Volume 04

Volume 4, Issue no. 3, June 2005

                                     GT Review vol.4 issue 3    ←    Volume 4, Issue no. 3, June 2005 Basic Social Processes   Barney G. Glaser with the assistance of Judith Holton The goal of grounded theory is to generate a theory that accounts for a pattern of behavior that is relevant and problematic for those involved. The goal is not voluminous description, nor clever verification.  As with all grounded theory, the generation of a basic social process (BSP) theory occurs around a core category. While a core category is always present in a grounded research study, a BSP may not be. BSPs are ideally suited to generation by grounded theory from qualitative research because qualitative research can pick up process through fieldwork that continues over a period of time. BSPs are a delight to discover and formulate since they give so much movement and scope to the analyst’s perception of the data. BSPs such as cultivating, defaulting, centering, highlighting or becoming, give the feeling of process, change and movement over time.   They also have clear, amazing general implications; so much so, that it is hard to contain them within the confines of a single substantive study. The tendency is to refer to them as a formal theory without the necessary comparative development of formal theory. They are labeled by a “gerund”(“ing”) which both stimulates their generation and the tendency to over-generalize them. In this paper, we shall first discuss the search for, and criteria of, core variables and how they relate to BSPs. Then we go on to a section on several central characteristics of basic social processes. Lastly, we discuss the relative merits of unit vs. process sociology.   Adventuring: A grounded theory discovered through the analysis of science teaching and learning   Katrina M. Maloney The grounded theory of adventuring, derived from the substantive area of science teaching and learning, explains both why scientific thinking is an evolutionarily important trait and illustrates a common thread throughout a variety of teaching and learning behaviors. The core concept of adventuring incorporates the categories of exploring, mavericking, and acquiring and applying skills that are the hallmarks of positive science education. Learning science is difficult due to the higher order cognitive skills required. This study explains how we could be teaching and learning science in a way for which our brains are best suited, and in ways that reach all learners, and encourages the use of adventuring in all classrooms. Doing Best for Children: An emerging grounded theory of parents’ policing strategies to regulate between meal snacking Ruth Freeman, Richard Ekins & Michele Oliver Changes in children’s lifestyle from structured family meals to unstructured between meal sugar snacking has been recognised as a risk factor in childhood obesity.  Parental insights into children’s between meal snacking and their experiences of regulation are important if an understanding of sugar snacking is to be gained in the field of childhood obesity.  The aim of this study was to use grounded theory techniques to analyze the qualitative data obtained from participants and to generate an emerging theory of snack regulation.  A series of focus groups with parents and their children were conducted.  Data were analysed using grounded theory techniques.  The core category that emerged from the data was ‘doing best’.  Parents used the behavioural strategy of policing as a consequence of doing best.  Parents had to balance time availability, disposable income, energy levels, parental working patterns and family life with the child’s food wishes and social needs.  Balancing such contextual...

Volume 4, Issue no. 2, March 2005

                                 GT Review vol4 no2 ←   Volume 4, Issue no. 2, March 2005  The Impact of Symbolic Interaction on Grounded Theory  Barney G. Glaser  As I stated in the introduction to chapter 9, GT is a general inductive method possessed by no discipline or theoretical perspective or data type.  Yet the takeover of GT by Symbolic Interaction (SI) and all the departments and institutes that SI informs and resides in is massive and thereby replete with the remodeling of GT.  The literature on qualitative methodology is massive and replete with the assertion that SI is the foundation theoretical perspective of GT.  GT is reported as a SI method.  That GT is a general inductive method is lost.   Beyond the Physical Realm: A proposed theory regarding a consumer’s place experience  Mark Rosenbaum Marketers view place as a marketing mix tool that denotes activities associated with the distribution of products and services.  Thus, the discipline believes that places are alienated from consumers’ lives and experiences.  This article looks at the place concept anew and offers an original theory of consumers’ experience in place.   Visualising Deteriorating Conditions Tom Andrews & Heather Waterman The research aims were to investigate the difficulties ward staff experienced in detecting deterioration and how these were resolved. The emphasis within the literature tends to be on identifying premonitory signs that may be useful in predicting deterioration.  Changes in respiratory rate is the most consistent of these (Fieselmann et al. 1993; Sax and Charlson 1987; Schein et al. 1990; Smith and Wood 1998) but in common with other signs, it lacks sensitivity and specificity.   The sample consisted of 44 nurses, doctors (Interns) and health care support workers from a general medical and surgical ward.  Data were collected by means of non-participant observations and interviews, using grounded theory as originated by (Glaser and Strauss 1967) and (Glaser 1978).  As data were collected, the constant comparative method and theoretical sensitivity were used as outlined in grounded theory.  A core category of “visualising deteriorating conditions” emerged, together with its sub-core categories of “intuitive knowing”, “baselining” and “grabbing attention”. The main concern in visualising deteriorating conditions is to ensure that patients suspected of deterioration are successfully referred to medical staff.  The aim is to convince those who can treat or prevent further deterioration to intervene.  Through intuitive knowing they pick up that patients have changed in a way that requires a medical assessment.  To make the referral more credible, nurses attempt to contextualise any changes in patients by baselining (establishing baselines).  Finally with the backup of colleagues, nurses refer patients by providing as much persuasive information as possible in a way that grabs attention.  The whole process is facilitated by knowledge and experience, together with mutual trust and respect. Grounded Theory and Heterodox Economics Frederic S. Lee The dominant theory in the discipline of economics, known as neoclassical economics, is being challenged by an upstart, known as heterodox economics.  The challengers face many obstacles, the most significant of which is the actual creation of an alternative economic theory.  However heterodox economists have not settled on what the methodology of theory creation should be.  The aim of this paper is to advocate that the method of grounded theory is the best set of guidelines for theory creation.  In addition, I shall argue that the grounded theory method results in the creation of heterodox economic theories that are historical in structure, content and explanation   The Grounded Theory Bookshelf  Vivian B. Martin (no abstract found)...

