Grounded theory is by far the most popular technique for qualitative data analysis. It is widely used in almost all social science disciplines including education, evaluation research, nursing, and sociology. It focuses on generating theoretical ideas from the data. The approach emphasises the systematic discovery of theory from data by using constant comparison method and theoretical sampling.

1. •‘Grounded Theory: A
methodological
sensibility’
• Dr Dave Calvey, Sociology Dept, MMU
• PAHC, 16/10/2019

2. Contents
• 1) The ethnographic context
• 2) The classic foundations-1967
• 3) Further developments-Grounded
Theory as a popular school/perspective
• 4) Critical reflections
• 5) References

3. 1) The hospital ethnography
context
• In 1957 Strauss led an interdisciplinary team in a comparative
ethnographic study of two psychiatric hospital departments. This
published books–:
• Psychiatric Ideologies and Institutions (1964)-Strauss et al
• Awareness of Dying (1965)-Strauss and Glaser
• Time For Dying (1968)-Strauss and Glaser
• They collectively offer a new framework for analyzing complex
organizations. Conceptualized as sites of permanent negotiation,
continuous processes of generating and acting upon tacit
agreements allow organizations to function. The negotiations include
unofficial ‘working’ arrangements and official decisions among the
various professional and other groups.

4. Anselm Strauss (1916-1996) was greatly influenced by
Symbolic Interactionism and naturalistic methodology
(Herbert Blumer,1969), University of Chicago
-Human beings act towards things on the basis of the
meanings that these things have for them
-The meaning of such things is derived from, and arises out
of, the social interaction that one has with other
-These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an
interpretive process used by the person in dealing with
encounters
Barney Glaser collaborated with him in the department of
Nursing, University of California

5. 2) The classic foundations
(1967)

6. Theory discovery
• Grounded theory may be broadly defined
as:
• ‘ the discovery of theory from data
systematically obtained from social
research’ (Glaser and Strauss 1967: 2).

7. ‘Ground up’ vs ‘bottom down’
• This research methodology uses inductive
reasoning and logic, in contrast to the
hypothetico-deductive of the traditional
scientific method
• Their standard of evidence is ‘plausibility’
not certainty
• Principle of revision and emergence as
you are collecting and analysing data
• Legitimate qualitative approaches in the
face of quantitative domination

8. Theory Generation
1. Theory Generation was a common goal
‘Description, ethnography, fact-finding, verification
(call them what you will) are all done well by
professionals in other fields and by laymen in various
investigatory agencies. But these people cannot
generate sociological theory from their work. Only
sociologists are trained to want it, to look for it and to
generate it.” (1967: 6-7)

9. The term, ‘theory’ actually covers many different
kinds of generalisations. They distinguish
between substantive theory, which comes directly
from the data (empirical), and formal theory which
is more abstract and general (conceptual):
“ By substantive theory, we mean that developed from
a substantive, or empirical, area of sociological
enquiry, such as patient care, race relations,
professional education, delinquency, or research
organizations. By formal theory, we mean that
developed for a formal, or conceptual, area of
sociological enquiry, such as stigma, deviant
behaviour, formal organization, socialization, status
congruency, authority and power, reward systems, or
social mobility” (1967:32).

10. Grounded Theory is comparative
‘ generation by comparative analysis requires a
multitude of carefully selected cases, but the
pressure is not on the sociologists to ‘know the
whole field’ or to have all the facts from a
‘careful random sample’ His job is not to
provide a perfect description of an area, but to
develop a theory that accounts for much of the
relevant behaviour’ (1967:30).

11. THEORETICAL SAMPLING
Decisions concerning what to study are critical and should be
made in advance of the field (hypothesis led)-set of
relevancies
1) ‘ the essential question to be answered for the purposes of
theoretical sampling is, “what groups or subgroups does one
turn to next in data collection? And for what theoretical
purpose?’ (1967:47).
2) ‘ the process of data collection for generating theory
whereby the analyst jointly collects, codes, and analyses his
data and decides what data to collect next and where to find
them, in order to develop theory as it emerges’ (1967: 45).

12. Theoretical Saturation
• Theoretical saturation of concepts is the
point at which the data collection and
analysis cycle can conclude
‘saturation means that no additional data are
being found whereby the sociologist can
develop the properties of the category’
(1967: 61)

13. 3) Further developments-Grounded
Theory as a popular school/perspective
• Glaser and Strauss have disagreed on how to apply the
grounded theory method, resulting in a split between
Straussian and Glaserian paradigms.
• The split occurred most obviously after Strauss
published Qualitative Analysis for Social
Scientists (1987) and together with Juliet Corbin,
published the popular Basics of Qualitative Research:
Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques (1990).
This was followed by continued criticisms by Glaser,
including:

14. • Glaser, B.G. (1978). Theoretical Sensitivity:
Advances in the Methodology of Grounded
Theory.
• Glaser, B. G. (1992). Basics of Grounded Theory
Analysis: Emergence vs. Forcing.
• Glaser, B.G. (1998) Doing Grounded Theory:
Issues and Discussions.
• B. Glaser (Ed.) (1994) More Grounded Theory
Methodology: A Reader.

