Grounded Theory Flashcards
Grounded theory
Definition A01
- Gathering qualitative data without a research question driving the gathering of such data, and then using coding to uncover themes and ideas in the data
- From these categories a theory can be generated
- The theory comes from data rather than the theory driving the gathering of data
- The theory is grounded in the data
- Avoid the adoption of a theory before looking at the data; involves looking a the data before creating a theory
- Look to see if ideas and themes are repeated; if the are these create categories so the data can be grouped accordingly
Grounded theory
A01
Glaser and Strauss (1967)
- Originally put forward the idea of grounded theory; aim to retain the richness of the ideas and interactions between people contained in qualitative data
- To produce coding that enables those meanings to be captured to present fairly and in a manageable form
- Important to show new ways of understanding behaviour,including shared meanings between people
Grounded theory
Stages A01
Coding is done= Taking text on small pieces, putting text into a heading that suits it. Identify the idea in each bit of text
Codes collected into concepts= groups data together, idea to see how the coded data might fit together in a way that generates ‘wider’ concepts. An active process, with concepts changing as analysis proceeds
Take concepts and group them into similarities and differences= where the theory starts to develop, research takes notes about process so notes can be read alongside the analysis and though processes followed- called ‘memoing’
Theory comes from collecting categories together= form a model that can explain the data, process more circular, might mean looking back over categories and revising theory accordingly
Grounded theory
Inductive and Deductive thinking A01
Deductive= going from a theory to ‘deduce’ what will arise from that theory eg if all men are mortal, and Henry is a man, by deduction= Henry is mortal
Researcher job to check claims,and if claims are true, then conclusion must be true
Inductive= ideas arising from empirical evidence, specific observations using sense data carried out then from the specifics, a general theory is derived
Grounded theory focuses on both:
- data that drives the concept which forms the theory= induction
- however checking back from a possible theory to the concepts and back again in order to build the theory can involve deduction
Grounded theory involves explaining the data rather than just describing it
Grounded theory
Evaluation A03
Strength-
Validity can be consider high as the coding from the data is done in chunks, then codes are developed into wider concepts. We go back and forth from codes to concepts to build the concepts. Therefore, meaning the participants thought and feelings are used to drive the analysis, suggesting the concepts accurately measure what they claim to measure.
Grounded theory
Evaluation A03
Strength-
Grounded theory allows the richness and detail of the qualitative data to survive the analysis through the process of coding. The concepts derived from coding brings the richness to the data, making it more useful when applying the produced theory as it has more rich evidence to support it.
Grounded theory
Evaluation A03
Weakness-
Grounded theory is thought to still have an element of bias to the process of generating a theory. It is impossible to code and categories data into concepts without a theory in mind, therefore limiting the validity of the approach as inevitably some subjectivity will influence the data when generating a theory.
Grounded theory
Evaluation A03
Weakness-
Generalisability is limited as the data used in grounded theory will have come from a specific culture in a specific time frame, using specific participants. Therefore the theory generated cannot be used to explain all the examples of the behaviour being understood and it is not representative of a wide population. Therefore, suggesting the theory may not be valid and furthermore be able to be applied widely.