Volume 4, Issue no. 1, November 2004

                                        GTReview Vol4 no1 pdf Volume 4, Issue no. 1, November 2004  Remodeling Grounded Theory Barney G. Glaser with the assistance of Judith Holton This paper outlines my concerns with Qualitative Data Analysis’ (QDA) numerous remodelings of Grounded Theory (GT) and the subsequent eroding impact. I cite several examples of the erosion and summarize essential elements of classic GT methodology. It is hoped that the article will clarify my concerns with the continuing enthusiasm but misunderstood embrace of GT by QDA methodologists and serve as a preliminary guide to novice researchers who wish to explore the fundamental principles of GT.   Pluralistic Dialoguing: A theory of interdisciplinary teamworking Antoinette M. McCallin The aim of this emerging grounded theory study was to discover the main concerns of health professionals working in interdisciplinary teams, and to explain the processes team members used to continually resolve practice problems. Data collected from forty-four participants from seven disciplines in two teaching hospitals in New Zealand, included eighty hours each of interviewing and participant observation. In this paper the theory of pluralistic dialoguing is presented. It is argued that interdisciplinary work is possible when the team replaces the discipline focus with a client-focused care and thinks differently about service delivery. Thinking cooperatively requires individual team members to dialogue with colleagues, thereby deconstructing traditional ways of thinking and reconstructing new approaches to interdisciplinary practice. Although dialoguing was an informal process occurring within clinical spaces, as the effects of health reform and restructuring intensify teams also need to establish formal dialogue groups to facilitate team practice development and support team learning in the continually changing fast-paced practice context.   A Grounded Theory of Moral Reckoning in Nursing Alvita Nathaniel Moral distress is a pervasive problem in nursing, contributing to nurses’ emotional and physical health problems, loss of nurses’ ethical integrity, dissatisfaction with the work of nursing, and loss of nurses from the workforce. The purpose of this research was twofold: 1) to further elucidate the experiences and consequences of professional nurses’ moral distress and 2) to formulate a logical, systematic, and explanatory theory of moral distress and its consequences. METHOD: This Glaserian grounded theory study utilized volunteer and purposive sampling to recruit 21 registered nurses. Analysis of the data resulted in an original substantive theory of moral reckoning in nursing, which reaches further than the concept of moral distress, identifying a critical juncture in nurses’ lives and better explaining a process that affects nurses and the health care that they deliver. Results: Moral reckoning in nursing consists of a three-stage process. After a novice period, the nurse experiences a Stage of Ease in which there is comfort in the workplace and congruence of internal and external values. Unexpectedly, a situational bind occurs in which the nurse’s core beliefs come into irreconcilable conflict with social norms. This forces the nurse out of the Stage of Ease into the Stage of Resolution, in which the nurse either gives up or makes a stand. The nurse then moves into the Stage of Reflection in which beliefs, values, and actions are iteratively examined. The nurse tries to make sense of experiences through remembering, telling the story, examining conflicts, and living with the consequences. Implications: In today’s complex health care system, nurses find themselves faced with morally troubling situations which if not resolved can lead to serious consequences for nurses, patients, and the health care system as a whole. This study sets the stage for further investigation on the human consequences of...