15. Theoretical sensitivity
• Glaser highlights the importance of theoretical sensitivity throughout
GT. Part of this was the role of the core category:
• ‘the generation of theory occurs around a core category. Without a
core category an effort of grounded theory will drift in relevancy and
workability’ (Glaser, 1978: 93).
• The core category accounts for most of the variation of data and
therefore most other categories relate to it in some way.
• The core category is a more highly abstracted category but still must
remain grounded in the data. The major categories are related to the
core category and these categories show how the core category
works in the lives of participants.

16. Constructivist Grounded
Theory
• Kathy Charmaz (1990, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2009), a student of Glaser
and Strauss, developed constructivist features of grounded theory:
• simultaneous collection and analysis of data
• creation of analytic codes and categories developed from data and
not by pre-existing conceptualisations (theoretical sensitivity)
• discovery of basic social processes in the data
• inductive construction of abstract categories
• theoretical sampling to refine categories
• writing analytical memos as the stage between coding and writing
• the integration of categories into a theoretical framework.

17. • The classical position did not emphasis
‘multiple meanings’ from the data as was
more fixed
• The classical position assumed a type of
researcher objectivity (‘distant expert’.
silent authorship) whereas the researcher
and researched are co-producers and co-
creators.
• More creative type of data analysis

18. 4) Critical reflections
• There are ‘probably as many versions of
grounded theory as there were grounded
theorists’ (Dey 1999: 2)
• ‘Weaknesses in using the method have become
equated with weaknesses inherent in the
method’ (Charmaz 1990: 1164).
• Catch all school/perspective that loses precision
and glosses over differences in qualitative
approaches
• Spread of application in various fields

19. • Widespread appeal (use and misuse)
‘ The future will bring less need to legitimize grounded
theory; hence, there will be less need to justify using it.
Now, many researchers have to explain it and argue for its
use. Its future portends that grounded theory will be as
accepted as are other methods (e.g., surveys) and will
require little or no explanation to justify its use in a research
project. With its use, it will empower the Ph.D. candidate
with a degree, a subsequent career, and the acclaim of an
original creative theory’ (Glaser, 1999: 845).

20. • Positivistic and prescriptive overtones in
GT but useful signposts and principles for
qualitative inquirers
• Varieties and reinventions of Grounded
Theory:
Critical Realist (Oliver, 2014)
Abductive (Rahmani and Leifels, 2018)

21. (2019)

22. 5) References
• Charmaz, K and Mitchell, R. (1996) ‘The myth of silent authorship: Self,
substance, and style in ethnographic writing’. Symbolic Interaction, 19(4),
285-302.
• Charmaz, K. (1990). Discovering chronic illness: Using grounded theory,
Social Science & Medicine, 30 (11): 1161-1172.
• Charmaz, K. (2000). Grounded theory: Objectivist and constructivist
methods. In N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative
Research, (2nd ed., pp. 509-535). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Charmaz, K. (2001). Qualitative interviewing and grounded theory analysis.
In J. Gubrium & J. Holstein (Eds.), Handbook of Interview Research:
Context and Method (pp. 675-694). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Charmaz, K. (2006) Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide
through Qualitative Analysis, London: Sage.
• Charmaz, K. (2009) ‘Shifting the grounds: Constructivist grounded theory
methods’, in J. M. Morse, P. N. Stern, J. M. Corbin, B. Bowers and A. E.
Clarke (eds), Developing Grounded Theory: The Second Generation,
Walnut Creek, CA, University of Arizona Press, pp. 127–54
• Dey, I. (1999) Grounding Grounded Theory Guidelines for Qualitative
Inquiry, San Diego: Academic Press.

23. • Rahmani, F and Leifels, K. (2018) ‘Abductive Grounded Theory: a worked
example of a study in construction management’, Construction
Management and Economics, 36:10, 565-583.
• Glaser B. G Strauss A. L . (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory:
Strategies for Qualitative Research New York: Aldine Press.
• Glaser, B. G. (1978) Theoretical Sensitivity: Advances in the Methodology of
Grounded Theory. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.
• Glaser, B. G. (1992) Basics of Grounded Theory Analysis: Emergence vs.
Forcing. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.
• Glaser, B. G. (Ed). (1994) More Grounded Theory Methodology: A Reader,
Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.
• Glaser, B. G. (1998) Doing Grounded Theory: Issues and Discussions, Mill
Valley, CA: Sociology Press.
• Glaser, B. G. (1999) ‘The future of Grounded Theory’, Qualitative Health
Research, 9 (6): 836-845.
• Oliver, C. (2014) ‘Critical Realist Grounded Theory: A New Approach for
Social Work Research’, British Journal of Social Work, 42 (2): 1-17
• Strauss, A. L and Corbin, J. (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded
theory procedures and techniques, London: Sage.
• Strauss A. L and Corbin, J. (1998) Basics of Qualitative Research
Techniques and Procedures for developing Grounded Theory 2nd ed,
London: Sage.