GROUNDED THEORY (THEMATIC ANALYSIS)

Question 1

what is grounded theory?

Answer 1

approach to analysis in (textual) data designed to fit the emerging theory (categories) to data and additional data of relevance

Question 2

elements of grounded theory:

Answer 2

• guidelines for conducting data collection, data analysis and theory building
• systematic as analysis of data can generate theory on application of general principles/methods
• inductive guidelines rather than deductive (conventional), but not against just only of over-abstract/untestable social theory
• theory must develop out of understanding of complexity of subject matter, exploring data
• continuous building process rather than sequence of tests as data collection, transcription phase, analysis phase all share common intent of building theory

Question 3

development of grounded theory

Answer 3

demonstrate than quantitative research could be made rigorous, systematic and structured
division of research and theory, collection and analysis seen as inseparable when analysis can be encouraged early in analysis and could be used to guide later collection of data

Question 4

how to do grounded theory analysis?

Answer 4

Potter :
comparison
coding/naming
categorisation
memo-writing
theoretical sampling
literature review

Question 5

comparison

Answer 5

all elements of research and analysis are constantly compared and contrasted
in terms of: what they’ve done/said, how someone says it, said/done in similar situations at diff times, w/ categ suggested by researcher,

Question 6

coding/naming

Answer 6

lines of data given short desc to identify nature of their content
repeatedly examining data, what represents that line, prevents over-interpreting the data

Question 7

categorisation

Answer 7

coding amalgamated in to categ, helps fit coding in their entirety
start with smallest units and work back to larger theoretical descriptions, spot different patterns of coding and why

Question 8

memo writing

Answer 8

researcher records ideas and analysis throughout research process, can extend to main themes of final report
aspect in which data is explored rather than described and categorised
Statuss and Corbin - conceptual density where there is richness in conceptual density and relationship identification

Question 9

what are the different types of coding/categorisation?

Answer 9

initial coding - research summarises the lines of text in a few words
axial coding - indicating relationships between categories of coding
selective coding - what overall theme of analysis is

Question 10

theoretical sampling

Answer 10

validate ideas developed in memo
identify new sources of data to validate analysis to point

Question 11

computer grounded theory analysis

Answer 11

Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS)
lots of paperwork with grounded theory analysis as a single focus group may generate 10-20 transcribed pages, computer acts as electronic office for grounded analyses
linkages between diff aspects of data, makes, maintains and changing linkages between document and diff documents
coding categories developed and frequently need regular change, refinement to fit data that could be introduced, quicker to do this on computer

Question 12

evaluation of grounded theory

Answer 12

• encourages pointless collection of data as no clear criteria for deciding what topic to research
• Potter = simply code how ordinary people ordinarily understand activities in which they engage in
• founded on admirable research ideals, need faith to think it will generate theory of significant value with a lot of work