Editorial

Astrid Gynnild, University of Stavanger Ideas are precious. They may come to mind when you least expect to them to, and many times before you are consciously aware of them. The grounded theory solution to capturing valuable ideas from preconscious thought is writing memos. In this issue of the Grounded Theory Review, we are delighted to publish the first chapter of Barney G. Glaser’s coming book on memoing, which truly opens up new perspectives on the potentially complex but productive process of collecting ideas that is such an important part of doing grounded theory. A memo might be anything from a couple of words to several paragraphs or pages, and there are no rules as for how they should be written. Possibly for that reason, however, memoing is potentially one of the least focused aspects of doing grounded theory; yet anyone who has been struggling with categorization and handsorting, knows that memos are what ties concepts together when generating new theory. The article challenges preconceived thinking of what a memo actually is and prompts autonomous memo productivity. The next focus in this issue is on short format publishing. When the Grounded Theory Review switched to digital open access publishing one and a half years ago, we introduced short format articles as an alternative way of publishing papers. Since grounded theories are conceptual and not descriptive, the presentation of a theory might be scaled up or down as time and place allows. We believe that the shorter format might inspire grounded theorists to present theoretical discussions on aspects of grounded theory even before they have any full-fledged theory that is ready for publishing. Therefore, this format allows authors the opportunity to focus on one issue at a time, and to test ideas at an earlier stage of a study. Authors Olavur Christiansen, Svend Erik Sorensen, and Helen Scott have tested out a partial application of the grounded theory method on a study of poverty in Greenland. Due to strict time frames, the authors did not have the opportunity to generate a full theory, but even in a partial state, they found that grounded theory might be a very helpful research approach. With the partially developed theory, the researchers identified proactively steering behavior as a main concern of public employees in their attempt to resolve poverty problems in the population. The researchers managed to develop a suggested strategy to improve the self-reliance of socially dependent clients, and the study is still in progress. Authors Roland Nino Agoncillo and Roberto Borromeo have developed the theory of becoming selfless, that derived from a study of educational partners in their home country. Educational partners are young volunteers who assist religious organizations in education, and being committed to service through becoming selfless is particularly important after a natural disaster like the super typhoon that hit the Philippines last fall. The article speaks to the broader field of management research on the issues of organizational commitment. In a world of data overflow, there is a growing focus on secondary data analysis. As early as 1962, Barney G. Glaser wrote a short format article entitled ‘Secondary Analysis: A Strategy for the Use of Knowledge from Research.’ The article discusses comparability of existing data material and suggests that secondary analysis of data might help resolve challenges related to economy, client readiness, application testing and application variables. Dr. Glaser’s PhD study on scientists and their organizational careers was generated from secondary data analysis, and the arguments for secondary analysis...

Introduction: Free Style Memoing

Barney G. Glaser, PhD, Hon. PhD This neglect is partly my fault to be corrected in this book, which will deal with the vital aspect of memoing.  Memos are a very important GT procedure that is fundamental to the GT generation analysis of grounded theory.   This book emphasizes the importance of memos from the very start of the GT research to the working paper. It highlights and focuses on memoing in the hopes of aiding researchers, especially novice beginning researchers, with the management of the plethora of ideas that emerge with no loss thereof as GT research progresses. It is normative for no one to read another persons memos.   I have never known someone to ask another person to read his memos or someone to ask another person to read his memos. Thus memos can take any form.  They are normatively and automatically private.  Their style is free.  Memos can take any form, shape or whatever without being critiqued or evaluated.  They have no perfection. They give autonomy freedom to the researcher. They are a precursor to writing a working paper on the emerging theory.  They grow from jots to growth in lengths that capture style and integrative complexity as the GT research progresses. Memos are neglected as a GT procedure. Memos are where the emergent concepts and theoretical ideas are generated and stored when doing GT analysis.  They are a neglected procedure mostly in writing about doing GT, yet they are vital to GT analysis for recording ideas, saving and tracing growth of analysis and integrating GT concepts as they emerge from constant comparative analysis during open coding and selective coding when theoretically sampling.  Memos track the generation of a substantive GT from start to working paper. Memos tie together the concepts This book is redundant to much of my writing in Theoretical Sensitivity, Doing GT and Stop Write.  But it brings it all together in one book ideas on memoing and underscores the importance and use of memos.  The goal and value of this book is to have all four previous chapters in other books in one volume and add to them my many subsequent thoughts on memoing and the thoughts of my colleagues and students about memos as a vital grounded theory method procedure.  Memos are the media which tie together the concepts for a grounded theory for a paper or book. This book clarifies the use of memos which have been lauded for doing GT research, but often distorted in someway by formalization and natural academic tendencies of guidance. And further by relating them to other QDA methods of research which require aspects of doing memoing inimical to doing GT.   This book is ideal for teaching and discussing the use and value of memos. Books on doing GT, especially the books that remodel GT, give only brief discussions of writing memos in a page or two and then return to their main discussion of a GT method procedure.  The vitalness, vitality, and significance of memos is slighted by an implicitly ordinary assumption that they will be done. Memoing to accumulate memos can be described as building an intellectual capital memo bank of ideas and concepts from start of one’s GT research to final sorting.  Memos are the written records of the researcher’s thinking, both conscious and preconscious realizations as the research and the researcher grow.  Memos will vary in subject, coherence, interest, theoretical content, conceptual clarity, and future usefulness to a subsequent working paper or...

