Grounded TheoryChapter 25. McNabb, D. (2002)

Research Methods in Public Administration and Non-Profit ManagementPresented by: SL Dingcong, DPA, UP NCPAGCourse: PA299.1 under Dr. Rizal Cruz

Grounded Theory• Evolved from the roots of symbolic

interactionism (Mead, Blumer, et.al)• People define themselves through social roles, expectations, and perspectives acquired from society through socialization and social interactions (Mead, 1934)• Blumer (1986) added – meanings people have for things determine the way they behave toward them; meanings come from people’s interactions; people under a process of constant interpretation

GT Gaining Ground in the Social Sciences• Mainly a qualitative research approach• Proposed as a reaction against the restrictions

of the positivist research methodology – purpose of testing preconceived theoretical hypotheses.

• GT is to develop explanatory and predictive theory out of the information gathered about social life, roles, and expected behaviors of people

• Inductive process where theory is rooted in the data gathered

Two Approaches to GT• Glaser: two coding processes are open

(substantive) and theoretical• Straus and Corbin added a third, intermediate

step called “axial coding” which is suppose to demystify the grounded theory process

• Axial coding required the initial open-coded data to be placed in 6 categories: (1) causal conditions, (2) phenomena, (3) context, (4) intervening conditions, (5) actions/strategies, and (6) consequences

7 Stages of GT Research1. Select a topic of interest2. Determine the purpose of the research3. Select a group or sample to study4. Collect research data using interviews,

observation, and document analysis5. Open (preliminary) coding as it is collected

----- Axial coding process6. Theoretical coding for theory development7. Development and presentation of theory

Stage 1: Choose your topic of interest• GT can be used in any field of study•Warning: avoid using GT in approaching a particular area of study with a preconceived hypothesis

Stage 2: Determine the purpose1.To evaluate accuracy of earlier

evidence2.To make generalizations based on

experience3.To identify a unit of measurement

for a one-case study4.To verify an existing theory5.To generate a theory

Stage 3: Selecting the group to study• Theoretical sampling – to maximize

opportunities to compare events, incidents, or happenings to determine how a category varies in terms of its properties and dimensions

• Process of picking the sources that can provide the most information about the research topic

• Concern is to ensure the representativeness of the sample than the concept of randomness

Stage 4: Collecting Research Data• Personal interviews•Simple or naturalistic observations•Narratives•Document or artifact analysis

Stage 5: Open Coding• Coding is a process of applying some conceptually

meaningful set of identifiers to the concepts, categories, and characteristics.

• This is an initial step in data analysis with the purpose of establishing or discovering categories and their properties

• Groupings of ideas (themes) and as many as the researcher can come up with based on her data

• This process undergoes several runs until a set of “core categories” is established.

• Next step is either to use axial coding with the 6 preconceived categories or proceed to the theoretical coding

Stage 6: Theoretical Coding• Process of imposing a final structure on the

data and establishing rank-order importance of the conceptual categories (Lee, 1999)

• Identify overarching categories or themes• Researcher picks the most powerful or

important theme where all data are then judged for their fit in this theoretical category

• Research repeats the process and identifies the second most important theme until all data are categorized into these main clusters

• Concept maps (mindmaps)

Stage 7: Theory Development• Form a theory that is grounded on

the data.• Theoretical memos (memoing) –

record of ideas, conclusions, propositions, and theoretical explanations of the phenomenon. These are like personal diaries on the field or field notes that include the personal experiences of the researcher as she interacts with her participants. Serves as basis of theory building

Characteristics of GT (Locke, 1996)• The theory must closely fit the topic and disciplinary area studied.• The theory must be understandable and useful to the actors in the studied situation.• The theory must be complex enough to account for a large portion, if not most, of the variation in the area studied.

Word of Advice in Using GTGrounded theory is a long term, labor intensive, and time-consuming process. It requires multiple waves of data collection, with each wave of data based on theoretical sampling. In addition, the iterative process should continue until a theoretical saturation is achieved. Given all this, researchers should avoid grounded theory unless they can commit substantial resources to a study. (Lee, 1999)

END.Thank you.