Rediscovering Grounded Theory

Barry Gibson, Jan Hartman

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781446248713, 9781446248706
• eBook ISBN: 9781446293270
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Research & Methodology
• Index: Social Sciences

Rediscovering Grounded Theory is a bold re-evaluation of the origins of grounded theory, a philosophical clarification of its key ideas and a presentation of the most effective way to use its techniques in your research.

It answers questions such as ?What should grounded theory look like??, ?How do I recognise grounded theory?? and ?How do I produce good grounded theory?? by returning to the original ideas as they were presented by Glaser and Strauss.

Sharp, clear and thought-provoking, the book includes:

- Detailed analysis of the current literature

- Exemplar sections filled with detailed, real world examples and applications

- A detailed glossary

It will provide you with a grasp of what a grounded theory should look like, take you through the process of building a grounded theory and then explain best practice for critically evaluating the quality of grounded theory research.

1 Introduction

Aim: To explore the context and reasons for rediscovering grounded theory

Learning outcomes

After reading this chapter you should be able to:

• identify and appreciate the need to rediscover grounded theory
• outline and appreciate the sociological context of grounded theory
• have a critical awareness of the need to understand the philosophical context of grounded theory
• develop a clear understanding of the outline and overview of the book

Grounded theory has become one of the most widely applied research methodologies.¹ You will find reference to it in fields as disparate as medicine, education, architecture, marketing, business management, psychology and sociology. This variety of uses is testimony to the success of grounded theory. So what is this widely applied methodology and why should we pay attention to it? Put simply, grounded theory is a method for the generation of theory from data. It is a method that seeks to produce theory that is practical and useful and closely related to the field in which the theory has been developed. It seeks to achieve this by building theory that is ‘grounded’ in the perspectives of the people who are trying to work in the area being studied as they resolve the problems with which they are confronted.

Grounded theory was developed to try to address what had become an embarrassing ‘gap’ in sociology in the 1950s and 1960s. This ‘gap’ was effectively a ‘gap’ between theory and empirical research. On the one hand, there were sociologists developing ‘grand theories’ that sought to explain everything in society, but who conducted very little in the way of empirical research. On the other hand, there was a large literature of empirical studies that did not say very much that was theoretical.

Why is theory so important anyway?

Theory is important for several reasons. First, it reduces the complexity of the world as we study it by selecting the most important and relevant aspects of that world and highlighting those in detailed descriptions. Second, it involves specifying how the relevant aspects of the thing being studied relate to each other. Third, because a theory can enable us to know how things in the world are related, it can enable ‘predictions’ about the world. How theory achieves this can be highly variable and nuanced, depending on the field in which you are working. So, for example, in some fields relationships are described in mathematical formulas; in others these kinds of descriptions will be rare. Fourth, if theory enables us to predict how things are related in the world, it then allows us to intervene in that world to control or change it in some way.

Some fields, public health, for example, are characterised by a desire to change things for the better. Public health scientists often develop theory that reflects their interest to improve the health of whole populations. This goal means that public health professionals have tended to develop research that tests the predictions that they make concerning why certain groups of people in the population get ill or remain healthy. They often use the predictions derived from their view of the world to pressure governments to make changes to society to promote better health. So, for example, they might predict that high levels of alcohol consumption can predispose groups of people to a range of diseases. A whole series of studies might demonstrate that this prediction appears to be correct. Public health scientists have gone further, however; they have also sought to try to change the situation. Some research has tested the prediction that if we increase the price of alcohol by a certain amount that people will tend to consume less. They have subsequently recommended to governments that there should be a minimum price per unit of alcohol. They have been successful in changing government policies to some extent. This kind of theory, when accompanied with accurate predictions borne out by empirical research, can be used as an important political tool.

The kind of theory that results from grounded theory methodology, as we shall see, is not like the kind of theory which you find in public health. Why is this? First, grounded theory is developed with a different purpose in mind. Grounded theory is developed mostly to explain ‘what is going on’ in a particular field or area of human endeavour. This is a more general starting point than beginning with the desire to improve population health. The kind of theory that public health leads to tends to be developed from the top down; ‘deduced’, if you like, from a few general ideas. So, for example, one proposition is that people are directly influenced by their environments. A consequence of this proposition is the deduction that the remedy for problems such as the over-consumption of alcohol might be to change the environment in some way. This has been achieved by increasing the minimum price of a unit of alcohol and therefore attempting to price groups of people ‘in society’ out of over-consumption. Theory that is developed in this way is often developed from outside the situation to which it is applied. In this case, it is developed by a group of professionals who, for the most part, will not be affected as much by the results of their research. As a consequence, public health research often acts against groups in society in some way with the goal of being for them in other ways. After all, the goal of public health research is to promote health.

Grounded theory is not like this. Grounded theory is a perspective on how to build theory that is grounded in the perspective of those in the field. It is problem-focused because it involves studying how people experience and resolve their everyday problems. The theory that is developed through the method is focused on explaining how those problems are resolved. How grounded theory does this is what this book is about.

Why this book?

