Grounded Theory

1. Grounded Theory Method
Presented by
Aamir Shahzad & Inam-ul-Haq
UVAS Business School

2. • What is grounded theory
− Definition
− What GTM share with other QRM
− Features
− How do it works
− Foundations
− Building blocks
• Strengths and Weakness
• Versions
• Process of Grounded Theory Process
Key Outcomes

3. What is Grounded Theory
The aim of grounded theory is:
‘to generate or discover a theory’ (Glaser and Strauss, 1967)
Grounded theory may be defined as:
‘the discovery of theory from data systematically
obtained from social research’
(Glaser and Strauss 1967: 2)
“A grounded theory is one that is inductively derived
from the study of the phenomena it represents”
(Strauss and Corbin, 1990, p.23)

4. Charmaz, K. (2006) ”Grounded Theory in
the 21st Century” in The Sage Handbook
of Qualitative Research
• G&S advocated explaining phenomena by
“developing theories from research grounded in
data rather than deducing testable hypotheses
from existing theories” (Charmaz, 2006, p. 4 –
emphasis in original)
What is grounded theory

5. • In summary, Grounded Theory is… a
research method that will enable you to:
• develop a theory which
• offers an explanation about
• the main concern of the population of your
substantive area
• and how that concern is resolved or
processed.
What is grounded theory

6. What GTM share with other QRM
• Focus on everyday life experiences
• Valuing participants' perspectives
• Enquiry as interactive process between
researcher and respondents
• Primarily descriptive and relying on people's
words
(Marshall and Rossman, 1999)

7. Features of Grounded Theory
(Cohen et al, 2011, p.598)
• Theoretical explanations are not predefined
• Theory emerges from the data rather than vice
versa
• Theory is generated as a consequence of,
systematic data collection (‘thick’ description)
and analysis (‘rich’ interpretation)
• Patterns and theories are implicit in data,
waiting to be discovered.

8. But how does it work?
• Thick description of context, events &
participants, derived from
• multiple methods of data collection, from
which
• key data are collated, and subjected to an
iterative process of
• grounded analysis, which enables
• rich interpretation, which leads to
• Grounded theory – situated explanation

9. Standards of Validation (Glaser & Strauss,
1971, p.176)
• Fit
• Workability
• Relevance
• Modifiability
Grounded
Theory

10. Building Blocks
Chapter 7 grounded theory methodology, online learning center,
www.openup.co.uk
Coding
Categories
Concepts
Theoretical Sensitivity
Theoretical sampling
Constant Comparison
Theoretical Saturation
Memo Writing

11. Cont….
• Coding: is a form of content analysis to find and
conceptualize the underlying issues amongst the
“noise” in the data. (Allan, 2003)
“Coding means that we attach labels to segments of
data that depict what each segment is about.”
(Charmaz, 2006, p. 3)
• Categories: grouping together the instances
(events, processes, occurrences) that share central
features or characteristics with one and other
• Concepts: are the basic units of analysis

12. Cont….
• Theoretical Sensitivity: the researcher should
be very sensitive about data. (Glaser, 1978)
• Theoretical Sampling: this involves collecting
further data in the light of categories that have
emerged from earlier stages of data analysis.
• Constant Comparison: Maintain close
connection between categories (codes) and data

13. Cont….
• Theoretical Saturation: no new or relevant
data emerges regarding a category and
relationships between categories are
established
(Strauss and Corbin, 1998)
• Memo Writing: the researcher maintains a
written record of theory development.

14. Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths:
An effective approach to build new theories
and understand new phenomena
• High quality of the emergent theory
• Findings and methods are always refined and
negotiated

15. Cont….
• Requires detailed and systematic procedures
for data collection, analysis and theorizing
• Requires the researcher to be open minded, and
able to look at the data through many lenses

16. Weaknesses
• Huge volumes of data
• Time consuming and painstakingly precise
process of data collection/analysis
• Lots of noise and chaos in the data
• Prescribed application required for the data-
gathering process

17. Versions of Grounded Theory
• Glaser
− Theory should emerge by constant comparison, not
forced. Emergent.
• Strauss and Corbin
− Prescriptive, develops categories
• Charmaz
− Categories and theory co-constructed by researcher
and respondent – constructivist
− Attends to language and action
− Examines how experience is constructed and
structures are erected

18. Data Collection
• ‘all is data’
− In-depth interviews Most commonly used
− Relies on open ended questions
− Questions can be modified to reflect emerging
theory
• Observations
• Documents
• Historical Records
• Vidoetapes, etc.

19. Analysis and Interpretation
• Analysis begins and continues when data are being
collected and transcribed (and translated)
• Therefore, the researcher him/herself should transcribe the
data because preliminary codes and themes will occur in
the process
• The analysis says as much about the researcher as about the
data being analysed:
• “It is naïve to suppose that the qualitative data analyst can
separate analysis from interpretation, because words
themselves are interpretations and are to be interpreted.”
(Cohen et al, 2007, p. 495)

20. The coding process
• The researcher must interrogate the data to identify units
of analysis (categories). Thus:
• Highlight key points in each dataset (e.g. an interview)
• Give each key point a code to describe the data
• The codes will reveal patterns across the data
• Then group the patterns into categories
• Give each category a title
• New codes and subcategories will emerge.
• Three types of coding: open, axial, and selective.

21. Open Coding
• Examine the text for salient categories
• Applying codes to the text is labelling phenomena.
• Key is to avoid mere description.
− e.g. “conferring” not “talked to a manager”
− “information gathering” not “reading the schedule”
• Use constant comparative approach in an attempt to
saturate
• Saturation = look for the instances that represent the
category and continue looking (and interviewing) until new
information does not provide further insight into the
category.

22. Axial coding
• After open coding one set of data, you start to make
interconnections between categories and codes
between datasets (e.g. interviews and observations)
• Examine each open code in a dataset and compare
and contrast with other datasets (Bloor & Wood,
2006)
• Common patterns (categories) will emerge from
axial coding
• Codes categories and sub-categories need to be
constantly checked, rechecked and redefined (Seidel,
1998)

23. Selective coding: Core categories
(Strauss & Corbin, 1994)
• After completing open and axial coding, the
researcher will select core categories, which must:
• 1. be central to the category system and the
phenomena, rather than peripheral
• 2. appear frequently in the data
• 3. fit the data, comfortably and logically
• 4. enable variations to be explained
• 5. have the greatest explanatory power

24. Interpreting the data
(Burns, 1999, p. 159)
• The move beyond describing, coding, categorising
and comparing to make sense of the data.
• “This stage demands a certain amount of creative
thinking…
• As it is concerned with articulating underlying
concepts and developing theories …
• … about why particular patterns of behaviours,
interactions or attitudes have emerged”..
• … You may need to come back to the data several
times to pose questions, rethink the connections and
develop explanations of the bigger picture
underpinning the research.”

25. Theoretical saturation
• Saturation is the point when the major themes
are fully developed, and no new information will
add to them (Cresswell, 2007, p. 244)
• the analysed data can provide no new theoretical
insights (Hutchinsoin et al, 2010, p.299)
• This is ultimately a subjective judgement
• The researcher is now ready to formulate a
situated explanation of the phenomenon that has
been investigated grounded in the data.

26. Memo Writing
• Theorizing and commenting about codes as
you go along
• Notes to yourself
• Glaser’s classic definition
“… the theorizing write-up of ideas about codes and
their relationships as they strike the analyst while
coding… it can be a sentence, a paragraph or a few
pages… it exhausts the analyst’s momentary
ideation based on data with perhaps a little
conceptual elaboration.”
Glaser, B (1978)Theoretical Sensitivity: Advances in the methodology of
grounded theory Mill Valley CA: Sociology Press.

