Qualitative Tussles in Undertaking a Grounded Theory Study

Judith A. Holton, Ph.D. 1 Much of this paper is extracted from Holton, J. A. (2007). The coding process and its challenges. In A. Bryant, & K. Charmaz (Eds.), The Sage handbook of grounded theory. (pp. 265-289). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Abstract Those who’ve been trained to regard grounded theory as a qualitative research method frequently struggle to ‘unlearn’ qualitative data analysis dicta when undertaking a classic grounded theory study. A plethora of research methods texts that support this notion of grounded theory as a qualitative method are primarily...

Theoretical Coding in Grounded Theory Methodology

Cheri Ann Hernandez, RN, Ph.D., CDE Abstract When doing classic grounded theory research, one of the most problematic areas, particularly for novice researchers, is the theoretical coding process. The identification of theoretical codes is essential to development of an integrated and explanatory substantive theory when a researcher is using classic grounded theory research methodology, but it is not a part of Straussian qualitative data analysis as described by Strauss and Corbin. A theoretical code is the relational model through which all substantive codes/categories...

The Novice GT Researcher

Barney G. Glaser, Ph.D., Hon. Ph.D. Make no mistake, as I said in my article, “The Future of Grounded Theory” (Qualitative Health Research, Nov, 1999) is in the hands of the beginning PhD researcher. I said “Unformed researchers embrace grounded theory for dissertation or master’s theses when, in their view, the more preconceived methods do not give relevant answers. Unformed researchers who can choose their own methods do so at the discretion of their advisers. The principal GT users today, mostly students who are doing MA and PhD theses or dissertations, are well into...

Methodological Learning-by-doing: Challenges, lessons learned and rewa...

Pernilla Pergert, RN, Ph.D. Abstract The experience of minus mentoring in learning classic grounded theory (CGT) is shared by many people over the world. The aim of this article is to share experiences of learning and using CGT. Data for the article included methodological discussions in the author’s thesis and articles, as well as memos. Consequences of learning grounded theory by doing are presented in the form of challenges and lessons learned but also some rewards. Challenges and lessons learned include sampling-confusion, delimiting-disregarding, judging saturation...

Learning Classic Grounded Theory: An Account of the Journey and Advice...

Carol Roderick, Ph.D. Abstract Graduate students who employ CGT for their theses or dissertations predominantly learn the methodology on their own. As a distinct methodology, CGT is challenging to employ. This challenge increases further when graduate students encounter poor advice from dissertation supervisors who are unfamiliar with the methodology, or attempt to incorporate elements from the many alternative and modified versions of grounded theory presented in the literature. This article provides an account of one student’s experience learning CGT to complete her...

A Grounded Theory Approach in a Branding Context: Challenges and lesso...

Anne Rindell, PhD. Abstract The purpose of this paper is to discuss challenges and lessons learnt when conducting a classic grounded theory study in a marketing context. The paper focuses on two specific challenges that were met during a specific research process. The first challenge related to positioning the study, namely, specifying “what the study is a study of”. The second challenge concerned the choice between formal or substantive theory. Both challenges were accentuated as the emerged core category concerned a phenomenon that has caught less attention in...