In recent years there have been a number of new books on grounded theory. Why, then, yet another book on the subject? More specifically, why a book about rediscovering grounded theory? What does that mean? Our reasons are as follows. First, some years ago we looked at the state of the discussion about grounded theory. We saw that over time there had been numerous adjustments and changes to grounded theory methodology, and this had led to increased variability and complexity in what grounded theory is. This increasing complexity has had the effect of threatening key aspects of the methodology. It has also frequently masked very different understandings about how to do grounded theory. Some have argued that there are probably as many different versions of grounded theory as there are grounded theorists (Dey 1999). You don’t need to look too far to see evidence to support this position. Apart from Barney Glaser’s version, which is said to cling to the original ideas, we have Strauss and Corbin’s (1990) version, and we have a group of versions belonging to what has become known as the ‘second-generation grounded theory’. The most important of these is the ‘constructivist grounded theory’ of Charmaz (2000, 2006, 2008).

This increasing variability in grounded theory has led to a confusing variety of procedures and ‘rules’ for doing grounded theory. These rules are not always compatible and can conflict with each other. So, for example, Charmaz (2000) argues that we should be studying and conceptualising meaning. In contrast to this, Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin (1990) argue that we should be studying social phenomena, while Barney Glaser says that we should look for core categories and social processes. Someone who reads all of these books might be more confused than enlightened.

There is a third argument for this book. The increasing complexity of grounded theory has tended to mask the fact that the method was developed at a time when there was a debate in sociology in the 1950s and 1960s. This debate has had important consequences for why grounded theory was written the way it is. By rediscovering these debates we can have a much more critical awareness concerning why grounded theory is the way it is. This takes us to a stronger point. As the complexity of grounded theory has increased, different approaches have developed that contradict each other. In some cases today, approaches to grounded theory have, in fact, been deliberately constructed in opposition to each other. The question then arises to what extent can we talk of grounded theory in a general sense? It is for this reason in particular that we feel it is important to engage in the process of rediscovery that is at the heart of this book. The only way to come to terms with the variability of views on grounded theory, we believe, is to go back to the method in the context in which it was developed because there you have something that is stable. We feel that this approach can be used to enable us to embrace the more recent versions of the methodology.

With this in mind, the purpose of this book is to try to cut through the current debates on grounded theory by seeking out grounded theory in the context in which it was produced. In doing so we will be able to focus on defining what grounded theory is. We feel this is important because it will help to protect a core set of ideas around which variations in approaches to doing grounded theory can be justified. Our position, then, is to encourage methodological pluralism, but at the same time to protect the core identity of a methodology that is clearly valued.

There is more to this book, however. The book has developed out of a long conversation between a philosopher and a sociologist. As you will see, this conversation in itself entails a new kind of discovery, a discovery that grounded theory can also be situated within the context of the philosophy of science. This discovery can be conducted in an entirely positive and constructive way, a way that can clarify the similarities and differences between grounded theory and other theoretical perspectives. When these comparisons are made, we begin to see how grounded theory handles important philosophical problems, what is unique about the method and also what remains to be said about it. At all points we have tried to produce an engaging and positive discussion of these issues. It is in no way meant to be comprehensive but, as you will see, there are some very important philosophical discussions that we can have about grounded theory. Our desire is therefore to stimulate further discussion.

Finally, grounded theory is a practical method, a way of generating theory from data. At times this way of doing something is unnecessarily shrouded in mystery. We would like to enable you to discover how to do grounded theory and how to do it well. This is the third aspect of our rediscovery. Having gone back through the original texts we wish to take you through what the rediscovery of grounded theory means for doing grounded theory. Our reasons for thinking that this might be possible are because we feel that a careful analysis of the original texts has produced some surprising findings, all of which we will reveal to you in what follows. As we have indicated above, we have gone beyond this initial analysis and have drawn on the perspective of analytical philosophy to seek out positive statements about what grounded theory is. Part of our rediscovery, then, is about bringing you to these statements.

In the next sections we will explore the theoretical contexts of grounded theory. Our goal in this exploration is to highlight that grounded theory developed out of the background of the comparative method as a general method in sociology. In this analysis you will discover the important continuities and discontinuities that exist between grounded theory and comparative sociology. This analysis presents an alternative account of the origins of grounded theory than you will find in the current literature on grounded theory. After doing this, we will go on to consider what this means for grounded theory. The chapter then introduces the philosophical context and shows the important philosophical issues to which grounded theory relates. After this, we provide an outline of the book.

The sociological context

Grounded theory has its origins in sociology. That grounded theory originated from sociology is well known; what is less well known are the specific influences on the method as it was developing. The original text, The Discovery of Grounded Theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967; hereafter called Discovery), is radical and, at times, polemical. To students who try to read it today it can be daunting and impenetrable. It has a certain style of argumentation that can be difficult to follow. This is especially the case for those unfamiliar with the context in which the book was being produced. This is unfortunate because it means a lot of the debates and arguments within the book will be lost on today’s reader. Indeed, there is a strong possibility that the text will obscure more than it reveals. But there is something exciting about the text. There is a real sense that in Discovery the authors had hit on something new. You get a feeling that Glaser and Strauss (1967) were mapping out new directions for sociologists that would free them from the domination of the ‘theoretical capitalists’ of sociology.² Not only would grounded theory free the sociologist, we are told it might even promise a new kind of sociology. What we want to do in this book is take you back through these debates to enable you to grasp something of the ‘spirit’ of grounded theory. This is one of the elements of Rediscovering Grounded Theory.