A Partial Application of Classic Grounded Theory in a Study of Poverty in Greenland...

Ólavur Christiansen, The University of Faroe Islands and The Economic Council of the Government of Faroe Islands Helen Scott, Grounded Theory Online Svend Erik Sørensen, self-employed international consultant (Ascap Aps) Abstract This paper describes a partial application of the classic grounded method in a research project tasked to surface an understanding of poverty, and offer policy recommendations for change, to the Government of Greenland.  The aim of analysis was to find the core category and related categories though analysis stopped short of conceptual completeness and conceptual integration. The theory explains that from the perspective of social sector administrators, there is a concern as to how to transition clients from a state of damaging dependence to a less dependent state. The administrators process this concern by engaging in proactive steering within a societal structure which is characterised by a lack of capacity and discontinuity, and in a context of overwhelm.  The theory developed was successfully applied to satisfy the objectives of the research project. Introduction In a study of poverty and its possible alleviation in Greenland, classic grounded theory (CGT) was partially applied to produce a new perspective to inform policymakers (Sørensen, 2010). As a self-governing entity within the Danish realm, Greenland is financially subsidised by Denmark, and without this subsidy, Greenland would most likely be in a state of severe poverty equal to the poorest of developing nations. Social-structural issues regarding health, education and employment exacerbate poverty-related problems, which are more pronounced in Greenland than in other parts of the Danish realm, or in Western Europe as a whole. Startling examples of such problems are the high rates of suicide and sexual abuse, and that the number of abortions equals the number of births (Grønlands Statistik 2013; Statistics Greenland 2013). In many respects, the situation of Greenland’s population is closer to that of the indigenous people of North America than to its European neighbours. In relation to poverty, the three primary tasks of Greenland’s government are firstly, to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves due to lack of income; secondly, to take care of those who are unable to take care of themselves, e.g., due to age or handicap; and thirdly, to help people and families to become independent of public assistance. To inform this work, the Government commissioned a wide-ranging study. The research design was complex and included analyses of quantitative data, comparison of poverty definitions, quantitative measurement of poverty, and comparisons of quantitative measurements of poverty. There was also a qualitative study of data collected from interviews with people in the administration and their clients, private entrepreneurs and members of the general public. In particular, the Government requested a discovery of the meaning of poverty in the local Greenlandic context. This discovery was to be based on available quantitative data and on collected qualitative data. As far as possible, this discovery of the meaning of poverty should also include a discovery of clues to resolve some of the problems that were connected to poverty. Thus, part of the task was to give policy recommendations to the Government. The CGT study Given this brief, classic grounded theory became an obvious choice of methodology. The consultant however, was not fully familiar with CGT and while CGT studies can be time-consuming, this part of the study had to be completed over a period of approximately four months. The consultant therefore needed to develop theoretical and practical insights into CGT methodology and its application, swiftly. To facilitate this process...

