Striking a Balance between Program Requirements and GT Principles: Wri...

Sherry L. Xie, Ph.D. Candidate Abstract Glaser’s term “compromised GT proposal” (2001, p.114) refers to the type of Grounded Theory (GT) proposal that is written in order to conform to the requirements of a standardized qualitative research proposal. A GT proposal needs only to supply information on the area of interest, the data source and a statement of method to the effect that the researcher begin to collect, code and analyse the data and let the theory emerge. Thus, the proposal may only occupy “a page or two” (Glaser, 2001, p. 111). Whilst being consistent with the...

Data Analysis: Getting conceptual

Helen Scott, Ph.D. Abstract This paper will track my battle to ‘get conceptual’ in the production of a Grounded Theory. It will discuss early attempts at creating substantive codes through the process of open coding which, despite my best efforts, merely produced descriptive codes. It will illustrate the process by which these descriptive codes became more conceptual, earning the title of substantive code and how their presentation in essay form produced a perfect example of ‘conceptual description’. It will then describe the slow dawning of the purpose of ‘theoretical...

Demystifying Theoretical Sampling in Grounded Theory Research

Jenna Breckenridge BSc(Hons),Ph.D.Candidate and Derek Jones, PhD, BA (Hons), Dip COT Abstract Theoretical sampling is a central tenet of classic grounded theory and is essential to the development and refinement of a theory that is ‘grounded’ in data. While many authors appear to share concurrent definitions of theoretical sampling, the ways in which the process is actually executed remain largely elusive and inconsistent. As such, employing and describing the theoretical sampling process can present a particular challenge to novice researchers embarking upon their first...