Origins: Sociologists at Work and comparative sociology

As we have already said, the original texts of grounded theory – Discovery and, in some respects, Theoretical Sensitivity: Advances in the Methodology of Grounded Theory (Glaser 1978; hereafter called Theoretical Sensitivity) – were written as a new approach to doing research. They were written against something and towards something new. To be more specific, Discovery was very much written against a particular form of theory generation in favour of another form of theory generation. In addition, the text was directed at a particular audience. Understanding this is critical to understanding and discovering what grounded theory is all about.

In our study of the original texts, looking closely at the footnotes and the direction of the writing, we discovered that significant sections of Discovery are written both against and beyond various contributions to an edited collection by Philip Hammond, entitled Sociologists at Work (Hammond 1964). Sociologists at Work is a remarkable text. It was an important landmark in the development of research methods in sociology. This is because it was one of the earliest attempts to describe the processes involved in doing research, with one other text acting as another example (Hanson 1958). Of course, prior to this, sociology did discuss methods. You only need to look at the work of Weber and Durkheim to realise that quite a bit of debate had taken place (Weber 1904/1949a 1904/1949b; Durkheim 1938). The debate to which Discovery appears to be directed was a debate happening in North America, supported by Lazarsfeld, Merton, Whyte, Gouldner and Mills (Hammond 1964). Glaser and Strauss (1967) took many of their main points of departure from Sociologists at Work. It is important to understand what Sociologists at Work was trying to achieve before we can begin to understand grounded theory.

In the introduction to Sociologists at Work, Hammond (1964) makes a number of revealing points. We discover that the book was an attempt to explore what was termed the ‘logic of discovery’ in relation to the ‘logic of justification’ in social science. We will discuss what this means in more detail in Chapters 2 and 3. The key thing we would like you to realise, then, is that the first book on the grounded theory method, Discovery, was not the only book concerned with discovering theory. It was another approach that was being suggested at the time. From Hammond’s perspective, the process of discovery was ‘disorderly’, often circumstantial, non-rational as well as logical and systematic (Hammond 1964). The nature of this ‘disorderly process’ meant that often the contributors to the volume were reluctant to specify too much about the process of doing research. Indeed, Hammond stated that it would be ‘an error to expect of these essays on the “context of discovery” a set of rules to follow’ (Hammond 1964: 13). As you can see, the very idea of discovering theory was not new; rather, this idea was part of a broader debate at the time.

Glaser and Strauss’s Discovery (1967) clearly develops from this general debate. Indeed, the parallels between Discovery and Sociologists at Work do not stop there. Many of the themes of discussion from Sociologists at Work were later developed and extended in grounded theory. For example, in the introduction to the book it was made clear that each of the researchers writing in the volume was also struggling with the distinction between theory and research. Every research question had some form of structuring idea or preconception, and the distinction between research and theory was problematic. Hammond argued against the view that research involved the classification of facts:

when, in reality, as science it is concerned with ‘evolving conceptual schemes.’ Indeed, research by induction is patently not what scientific discovery typically involves but rather what has been called abduction, or ‘leading away,’ that is ‘theorising’. (Hammond 1964: 4)

Many of the problems common to social research to this day form part of the focus of this text. Common problems included the problem of how to deal with huge amounts of data, how to select and integrate data in research and how this process is related to or dominated by pre-existing ideas (Coleman 1964). As you will see, all of these themes became central to grounded theory. Some of the problems were reformulated, others were not. Take the example of Geer, who discovered an ‘integrating principle’ (Hammond 1964: 5) in her field work. A very similar idea occurs in grounded theory (see Chapter 9). Finally, many of the writers cited in Sociologists at Work were grappling with the problem of refining theoretical insights so that they could adequately explain reality (Hammond 1964). The main discussion at the time wa...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Publisher Note
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Table List
• Illustration List
• Sidebar List
• Sidebar List
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• Part 1 What is Grounded Theory?
• 2 What Kind of Theory is Grounded Theory?
• 3 Constructivism in Grounded Theory
• 4 Disentangling Concepts and Categories in Grounded Theory
• 5 Coding in Grounded Theory
• Part 2 Doing Grounded Theory
• 6 How to Develop Theoretical Sensitivity
• 7 Rediscovering Skills for Theoretical Sampling
• 8 Theoretical Pacing and the Process of Doing Grounded Theory
• 9 Rediscovering Coding in Grounded Theory
• 10 Thinking Theoretically and Writing Memos in Grounded Theory
• 11 Theoretical Integration and Sorting in Grounded Theory
• 12 Integrating, Challenging and Contributing to the Literature
• 13 Understanding How to Write Theoretically
• 14 Rediscovering Formal Theory
• 15 Rediscovering Grounded Theory: Back to the Future
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index