Becoming Selfless: A Grounded Theory of Commitment to Service

Roland Nino L. Agoncillo, De La Salle University, Philippines Roberto T. Borromeo, De La Salle University, Philippines Abstract This study focuses on the substantive area of commitment to service in the community of educational partners in the Philippines. Educational partners are lay people who assist religious organizations in the field of education, and in the Philippines, about 96 percent of educational partners are in Lasallian schools and organizations. Educational partners are young professionals, volunteers between the ages of 24-39 who strive to live the teachings of St. John Baptist De La Salle. The volunteers aim to generate a spirit of service, a sense of mission to the youth. By using a classic Grounded Theory approach, the theory of becoming selfless was generated. The theory explains the stages educational partners undergo when resolving their organizational commitment to service. Organizational commitment is the psychological attachment, involvement and identification of the individual to the organization. Becoming selfless provides a theoretical focal point to better understand the complexity of commitment. Introduction In a predominantly Catholic country like the Philippines, the role of educational partners is very important. But in spite of their importance, the role might be somewhat unclear even to the educational partners themselves. The initial research question of this study was prompted by a comment by a lay teacher from one of the De La Salle Schools who said, “Why not explore the area of being an educational partner, since even after many years of being an educational partner, I still do not really know what it is to be one.” Educational partners’ commitment to service are crucial especially in unpredictable times like in the aftermath of the catastrophe that hit the country because of the super typhoon in the fall of 2013. How might educational partners in affected areas manage, or even understand, their commitment to service when schools are destroyed and some of their students’ families are possibly wiped out? Even though this study was conducted before the catastrophe, the question of what it is to be an educational partner transcends the tragedy that we have right now. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews, and classic grounded theory was used for data abstraction and conceptualization that is vital, relevant, and yields high-impact concerns (Glaser and Strauss 1967, Glaser 1978, 1992). Stakeholders such as graduate students, administration, faculty, and academic service staff comprise the participants in this study. Consistent with Glaser’s (1998, 2001) recommendations, interviews of the participants were not tape-recorded. The researcher listened intently to the sharing of the participant after posing an initial question, then from time to time, in between questions, the researcher jotted down notes that were substantial. Theoretical sampling and incidents articulated in the data were analyzed and coded, using the constant comparative method, to generate initially substantive and later theoretical categories (Holton, 2010). It is by constantly comparing the meaning of indicators that concepts and their properties are slowly built. Like a “pendulum” that swings back and forth from one indicator to the next the data was compared and analyzed. The emerging categories were theoretically coded by naming the particular relationship that exists between them a process (Glaser, 1978). At successive stages of the study, themes moved from low levels of abstraction to overarching themes. These overarching themes served as the foundational pillars of theoretical saturation when the additional data for such themes failed to uncover any new ideas about the developing theory (Bowen, 2006). The Theory Becoming selfless emerged as a theory about...

Secondary Analysis: A Strategy for the Use of Knowledge from Research

Barney G. Glaser, University of California Medical Center, San Francisco Reprinted from Social Problems, Summer 1962, 10(1) In recent years there has been a «rapidly expanding demand for sociologists services by organizations and groups for aid in solving their operating problems (Parsons, 1959). When a prospective client approaches the social scientist with a problem and asks what research can do to help solve it, he will generally focus this question in one or two ways: 1) what research already exists that may help and/or 2) what research can be done directly in the present situation? (Likert & Lippitt, 1953). This paper will discuss on strategy for applying existing research in the hope that it may help social scientist cope more effectively with the expanding demand for applied social research. In the application of scientific knowledge ‘discovered elsewhere’ to the solution of an operating problem, the social scientist must face certain important questions of comparibility between the past research and the present operating situation. They are comparability of: 1) populations, 2) situational dynamics, 3) problems under study, 4) variables or concepts, and 5) past findings with prestent hypotheses. If these questions are ignored, the social scientist may err in two ways. He may either prematurely reject important prior research because of glaring manifest differences or he may accept uncritically all findings and insights as relevant to the present situation. In discussing ways of handling these questions of comparability, Likert and Lippitt (1953) focus only on strategies for obtaining data on the present situation. These are “budding of” conferences, research conferences and research application conferences, focusing on a specific operating problem, direct social scientist consultation on a solution of an operating problem, in-service seminars, and a technique for quick analysis of the present situation. Obtaining data from past research for comparisons may equally be a problem. The social scientist may find, in returning to the original publication, that concepts are not clear; populations are not specified; situational dynamics has not been dealt with; the right variables have not been taken up or, if they were, relevant interrelations have not been done; and the analysis of problems has taken too dissimilar a track. He may ask, “What would have happened if the author had done this or that with his data? If the social scientist is able to apply the strategy of secondary analysis, inability to make comparisons or apparent noncomparability with the present situation may not be sufficient cause for discarding potentially applicable past research. On the contrary, past research is just the beginning to be tapped for its relevance to solving present problems. With this strategy one does not have to depend solely on the previous analyst’s approach and bent of mind. Lipset and Bendix (1959) have defined secondary analysis as the study of specific problems through analysis of existing data which were originally collected for other purposes. I suggest that through the use of secondary analysis the social scientist may be better enabled to serve his client. First, it widens the potential applicability of a past research by changing its limits from data presented to data collected. Second, with this strategy the social scientist can turn from printed to vast reservoirs of existing data (published and unpublished) that sit in the basements and files of institutes, bureaus and centers throughout the country. Thus he increases the amount of past research that can be brought to bear on the operating problem. Comparability The first phase of secondary analysis is to...