Basic Social Processes

By Barney G. Glaser, Ph.D., Hon.Ph.D. with the assistance of Judith Holton Abstract The goal of grounded theory is to generate a theory that accounts for a pattern of behavior that is relevant and problematic for those involved. The goal is not voluminous description, nor clever verification. As with all grounded theory, the generation of a basic social process (BSP) theory occurs around a core category. While a core category is always present in a grounded research study, a BSP may not be. BSPs are ideally suited to generation by grounded theory from qualitative research because qualitative research can pick up process through fieldwork that continues over a period of time. BSPs are a delight to discover and formulate since they give so much movement and scope to the analyst’s perception of the data. BSPs such as cultivating, defaulting, centering, highlighting or becoming, give the feeling of process, change and movement over time. They also have clear, amazing general implications; so much so, that it is hard to contain them within the confines of a single substantive study. The tendency is to refer to them as a formal theory without the necessary comparative development of formal theory. They are labeled by a “gerund”(“ing”) which both stimulates their generation and the tendency to over-generalize them. In this paper, we shall first discuss the search for, and criteria of, core variables (categories) and how they relate to BSPs. Then we go on to a section on several central characteristics of basic social processes. Lastly, we discuss the relative merits of unit vs. process sociology. Core Category and Basic Social Process (BSP) While grounded theory can use any theoretical codes, the basic social process (BSP) is a popular one. As with all grounded theory, the generation of a BSP theory occurs around a core category. While a core category is always present in a grounded research study, a BSP may not be. BSPs are just one type of core category—thus all BSPs are core variables (categories), but not all core variables are BSPs. The primary distinction between the two is that BSPs are processural or, as we say, they “process out.” They have two or more clear emergent stages. Other core categories may not have stages, but can use other theoretical codes. Without a core category, an effort at grounded theory will drift in relevancy and workability. Since a core category accounts for most of the variation in a pattern of behavior, it has several important functions for generating theory. It is relevant and works. Most other categories and their properties are related to it, rendering the core category subject to much qualification and modification because it is so dependent on what is going on in the action. In addition, through these relations between categories and their properties, the core has the prime function of integrating the theory and rendering the theory dense and saturated as the relationships increase. These functions then lead to theoretical completeness—accounting for as much variation in a pattern of behavior with as few concepts as possible, thereby maximizing parsimony and scope. Clearly integrating a theory around a core variable delimits the theory and thereby the research project. Upon choosing a core category, the first delimiting analytic rule of grounded theory comes into play. Only variables that are related to the core will be included in the theory. Another delimiting function of the core category occurs in its necessary relation to resolving the problematic nature of the pattern...

Adventuring: A grounded theory discovered through the analysis of science teaching and learning...

By Katrina M. Maloney, M.Sc., Ed.D. Abstract The grounded theory of adventuring, derived from the substantive area of science teaching and learning, explains both why scientific thinking is an evolutionarily important trait and illustrates a common thread throughout a variety of teaching and learning behaviors. The core concept of adventuring incorporates the categories of exploring, mavericking, and acquiring and applying skills that are the hallmarks of positive science education. Learning science is difficult due to the higher order cognitive skills required. This study explains how we could be teaching and learning science in a way for which our brains are best suited, and in ways that reach all learners, and encourages the use of adventuring in all classrooms. Introduction The grounded theory of adventuring explains behaviors of teachers and learners. This study discusses the psychology/sociology of teachers teaching science and students learning science through a grounded theory analysis of behaviors, and elucidates the biological process of thinking by discussing changes over time to the human brain’s physiology and chemistry. In connecting the behaviors of science thinkers to the biology of the brain’s hardware, this work explains how we could be teaching and learning science in a way for which our brains are best suited. Adventuring, as a core concept, contains the three categories of exploring, mavericking and acquiring and applying skills. Ten dimensions of adventuring are also discussed in this study, identiftying conditions, strategies, types and consequences of adventuring. Although the theory of adventuring was discovered through an exploration of the substantive area of science teaching and learning, as soon as the theory was shared with others, it became apparent that adventuring happens in a wide variety of situations and conceptualizes latent patterns of behavior found in many learning scenarios. Rationale: Why is Learning Science Difficult? Studies summarized in Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1991) and Shaping our Future (National Science Foundation, 1996) state unequivocally that there is a need to teach science well to promote the type of scientific literacy necessary in a complex and increasingly global society. Science is in our everyday space. The imperative to be active decision makers in our country is a right and, as such, carries responsibility. If we forfeit that right and deny the importance of science education for all learners, we do a grave disservice to our communities, to our country, and to our planet. The higher level cognitive demands of science courses are very difficult for a developing mind. Specifically, science courses blend math skills and linguistic skills, higher order cognition skills of hypothesis generation, analysis and modification. Science courses require rote memorization, sequential organization, and sustained attention to detail. Understanding science texts and participating in class discussion require sophisticated receptive and expressive language abilities (Levine, 1987). Troublesome issues for students identified in college science classrooms by professors include: use of scientific tools (hardware such as microscopes, centrifuges, incubators, balances, pipettes, measuring instruments); science literature (dichotomous keys, graphs/tables/charts, textbooks, journal articles, popular press items); and the cognitive skills of analytical thinking such as basic questioning, prediction, the hypothetical- deductive process itself (proceeding from general concepts to specific events, or, in other words, identifying the causes of results), organization of data and concepts, creating and/or reading graphs and charts, the recursive nature of science inquiry, and the possibility of change in facts/theories/hypotheses. Students bring various strengths to their work in the cognitive realm of science, but severe deficits in background understanding of basic scientific processes...

