Grounded Theory Designs
Power Point Slides by Ronald J. Shope in collaboration with John W. Creswell

• Defining Grounded Theory
• When to use Grounded Theory
• Key characteristics of Grounded Theory research
• Conducting a grounded theory study
• Evaluating a grounded theory study
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

• A grounded theory design is a systematic, qualitative procedure used to generate a theory that explains, at a broad conceptual level, a process, an action, or interaction about a substantive topic.
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

• To generate a theory rather than use one “off the shelf”
• To explain a process, action, or interaction
• When you want a step-by-step, systematic procedure
• When you want to stay close to the data
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

• 1967 Glaser and Strauss book The
Discovery of Grounded Theory
• 1990, 1998 Strauss and Corbin prescriptive form with predetermined categories and concerns about reliability and validity
• 2000 Charmaz introduces
“Constructivist” method
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Types of grounded theory designs: The systematic design
• Open Coding: properties and dimensionalized properties
• Axial Coding: researcher selects one open coding category and places it at the center as the Central Phenomenon and then relates all other categories to it.
• Selective Coding: writing a theory based on the interrelationship of the categories from axial coding
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Open Coding Categories
Category
Axial Coding Paradigm
Context
Category
Category
Category
Category
Causal
Conditions
Core
Category or
Phenomenon
Strategies Consequences
Intervening
Conditions
One open coding category as core phenomenon
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Types of grounded theory designs: The emerging design
• Grounded theory exists at the most abstract conceptual level rather than the least abstract level as found in visual data presentations such as a coding paradigm
• A theory is grounded in the data and not forced into categories
• Four essential criteria: fit, work, relevance, modifiability
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Types of grounded theory designs: A constructivist design
• Philosophical position between positivist and post-modern researchers
• Theorist explains feelings of individuals as they experience a phenomenon or process
• Study mentions beliefs and values of the researcher and eschews predetermined categories
• Narrative is more explanatory, discursive, and probing the assumptions and meanings for the individuals in the study.
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

• A process approach
• Theoretical sampling
• Constant comparative data analysis
• A core category
• Theory generation
• Memos
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

A process and categories within the flow of research in Grounded Theory
The research problem leads to
A study of a central phenomenon in grounded theory research questions
That addresses a process
Which contains
a sequence of activities
- including actions by people
- including interactions by people
Which a grounded theorist begins to understand by developing
categories
- relating categories
- developing a theory that explains
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Data Collection Data Analysis
Close to Saturated
Categories
Third
Interview
Second
Interview
First
Interview
More Refined
Categories
Refined
Categories
Toward
Saturation of
Categories
Preliminary
Categories
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Category I
Category II
Code A Code B Code C
Indicators
Raw Data (e.g. transcripts, field notes, documents)
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Core category of ethnicity in a theory of ethnic minority students’ process of community building
Ethnicity
- Hispanic
-Black
Gender
-male
-female
Background
- Economic Differences
-Diversity
-Adapting to Change
Sense of Self
Strategies
Withdrawal
Passive, low risk
Active
Intervening
Conditions
Peer
Interactions
Community
Causal Condition Phenomenon
Properties
- Nature of Interactions
- Racial Differences
- Quantity of Friends
- Intensity
- Time to Develop
Friends
Properties
- Sense of
Belonging
- Source
- Importance
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

• Memos are notes the researcher writes throughout the research process to elaborate on ideas about the data and the coded categories. In memos, the researcher explores hunches, ideas, and thoughts, and then takes them apart, always searching for the broader explanations at work in the process.
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

• Decide if grounded Theory design best addresses the research problem
• Identify a process to study
• Seek approval and access
• Conduct theoretical sampling
• Code the data
• Use selective coding and develop the theory
• Validate your theory
• Write a grounded theory research report
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

• Is there an obvious connection between the categories and the raw data?
• Is the theory useful as a conceptual explanation for the process being studied?
• Does the theory provide a relevant explanation of actual problems and a basic process?
• Can the theory be modified as conditions change or further data are gathered?
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

• Is a theoretical model developed or generated that conceptualizes a process, action, or interaction?
• Is there a central phenomenon (or core category) specified at the heart of the model?
• Does the model emerge through phases of coding? (e.g. initial codes to more theoretically oriented codes or open coding to axial coding to selective coding)
• Does the researcher attempt to interrelate categories?
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

• Does the researcher gather extensive data so as to develop a detailed conceptual theory as well saturated in the data?
• Does the study show how the researcher validated the evolving theory by comparing it to the data, examining how the theory supports or refutes existing theories in the literature, or checking theory with participants?
Educational Research 2e: Creswell