27. Summary
• Transcribe, collate and manage data – iteratively
• Select key data for preliminary exploration
• Coding: open – to identify categories
• Coding: axial – compare & contrast datasets
− Use a variety of memos
− Use a codebook to label, define and exemplify
− Keep a reflective research journal
• Coding: selective –to identify and layer themes
• Explore the themes to develop an explanation
• Saturation - from analysis to interpretation to theory

28. The Use of Grounded Theory in Change
Management Research
Author: David Bamford
Journal: Journal of Change Management,
2008
• Purpose: This paper describes the use of
Grounded Theory (GT) for the analysis of
collated data on organizational change within a
large UK manufacturing company

29. Cont…
• Method: Grounded theory Method
(Eisenhardt 1989)
− Getting Started
− Selecting Cases
− Crafting Instrument
− Entering the field
− Analyzing Data
− Shaping
− Enfolding Literature
− Research Closure

30. Cont…
• Data Collection: Nine Months taken for
collection of data
− 30 structured interviews
− 200 meetings were observed
− Documentations, annual reports
• Sampling: Judgment, snowball and quota
technique
• Software Used: NUDIST

31. Cont…
• Conclusions: This paper has outlined the
research methodology adopted for a research
study conducted within a change management
environment. The approach has been discussed
in some detail and the process of investigation
described.

33. The influences of information about labor
abuses on consumer choice of clothes: a
grounded theory approach
Author: Carmen Valor
Journal: Journal of Marketing Management,
2007
• Purpose: To fill the gap in the literature about
ethical consumption, in particular about ethical
purchasing of clothes.

34. Cont…
• Method: Grounded theory method
• Data Collection: In-depth interviews
− Focused on past buying decisions
• Sampling: Theoretical Saturation was reached
after a total of 11 interviews
• Data Analysis: Coding Approach and emerging
analytical categories

35. Cont…
• Findings: Ambivalence is the central category
which arises due to interdependence
relationship of three factors;
− Perception of ethical obligation
− Conflicting self identities and
− Perceptions of the possibility of changing the
system

37. Intransivities of managerial decisions: a
grounded theory case
Author: David Douglas
Journal: Management Decision, 2006
• Purpose: First, to demonstrate and examine
inductively derived theory through the
application of grounded theory methodology
• Second, from a wider empirical organizational
case study two emergent theoretical categories
are illustrated and critically discussed

38. Cont…
• Third, to contribute to the qualitative and
interpretive discussion of what can practically
be learned from the application and improved
understanding of the grounded theory approach
to theory building
• Method: Grounded theory method
• Data Collection: In two phases
− Exploratory field investigation
− Individual in-depth interviews
• Sampling: Ten employees

39. Cont…
• Findings: Emergent theory exposes actors’
disputed perceptions of how the business had
been managed and ought to be managed, and,
the judgments and decisions that had been
made and consequently should be made.

40. RESEARCH PAPERS ON THE TOPIC
1. A Grounded theory:- Beer consumption in
Australia---- Simone Pettigrew
2. Using grounded theory to understand software
process improvement----Gerry Coleman & Rory
Connor
3. A Grounded Theory of:- Young Tennis Players’ Use
of Music to Manipulate Emotional State----Daniel
T. Bishop

41. A GROUNDED THEORY: BEER
CONSUMPTION IN AUSTRALIA
Simone Pettigrew is a Senior Lecturer in
marketing in the Faculty of Business and Public
Management at Edith Cowan University, Perth,
Australia.
In Year 2002: Qualitative Market Research: An
International Journal

42. This study applied the grounded theory
method of data collection and analysis to the
social phenomenon of beer consumption in
Australia.
INTRODUCTION

43. AIM OF THE STUDY
1. The aim was to explore a popular Australian
consumption activity to provide an insight
into the consumption process in general, and
the consumption of beer in particular.
2. The output is a substantive theory of beer
consumption.

