Grounded Theory

Definition

Grounded theory is a specific qualitative research methodology that focuses on moving

beyond description and to generate or discover a theory, a unified theoretical explanation
for a process or an action, in other words grounded theory creates a theory that emerges
from the data collected in research. What differentiates grounded theory from other types of
qualitative research is:

 Its focus on building theories

 Is particularly useful for addressing questions about process (how something
changes over time)
 The theory is generated or grounded in data from participants who have experience
the process that is being study
 The data in grounded theory studies, can come from, interviews , observations and a
wide variety of documentary materials
 The overall objective of this analysis is to identify patterns in the data, these
patterns are arranged in relationships to each other for building the grounded theory

Thus, grounded theory is a qualitative research design, in which the researcher

generates a general explanation (theory) of a process, an action or an interaction based
on the views of a large number of participants

Background

This qualitative design was developed in sociology in 1967 by Barney Glaser and Anselm
Strauss in their book The Discovery of Grounded Theory who felt that theories used in
research were often inappropriate and ill-suited (out of place) for the participants under
study. In contrast to the a priori theoretical orientations in sociology, grounded theorist held
that theories should be GROUNDED in data from the field, especially in the actions,
interactions and social processes of people. Through these different interpretations,
grounded theory has gained popularity in fields such as sociology, nursing and psychology
as well as in other social science fields.
Challenges

 The researcher needs to put aside, as much as possible theoretical ideas or notions
so the analytic, substantive theory can emerge.
 The researcher faces the difficulty of determining when categories are saturated or
when the theory is sufficiently detailed.
 The researcher needs to recognize that the primary outcome of this study is a theory
with specific components : a central phenomenon, casual conditions , strategies
context , and consequences , these are prescribed categories of information in the
theory , so this approach may not have the flexibility desired by some qualitative
researchers

Strategy for saturation

One strategy to move from saturation is to use Discriminant sampling in which the
researcher gathers additional information from individuals different from those people
initially interviewed to prove if the theory holds true for these additional participants