Doing Best for Children: An emerging grounded theory of parents’ policing strategies to regulate between-meal snacking...

By Ruth Freeman, Ph.D.; Richard Ekins, Ph.D. & Michele Oliver, M.Med.Sc. Abstract Changes in children’s lifestyle from structured family meals to unstructured between meal sugar snacking has been recognised as a risk factor in childhood obesity. Parental insights into children’s between meal snacking and their experiences of regulation are important if an understanding of sugar snacking is to be gained in the field of childhood obesity. The aim of this study was to use grounded theory techniques to analyze the qualitative data obtained from participants and to generate an emerging theory of snack regulation. A series of focus groups with parents and their children were conducted. Data were analysed using grounded theory techniques. The core category that emerged from the data was ‘doing best’. Parents used the behavioural strategy of policing as a consequence of doing best. Parents had to balance time availability, disposable income, energy levels, parental working patterns and family life with the child’s food wishes and social needs. Balancing such contextual constraints influenced the style of policing. Introduction The World Health Organization (WHO, 2002) has stated that added and refined sugars should contribute to no more than 10 percent of an individual’s total calorific intake. Recent research has shown that the average teenager obtains 20 percent of their calories from added sugars and consumes on average 50kg of sugar/person/year (Sibbald 2003). The increased sugar consumption has been linked to the steep rise in childhood obesity and particularly in children living in deprivation and poverty (Strauss, 2002; Lobstein and Frelut, 2003; Lobstein et al., 2003). Childhood obesity is associated with increased health risks in childhood, reduced self-esteem (Sarlio-Lahteenkorva et al., 2003, Sahota et al 2001), and quality of life (Friedlander et al., 2003). Childhood obesity acts as an independent risk factor for adult obesity (Tingay et al., 2003) and is linked with adult cardiovascular disease, adult onset diabetes, osteoarthritis and cerebral vascular accident (Parsons et al., 1999) as well as low-income work and poverty (Tingay et al., 2003). Childhood obesity, with its many health, social and life-course consequences, is perceived as a harbinger of adult ills (National Institute for Clinical Excellence [NICE], 2004). Various suggestions have been proposed to explain the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity. These include the food industry flooding the marketplace with cheap high-sugar and high-fat foods (Sibbald, 2003), the absence of readily available low-cost healthy foods (Alderson and Ogden, 1999; Bunting and Freeman, 1999) and shifts in structured family mealtimes to childhood between meal snacking (Feunekes et al., 1999; Strauss, 2002). Reasons given by families for changing from structured to unstructured eating patterns are important in the childhood obesity story (Alderson and Ogden, 1999; Feunekes et al., 1999). Therefore, this research team embarked upon an investigation to increase understanding of this unstructured pattern of sugar intake in children. Qualitative data was collected as part of a larger controlled trial (Oliver et al., 2002), which evaluated the role of school-based snacking policies upon the consumption of snack foods in 9 and 11-year-old children. As it was important to discover if school-based policies affected the children’s out-of-school snacking, parents and children were approached to canvass their views and opinions on regulating snacking between meals. The aim of this study was to use grounded theory techniques to analyze the qualitative data obtained from participants and to generate an emerging theory on snack regulation. The Research Context Participants in this study came from the Southern Health and Social Services Board (SHSSB), located in Northern Ireland (NI). In...