44. METHODOLOGY
According to requirement of grounded theory:-
 Special social process was selected for
analysis
 Structured Interview
 Participant Observations
 Non Participant Observations

45. INTERVIEWS
Category
No. of
interviewees
Males 255
Females 186
Bartenders 9
Brewery representatives 5
Public drinking houses 87
Sporting clubs/venues 19
Private homes 12
Retirement villages 13
Primary schools 93
Secondary schools 208
Regional centres/towns 20
Western Australia 229
New South Wales 168
Victoria 44
Total 441

46. CATEGORY
 “Image management” was Core Category
 Associated properties being monitoring,
analysing, and communicating.
 The implications of the category and
properties for current consumer behavior
theories are outlined

47. CONCLUSION
 productive research methodology for a wide
range of consumption studies,
 Its major benefit lies in ‘‘pushing through’’ to
the stage of category and property
identification,
 Taking analysis one step further than the
more commonly employed method of theme
derivation from grounded data.

48. CONCLUSION
 By identifying the core purpose behind
consumption behaviors and the processes
involved, researchers can increase their
understanding of consumers’ motivations and
experiences.
 This has the potential to improve both the
theoretical and practical benefits of consumer
research.

49. USING GROUNDED THEORY TO
UNDERSTAND SOFTWARE
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
Gerry Coleman:- Department of Computing,
Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dundalk, Co.
Louth, Ireland.
Rory O’Connor : School of Computing, Dublin
City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland
In Year 2007: Information and Software
Technology

50.  A study of Irish software product companies:
 Grounded Theory as a suitable approach to
determine what was happening in actual
practice in relation to software process and
Software process improvement.
INTRODUCTION

51. AIM OF THE STUDY
1. To understand the software process.
2. Implementation of changes to that process
to achieve specific goals such as increasing
development speed, achieving higher
product quality or reducing costs.
Accordingly.

52. AIM OF THE STUDY
1. How are software processes initially established
in software company?
1. How do these software processes change?
2. What causes these software processes to
change?
3. How do the operational and contextual factors,
present in organizations, influence the content
of, and adherence to, software processes?

53. METHODOLOGY
According to requirement of grounded theory:-
 Special social process was selected for
analysis
 Structured Interview
 Participant Observations
 Non Participant Observations

54. INTERVIEWS
Co. Market sector Total no. of employees No. of employees in s/w development Interviewee
1 Telecommunications 6 3 Development manager
2 Company secretarial 50 20 Product manager
3 Telecommunications 10 3 CEO
4 Telecommunications 70 30 CTO
5 Telecommunications 12 6 Development manager
6 Compliance management 100 40 Quality manager
7 Enterprise 150 100 Product manager
8 E-Learning 120 70 Development manager
9 Information quality 27 9 Development manager
10 Telecommunications 15 12 Development manager
11 Telecommunications 160 110 CTO
12 Financial services 35 23 CTO
13 Financial services 130 90 Product manager
14 Interactive TV 60 40 Product manager
15 Public sector 150 90 Product manager
16 Medical devices 19 9 CTO
17 Telecommunications 70 35 CTO
18 Public sector 3 3 CEO
19 HR solutions 30 15 General manager
20 Games infrastructure 40 20 Product manager
21 Personalisation 50 40 Technical director

55. THEMES AND CATEGORY
THEME CATEGORY
Process formation
 Background of software
development manager
 Background of founder
 Management style
 Process tailoring
 Market requirements
Process evolution
• Process erosion
• Minimum process
• Business event
• SPI trigger
• Employee buy-in to process
• Hiring expertise
• Process inertia

56. THEMES AND CATEGORY
THEME CATEGORY
Core category:-
Cost of process  Bureaucracy
 Documentation
 Communication
 Tacit knowledge
 Creativity
 Flexibility

57. CONCLUSION
The study has found that all of the companies
are Tailoring standard software processes to
their own particular operating context such as
the size of the company, the target market, and
project and system

58. CONCLUSION
The major contributions of this work is a
grounded theory explaining how software
process is initially established in a software start-
up.

