grounded Theory

(Mapping the Process: An Exemplar of Process and Challenge in Grounded Theory

Analysis)

Article discuss theoretical considerations and use a visual model to illustrate how they
applied grounded theory to this complex and sensitive topic.

It focus on the analytic process involved in implementing the key methods and concepts of
grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1969; Strauss & Corbin, 1995), while using examples from
findings to illustrate methodological points.

They conducted a 3-year study of the referral and placement of Black (various ethnicities,
such as African American, Haitian) and Hispanic (various ethnicities, such as Cuban,
Nicaraguan) students in special education programs in a large urban school district.
 Example of the purpose statement

...the purposes of the project were (a) to investigate whether and, if so, how, the
processes used to identify, assess, and place students in high-incidence special
education programs contribute to the overrepresentation phenomenon; and (b) to
identify referral and placement decision-making processes that successfully mitigate
overidentification and overrepresentation while also providing beneficial
educational outcomes for students (Beth Harry, Keith M. Sturges, and Janette K.
Klingner, 2005).

The research was conducted in a funnel-like process over three phases

 Phase 1 (September-April, Year 1)

They collected data on the school district's placement rates and policies by examining relevant
statistics and written documents. It was conducted a total of 71 audiotaped interviews.

The purpose of these interviews was to gain the views of key players regarding how the placement
process worked for minority children and why overrepresentation exists.

The central question, common to all interviews, was simply," What do you think explains
overrepresentation?

Phase 2 (April, Year 1-June, Year 2)

They selected 2 teachers and their students from each school for more extensive data
collection, consisting of 8-12 observations in each classroom along with interviews and
informal conversations with the teacher

Phase 3 (September, Year 3-End of Project)

They conducted in-depth case studies of 12 students.

Constant Comparative Data Analysis :

The researcher moves back and forth among data collection, and gradually advanced
from coding to conceptual categories, and thence to theory development.

In Glaser and Strauss's language, the "basic, defining rule for the constant comparative
method" is that, while coding an incident, the researcher should compare it with all
previous incidents so coded, a process that "soon starts to generate theoretical
properties of the category .
For example, in data collected for article, a teacher, distressed about the large
number of children in her class, exclaimed, "Oh, no! So many kids!"

They compared the properties of the situation to which she was referring with
a statement by another teacher: "There are 23 [exceptional education] kids
lined up at my door."

Noting that both teachers were complaining about the number of children they
were expected to teach, authors assigned both statements the code Class Size.
2. Axial coding:

This step is to group the discrete codes according to conceptual categories

that reflect commonalities among codes.

Strauss and Corbin refer to this as "axial coding," reflecting the idea of
clustering the open codes around specific "axes" or points of intersection.
It is important to note that, when engaging in categorizing/axial coding,
these properties are being identified through the interpretive lens of the
researcher, who is already beginning to abstract meaning from the data.

For example, they decided that the code Class Size fit into a category of
codes that they called Classroom/Teacher, which referred to classroom
issues that were challenging to the teacher.
3- Selective coding:

Strauss and Corbin (1998) refer to the third analytic level as

"selective coding," meaning that at this point the researcher
treats the various code clusters in a selective fashion, deciding
how they relate to each other and what stories they tell. Thus the
analyst" constructs... a set of relational statements that can be
used to explain, in a general sense, what is going on"
6. Theory:

Influences- A complex set of negative influences contribute to the overrepresentation of minorities in special education.
Predominant contributors are the assumption of intrinsic deficit and the requirement for a disability categorization; inequitable
opportunity to learn, resulting from poor teacher quality in lower-SES schools and higher standards in higher-SES schools; negative
biases against families perceived as dysfunctional; external pressure from high-stakes testing; and subjectivity in referral and
assessment practices

5-Interrelating Family stereotyping Belief in intrinsic deficits Inequitable opportunity to learn

the explanations:
4-Testing the
themes and, challenge Students' skills
Family Teacher skills, biases, Policies on hiring,
and histories,
(interviews, and strengths student SES, standards curriculum,class size
Local norms
observations,
documents):

3. Themes: Family/community External pressures

influences
Teacher skills/bias
on school

2. Categories: Families Language

Society
Classroom/Teacher
Community Disability

Student

1. Open Codes: Based on initial interviews

2.Emerging design (Glaser: 1992)

Glaser stresses the importance of letting a theory emerge from the data rather than
using specific, preset categories.

3.Constructivist approach (Charmaz: 1990, 2000, 2006)

The constructivist approach has been articulated by Kathy Charmaz. She focuses on
the importance of meanings individuals attribute to the focus of the study.
Applying active codes, the researcher looks at the participants thoughts, feelings,
values, viewpoints, assertions etc. rather than gathering facts and describing acts.
 How do you evaluate Grounded Theory Research?

When evaluating the quality of a Grounded Theory study:

Is there an obvious connection between the categories and the raw data?
Is the theory useful as a conceptual explanation for the process being studied?
Does the theory provide a relevant explanation of actual problems and a basic process?
Is the theory modified as conditions change or the researcher collects additional data?

Ask about the process of research:

Is a theoretical model developed or generated? Is the intent of this model to

conceptualize a process, an action, or an interaction?
Is there a central phenomenon (or core category) specified at the heart of this model?
Does the model emerge through phases of coding? (e.g. initial codes to more
theoretically oriented codes or from open coding to axial coding to selective coding)?
 Criticism

Critiques of Grounded Theory have focused on its status as theory (what is

produced really 'theory'?), on the notion of 'ground' (why is an idea of
'grounding' one's findings important in qualitative inquirywhat are they
'grounded' in?) and on the claim to use and develop inductive knowledge.
Thomas, G. and James suggest that it is impossible to free oneself of
preconceptions in the collection and analysis of data in the way that Glaser
and Strauss say is necessary(Thomas, G. and James, D. (2006)
 REFERENCES &KEY SOURCES
Allan, G. (2003). A critique of using grounded theory as a research method, Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods. 2(1) pp
1-10

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Publications.

Clarke, A. (2005). Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory After the Postmodern Turn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

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Glaser

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Strauss

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