About the Authors
Barry Chametzky earned his Ph.D. in Education from Northcentral University with specializations in educational technology, e-learning, and classic grounded theory. He holds graduate degrees in Music (Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, City University of New York), French (Middlebury College), and Foreign Language education (University of Pittsburgh). Dr. Chametzky is an active researcher in the fields of andragogy, e-learning, anxiety and online foreign language acquisition, and classic grounded theory with numerous peer-reviewed publications and book chapters to his credit. He is also one of the reviewers and the copyeditor for the Grounded Theory Review, an international peer-reviewed journal dedicated to classic grounded theory. He is a Grounded Theory Institute Fellow who facilitates online learning with master’s and doctoral students in various fields of education, and serves as a dissertation chairperson to a number of candidates.
Alan Kim-Lok Oh, MCounsPsy, MBA, KB, PA is a consultant psychologist, and clinician at a private hospital. He has a practice that provides consultation, behavioral health screening and assessment, counseling and psychotherapy services to adults, elders, adolescents and children in the following formats – individual, group, family, couple or a combination of these formats based on patient and client needs. Alan is also a registered counsellor in Malaysia. Together with his wife and daughter, Alan lives in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Alros (Ali) Joan Miriam Sumner, PhD, is a Senior Consultant with BRAINPOWA, a boutique consultancy that works with Australian government agencies, for-profit and not-profit organisations and social enterprises, to help grow their thinking power to create better futures for themselves, their organisations and communities. My academic interests and on-going praxis within Australian organisations, focus on the cognitive ability of organisational leaders and work teams to handle the challenges of the 21st century, within the context of organisations being complex adaptive systems. My working life commenced with teaching, followed by work in children’s services, community development and public services. After gaining a Master’ Degree in Leadership and Management at Curtin University, in 2021 I gained a PhD, also at Curtin. In addition to my PhD research I have conducted classic grounded theory research exploring what happens when business entrepreneurs utilise lateral thinking tools and processes.
Peter Sun, MSW, is a doctoral candidate at the Brown School in Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on the productive engagement of older adults in rural contexts.
Dr. Kara Vander Linden is an interdisciplinary researcher, educator, mentor, and lifelong learner. She is the founder and president of the Institute for Research and Theory Methodologies and the Director of the Glaser Center for Grounded Theory. Dr. Kara Vander Linden also teaches research and supervises classic grounded theory dissertations at Saybrook University. She is a peer reviewer for the Grounded Theory Review, BMC Nursing, and Nursing Open. Dr. Vander Linden earned a doctorate in education from Fielding Graduate University (Santa Barbara, CA) with specializations in grounded theory, grounded action, and higher education leadership. She earned a master’s in special education from the University of North Carolina (Charlotte, NC) and a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Queens University (Charlotte, NC). She has specialized training in working with learners with dyslexia. Email: kvanderlinden@mentoringresearchers.org
Daniel P. Ash CertHum, DipHe, BSc (Hons), DCrim, AMIMA, FHEA; the School of Natural and Social Sciences, The University of Gloucestershire. Daniel Ash is a British criminologist, senior lecturer and research excellence framework lead for sociology at the University of Gloucestershire. Daniel is also an associate professor of practice at the University of East London. He specializes in the development and application of theory in policing, novel research methods (including the use of pure mathematics and artificial intelligence in criminology), and policing innovation (in its broadest sense). He was formerly a British police officer, serving for twenty years in a variety of multi-agency operational contexts.
Alvita Nathaniel, PhD, is the Editor of The Grounded Theory Review, an open access online journal focusing solely on classic grounded theory. Dr. Nathaniel is Professor Emerita and past department chair at West Virginia University School of Nursing. Mentored by Barney Glaser, Nathaniel continues with grounded theory initiatives. In addition to her grounded theory publications, she co-authored the nursing textbook, Ethics & Issues in Contemporary Nursing, which is now approaching its 6th edition. Writing the ethics textbook led to her grounded theory research on moral reckoning, which she continues to pursue along with additional scholarship focusing on the two main foci of classic grounded theory and nursing ethics. She is Fellow of the Grounded Theory Institute, Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, and Fellow of the West Virginia University Academy of Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Email: anathaniel@hsc.wvu.edu
Kari Allen-Hammer, Ph.D. serves as the Advocacy Director for LiveLifeResources, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in the United States. Additionally, she provides wellness and performance coaching in private practice, in West Sacramento, California and through tele-health services.