59. Grounded Theory : Young Tennis
Players’ Use of Music to Manipulate
Emotional State
Daniel T. Bishop, Costas I. Karageorghis, and
Georgios Loizou are with the School of Sports
and Education ,Brunel University, England.
In Year 2007: Journal of Sport & Exercise
Psychology

60. This study applied the grounded theory
method of data collection and analysis to the
phenomenon that Young Tennis Players’ Use of
Music to Manipulate Emotional State
INTRODUCTION

61. AIM OF THE STUDY
1. To elucidate young tennis players’ use of
music to manipulate emotional states,
2. To present a model grounded in present data
to illustrate this phenomenon and to
stimulate further research.

62. METHODOLOGY
According to requirement of grounded theory:-
 Process was selected for analysis
 Pilot Interview
 Interview
 Diary Data collection.
 Observation, Videotapes

63. INTERVIEWS
14 Number young Tennis Player of an
international junior tennis center in southwest
London, England was selected.
.

64. INTERVIEWS
The initial questionnaire, preinterview music
questionnaire, interview, and diary collectively
yielded qualitative and quantitative data
pertaining to the how, what, when, where, and
why of participants’ music listening emerged the
following themes

65. Intended Emotional Outcomes of
Music Listening
 Appropriate mental focus
 Confident
 Positive Emotional State
 Psyched up
 Relaxed

66. CONCLUSION
 Interview and Diary data were combined to
generate a grounded theory of this
phenomenon. Grounded theory was
considered the best method because such an
approach is most likely to enhance our
understanding and to guide subsequent
action.
 Central to the present data is the fact that all
participants selected music to manipulate
their emotional state

67. CONCLUSION
 one of the most notable and recurrent
themes throughout all stages of data
collection was the active use of music as an
emotional regulation strategy

68. References
• Charmaz K (1990) ‘Discovering’ chronic illness: Using grounded
theory Social Science and Medicine 30(11):1161-1172
• Charmaz K (2006) Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide
through Qualitative Analysis London Sage Publications
• Glaser BG Strauss AL (1967) The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for
qualitative research New York: Aldine de Gruyter
• Glaser BG (1978) Theoretical sensitivity, California, The Sociology Press
• Glaser BG (1992) Basics of grounded theory analysis Emergence vs. forcing
California: Sociology Press
• Strauss A Corbin J (1990) Basics of qualitative research Grounded theory
procedures and techniques Newbury Park: Sage Publications
• Strauss A Corbin J (1998) Basics of qualitative research techniques and
procedures for developing grounded theory Second edition Thousand Oaks:
Sage Publications

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References

71. List of Books Published
• 1967 (Glaser and Strauss 1967) The discovery of grounded theory
• 1978 (Glaser 1978) Theoretical sensitivity
• 1987 (Strauss 1987) Qualitative analysis for social scientists
• 1990 (Strauss and Corbin 1990) Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory
procedures
• and techniques
• 1992 (Glaser 1992) Basics of grounded theory analysis
• 1994 (Strauss and Corbin 1994) ‘Grounded theory methodology: An overview’ in
Handbook of
• qualitative research (1st Edition)
• 1995 (Charmaz 1995) ‘Grounded theory’ in Rethinking methods in psychology
• 1998 (Strauss and Corbin 1998) Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory
procedures
• and techniques (2nd Edition)
• 2000 (Charmaz 2000) ‘Grounded theory: Objectivist and constructivist methods’ in
• Handbook of qualitative research (2nd Edition)
• 2005 (Clarke 2005) Situational analysis: Grounded theory after the postmodern turn
• 2006 (Charmaz 2006) Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through
• qualitative analysis