Generalizability and the Theory of Offsetting the Affective Filter

Barry Chametzky, Washington & Jefferson College Abstract When online, post-secondary foreign language learners wrestle with the course material and environment because of their inexperience or misguided expectations, frustration and anxiety often ensue.  The resulting imbalance often hinders satisfactory progress in the course.  Classic grounded theory was used to develop the substantive theory of offsetting the affective filter, which explains the behaviors of learners in the substantive area of online, post-secondary foreign language classes.  With the grab and conceptual generalities of this substantive theory, it is valuable for novice researchers to understand that the possibility is strong to continue the research and develop a formal theory.  In this paper, the author examines the aforementioned theory in light of possibly developing a formal grounded theory. Introduction An important element involving the classic grounded theory method (CGT) proposed by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and subsequently by Glaser (1978) is the idea of generalizability.  Generalizability, along with the other components—“fit, work, relevance, and modifiability” (Glaser, 1992, p. 15)—allows the researcher to “broaden the theory so that it is more generally applicable and has greater explanatory and predictive power” (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, p. 24).  In grounded theory terms, the newly discovered endogenous (1967) theory must apply to a variety of situations and environments within and outside of the substantive area not just one situation (Glaser, 1996).  The idea of generalizability—especially for doctoral candidates—has important ramifications for researchers inside and outside of the initial substantive area.  In this article, I will present (a) the five pillars of grounded theory, (b) a brief discussion of generalizability, (c) an overview of the grounded theory process vis-à-vis generalizability, (d) a theory—Offsetting the Affective Filter—developed using CGT, and finally, (e) a brief analysis of generalizability vis-à-vis the aforementioned theory.  By illuminating the importance of the substantive theory (Glaser, 1978) outside the field of online foreign language education, I hope to present a potentially bigger picture of the theory thereby demonstrating generalizability and to show that generalizing “a core category is strong . . . [and] hard to resist” (Glaser, 2007, p. 14). The five pillars When a novice researcher uses CGT as a design—perhaps for a doctoral dissertation—he or she quickly learns about its five pillars necessary for developing a satisfactory theory:  fit, grab, work, relevance, and modifiability (Glaser, 1978, 1992, 1998).  To negate or minimize one of them is to create a unbalanced and inadequate theory.  Because these terms are vital to grounded theory, each is discussed briefly in this research. In the world of classic grounded theory, in order to have fit, researchers must ask whether a “concept adequately [expresses] the pattern in the data which it purports to conceptualize” (Glaser, 1998, p. 18).  If such a connection exists between the concept and the data, fit exists.  With theories discovered using grounded theory, it is vital that the researcher not force the data into preconceived patterns.  If the theory is indeed developed through detailed analysis of the data according to the precepts of CGT (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1965, 1992), the theory is said to have fit (Glaser, 2002a).  On the other hand, if an idea is forced and therefore not directly and solely derived from the original data, the theory has validity issues and does not fit the data (Chametzky, 2013a). Grab is the ability of an idea to snag the attention of a person quickly (Glaser, 1978).  When a reader senses that he or she understands the idea and what is going on...