This document provides an overview of grounded theory, including its definition, uses, methodology, and key steps. Grounded theory is a systematic qualitative research method for developing theories about phenomena grounded in data. It involves collecting and analyzing data to generate concepts and theories, rather than testing a predetermined hypothesis. The methodology includes open, axial, and selective coding of data to group concepts into categories and identify core themes from which to build an explanatory theory.

1. SHAHID MEHMOOD
PhD SCHOLAR
UNIVERSITY OF OKARA

2. Outline
 Definition of grounded theory
 When do you use Grounded Theory?
 Types of grounded theory designs
 What are the steps in conducting Grounded Theory
Research?
 Advantages
 Disadvantages
 Conclusion
 Reference

3. Definition of GT
 Grounded theory method (GT) is a systematic
methodology in the social sciences involving the
discovery of theory through the analysis of data.
 A qualitative research method that uses a
systematic set of procedures to develop an
inductively derived grounded theory about a
phenomenon.

4. Grounded Theory

5. Cont..
 Grounded Theory is the most common, widely used,
and popular analytic
technic in qualitative analysis.
 A grounded theory design is a systematic, qualitative
procedure used to generate a theory that explains, at a
broad conceptual level, a process, an action, or
an
interaction about a substantive topic.

6. Development of the Grounded
Theory
 Two sociologists, Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L
Strauss, developed grounded theory in the late 1960s.
 Glaser and Strauss developed a pioneering book that
expounded in detail on their grounded theory
procedures, The Discovery of Grounded
Theory(1967).

8. 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
.
 It allows for the emergence of original and rich
findings that are closely tied to the data

9. Cont..
 The purpose of grounded theory research in
education and management is to develop new
concepts and theories of education-related
phenomena, where these concepts and theories are
firmly grounded in qualitative data.

10. 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.

12. Analysis and interpretation
 Analysis begins and continues when data are being
collected and transcribed (and translated)
 Therefore, the researcher him/herself should transcribe the
data because preliminary codes and themes will occur in
the process
 The analysis says as much about the researcher as about
the data being analysed

13. Coding
 Read the data several times to: get a general sense, note down
ideas, think about organising the data, check if more data are
needed.
 Then coding can start.
 Any researcher who wishes to become proficient at doing
qualitative analysis must learn to code well and easily.
 Coding means that we attach labels to segments of data that
depict what each segment is about.
 Three types of coding: open, axial, and selective.

14. Coding the data
 Coding allows the researcher to deconstruct the data into
manageable chunks in order to understand the phenomena
in question
 Examining each line to construct the meaning.
 The early part of coding should be confusing, with a mass
of apparently unrelated material. However as coding
progresses and things emerge analysis becomes more
organised and structured.

15. The coding process
The researcher must interrogate the data
to identify units of analysis (categories).
 Highlight key points in each dataset (e.g. an interview)
 Give each key point a code to describe the data
 The codes will reveal patterns across the data
 Then group the patterns into categories
 Give each category a title
 New codes and subcategories will emerge.

16. Axial coding
 After open coding one set of data, you start to make
interconnections between categories and codes between
datasets (e.g. interviews and observations)
 Examine each open code in a dataset and compare and contrast
with other datasets.
 Common patterns (categories) will emerge from axial coding
 Codes categories and sub-categories need to be constantly
checked, rechecked and redefined.

17. Selective coding: Core categories
 After completing open and axial coding, the researcher
will select core categories, which must:
 1. Be central to the category system and the
phenomena, rather than peripheral
 2. appear frequently in the data
 3. fit the data, comfortably and logically
 4. enable variations to be explained
 5. have the greatest explanatory power

18. Interpreting the data
 The move beyond describing, coding, categorising and
comparing to make sense of the data.
 This stage demands a certain amount of creative
thinking…
 As it is concerned with articulating underlying concepts
and developing theories …
about why particular patterns of behaviours,
interactions or attitudes have emerged.
 … You may need to come back to the data several times to
pose questions, rethink the connections and develop
explanations of the bigger picture underpinning the
research.

19. Theoretical saturation
 Saturation is the point when the major themes are
fully developed, and no new information will add to
them.
 the analysed data can provide no new theoretical
insights.
 This is ultimately a subjective judgement
 The researcher is now ready to formulate a situated
explanation of the phenomenon that has been
investigated grounded in the data.

21. Advantages

22. Disadvantages

23. Conclusion
 To sum up, Grounded Theory is recommended to use
in any research as it provides several advantages that
may ease the process of having the data/findings.
 Despite that, Grounded Theory helps researchers
analyzing the data early and it encourages detailed
analysis of the data.
 Grounded theory provides researchers an ample
evidence to back up their claims.
 Furthermore, Grounded Theory encourages a constant
interplay between data collection and analysis.

24. Summary
 Transcribe, collate and manage data – iteratively
 Select key data for preliminary exploration
 Coding: open – to identify categories
 Coding: axial – compare & contrast datasets
 Use a variety of memos
 Use a codebook to label, define and exemplify
 Keep a reflective research journal
 Coding: selective –to identify and layer themes
 Explore the themes to develop an explanation
 Saturation - from analysis to interpretation to theory

25. REFERENCES &KEY SOURCES
Glaser, B.G., & Strauss, A.L. (1967). The discovery of grounded
theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago, IL:
Aldine.
Glaser, B. (1992). Basics of grounded theory analysis. Mill Valley, CA:
Sociology Press.
Strauss, A. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Strauss, A. L. & Corbin, J., 1990. Basics of Qualitative Research.
Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques, Sage,
Newbury Park.
Thomas, G. and James, D. (2006). Reinventing grounded theory: some
questions about theory, ground and discovery, British
Educational Research Journal, 32, 6, 767–795.