Elizabeth Kellogg, PhD, received her doctorate in Psychology with a specialization in Consciousness, Spirituality, and Integrated Health from Saybrook University. She is a clinician, DEI facilitator, and an adjunct professor in the Expressive Arts Therapy graduate program at Lesley University. Research interests include embodied cognition and justice, equity and inclusion. Email: ekellog2@lesley.edu
Dr. Lisa Goldberg has taught for over 30 years in both the public school and as adjunct professor. She graduated from Fielding Graduate School in 2010 with a doctorate in Educational Leadership. Using Classic Grounded Theory as her research methodology, Dr. Goldberg discovered that value-based decision-making is one of the key concepts in moving on and making voluntary change in one’s life. Her contribution to the field has led others to use concepts from her dissertation. Currently, Dr. Goldberg works as adjunct professor at Saybrook University where she guides and teaches dissertation students. Email: lisakanga1@gmail.com.
Dr. Kelisa Underwood received her Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California in 2013. She recently completed her PhD at Saybrook University in Psychology, with a focus on transformative social change. She continues to contribute to the social sciences through her theoretical research and publications on overcoming systemic oppression. Dr. Underwood holds licensure in the states of Georgia and Florida as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has worked in the fields of medical social work, in-patient and out-patient therapy, non-profit management, military trauma, crisis stabilization, and forensic social work. She began teaching in 2018 with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. Dr. Underwood joined Middle Georgia State University in the Department of Teacher Education and Social Work in January of 2022.
Chen Yin, Ph.D. She has earned her PhD (Applied Psychology) at Nanjing Normal University, China. Her areas of research interests cover psychology of aging, psychology of losing the sole child, community intervention. She currently works in the Student Counselling Services at Yangzhou Hospitality Institute. Dr. CHEN began her GT endeavour in 2017 and adopted GT in her doctoral research into Chinese families that have lost the sole child. She is among the first batch of researchers who have used classic GT as a full methodology in China and has recently published an article in Chinese entitled “Misuse of grounded theory and some clarification”.
Feng Yuan, currently a pupil lawyer specialized in intellectual properties at JINCHENG TONGDA & NEAL (JT&N), a leading law firm in Beijing. She graduated from School of Humanities, China University of Political Science and Law, majoring in law culture. Her area of research interests includes law and literature. Having adopted GT in its entirety in her master’s thesis, she used MO Yan’s novel “Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out” as data and researched into the mentality that continues to influence farmers’ behavior during policy changes. She is the very first researcher that has used the full classic GT package in China.
Wang Ying, Ph.D. currently a lecturer in the Department of Adult Nursing, School of Nursing, Fujian Medical University, China. Dr. WANG is interested in patients with hematologic tumors and their family caregivers, especially leukaemia patients and their family caregivers. She is an active researcher in improving leukaemia patients and their family caregivers’ mental health and quality of life by developing interventions that provide them with informational, emotional, and psychosocial support. Dr. WANG used classic grounded theory to explore behavioral patterns of patients and family caregivers. She has published in nursing journals and has also worked as a reviewer for several journals, including Journal of Advanced Nursing and European Journal of Cancer Care. (see https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ying-Wang-386)
Fei, Foster, Ph.D. Corresponding author (email: fosterfei@outlook.com), Fellow at Grounded Theory Institute. He has been actively involved in teaching and mentoring novice GT researchers and defending classic GT in China. Over the years, Dr. FEI has overseen the successful completion of GT studies conducted by some highly promising researchers (Chen, 2020; Feng, 2021; Wang, 2022). He has also been working on the translation of Glaser’s texts into Chinese and organising GT seminars in China.
