Volume 4, Issue no. 1, November 2004
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 moral distress. Further, since moral reckoning impacts health, nurse leaders are challenged to identify opportunities to facilitate successful moral reckoning in the workplace through encouraging nurses to tell their stories, examine conflicts, and participate as partners in moral decision making.
Solutioning Maria de Hoyos Guajardo
The theory that is presented below aims to conceptualise how a group of undergraduate students tackle non-routine mathematical problems during a problem-solving course. The aim of the course is to allow students to experience mathematics as a creative process and to reflect on their own experience. During the course, students are required to produce a written ‘rubric’ of their work, i.e., to document their thoughts as they occur as well as their emotions during the process. These ‘rubrics’ were used as the main source of data.
Students’ problem-solving processes can be explained as a three-stage process that has been called ‘solutioning’. This process is presented in the six sections below. The first three refer to a common area of concern that can be called ‘generating knowledge’. In this way, generating knowledge also includes issues related to ‘key ideas’ and ‘gaining understanding’. The third and the fourth sections refer to ‘generating’ and ‘validating a solution’, respectively. Finally, once solutions are generated and validated, students usually try to improve them further before presenting them as final results. Thus, the last section deals with ‘improving a solution’. Although not all students go through all of the stages, it may be said that ‘solutioning’ considers students’ main concerns as they tackle non-routine mathematical problems.
Grounded Action: Achieving optimal and sustainable change Odis E. Simmons and Toni A. Gregory
Grounded action is the application and extension of grounded theory for the purpose of designing and implementing practical actions such as interventions, program designs, action models, social and organizational policies, and change initiatives. Grounded action is grounded theory with an added action component in which actions are systematically derived from a systematically derived explanatory grounded theory. Actions are grounded in the grounded theory in the same way that grounded theories are grounded in data. Grounded action was designed by the authors to address complex, multi-dimensional organizational and social problems and issues.
