Chapter Seventeen - Grounded Theory

1

What are the kinds of topic that grounded theory might be used to investigate?

  • Patterns and processes of action and interaction within culturally and temporally bounded settings
  • Analysis of people's subjective experiences, meanings and points of view, either as individuals or as groups
  • The complexity, fluidity and multiplicity of meanings an accounts as they relate to social contexts and settings
  • Holistic analyses of processes and identities in specific settings
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2

Name and describe 4 key tenets of Grounded Theory

  • An iterative and emergent approach - allowing a research design and sampling strategy to evolve with emerging findings, and allowing theory and data to mutually shape one another
  • Reflexivity - taking into account the role of the perspectives and interpretive frameworks of the researcher in order to minimise bias
  • Openness of enquiry - openness to context, to complexity, to new insights, to changes of research direction
  • Theoretical Sensitivity and Theoretical Agnosticism - being aware and sensitive to existing theory, but not being wedded to one particular theoretical tradition
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3

What sort of information is recorded on memos and why?

  • Thoughts about refinements and amendments to coding system - to develop a grounded but flexible and emergent set of coding categories
  • Theoretical hunches and insights - to start conceptual development of theory and report
  • New sampling ideas for later stages of research - for purposive selection of participants based on the needs of the emerging theory
  • Explanations and justifications of developments in codes, categories and emerging theory - in order to provide a reflexive account of the research process, by leaving a trace of ideas, dated as they emerged in the analysis process
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