Chapter 14
Grounded Theory Designs
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
By the end of this chapter, you should
be able to:
Define grounded theory and identify when to use
it in research
Identify the key characteristics of grounded
theory research
Conduct a grounded theory study
Evaluate a grounded theory study
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.2
What Is Grounded Theory Research?
A grounded theory design is a systematic,
qualitative procedure used to generate a theory
that explains, at a broad conceptual level, a
process, an action, or an interaction about a
substantive topic.
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.3
When to Use Grounded Theory
Research
To generate a theory rather than use one “off the
shelf”
To explain a process, action, or interaction
When you want a step-by-step, systematic
procedure
When you want to stay close to the data
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.4
How Grounded Theory Developed
1967 Glaser and Strauss book, The
Discovery of Grounded Theory
1990, 1998 Strauss and Corbin prescriptive
form with predetermined categories and
concerns about reliability and validity
2000 Charmaz introduces “constructivist”
method
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.5
Types of Grounded Theory Designs:
The Systematic Design
(Strauss & Corbin 1998)
Open coding: Properties and dimensionalized
properties
Axial coding: Researcher selects one open
coding category and places it at the center as
the central phenomenon and then relates all
other categories to it
Selective coding: Writing a theory based on
the interrelationship of the categories from
axial coding
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.6
Open Coding to the Axial Coding
Paradigm
Open Coding Categories
Axial Coding Paradigm
Context
Category
Category
Category
Causal
Conditions
Core
Category or
Phenomenon
Category
Category
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Intervening
Conditions
Strategies
Consequences
One open coding
category as core
phenomenon
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.7
Types of Grounded Theory Designs:
The Emerging Design (Glaser 1992)
Grounded theory exists at the most abstract
conceptual level rather than the least abstract
level as found in visual data presentations such
as a coding paradigm.
A theory is grounded in the data and not forced
into categories.
The four essential criteria are fit, work, relevance,
and modifiability.
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.8
Types of Grounded Theory Designs:
Constructivist Design (Charmaz 2000)
Philosophical position between positivist and
postmodern researchers
Theorist explains feelings of individuals as they
experience a phenomenon or process
Study mentions beliefs and values of the
researcher and eschews predetermined
categories
Narrative is more explanatory, discursive, and
probing the assumptions and meanings for the
individuals in the study
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.9
Key Characteristics of
Grounded Theory Designs
A process approach: A sequence of actions and
interactions among people and events pertaining
to a topic
Theoretical sampling: The researcher chooses
forms of data collection that will yield text and
images useful in generating a theory
Constant comparative data analysis: An
inductive (from specific to broad) data analysis
procedure in grounded theory research of
generating and connecting categories by
comparing incidents in the data to other incidents,
incidents to categories, and categories to other
categories
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.10
Key Characteristics of
Grounded Theory Designs (cont’d)
A core category: A category that can become
the theme that describes or becomes the main
theme of the process
Theory generation: An abstract explanation or
understanding of a process about a substantive
topic grounded in the data
Memos: Notes the researcher writes throughout
the research process to elaborate on ideas
about the data and the coded categories
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.11
A Process and Categories Within the
Flow of Research in Grounded Theory
The research problem leads to
A study of a central phenomenon
in grounded theory research questions
That addresses a process
Which contains
- a sequence of activities
- including actions by people
- including interactions by people
Which a grounded theorist
begins to understand by developing
- categories
- relating categories
- developing a theory that explains
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.12
Zigzag Approach to
Data Collection and Analysis
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Close to Saturated
Categories
Third
Interview
More Refined
Categories
Second
Interview
Refined
Categories
First
Interview
Preliminary
Categories
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Toward
Saturation of
Categories
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.13
Constant Comparison Procedures
in Data Analysis
Category I
Code A
Category II
Code B
Code C
Indicators
Raw Data (e.g., transcripts,
fieldnotes, documents)
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.14
Core Category of Ethnicity in a Theory of
Ethnic Minority Students’ Process of
Community Building
Ethnicity
- Hispanic
- Black
Gender
- Male
- Female
Background
- Economic Differences
- Diversity
- Adapting to Change
Sense of Self
Strategies
Withdrawal
Passive, low risk
Active
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Intervening
Conditions
Peer
Interactions
Community
Causal Condition
Properties
Phenomenon
Properties
- Nature of Interactions
- Racial Differences
- Quantity of Friends
- Intensity
- Time to Develop
Friends
- Sense of
Belonging
- Source
- Importance
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.15
Memos
Memos are notes the researcher writes
throughout the research process to elaborate on
ideas about the data and the coded categories.
In memos, the researcher explores hunches,
ideas, and thoughts, and then takes them apart,
always searching for the broader explanations at
work in the process.
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.16
Conducting a Grounded Theory Study
Decide if a grounded theory design best
addresses the research problem
Identify a process to study
Seek approval and access
Conduct theoretical sampling
Code the data
Use selective coding and develop the theory
Validate your theory
Write a grounded theory research report
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.17
Evaluating a Grounded Theory Study
Is there an obvious connection between the
categories and the raw data?
Is the theory useful as a conceptual explanation
for the process being studied?
Does the theory provide a relevant explanation
of actual problems and a basic process?
Can the theory be modified as conditions
change or further data are gathered?
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.18
Evaluating a Grounded Theory Study
(cont’d)
Is a theoretical model developed or
generated that conceptualizes a process,
action, or interaction?
Is there a central phenomenon (or core
category) specified at the heart of the model?
Does the model emerge through phases of
coding? (e.g., initial codes to more
theoretically oriented codes or open coding to
axial coding to selective coding)
Does the researcher attempt to interrelate
categories?
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.19
Evaluating a Grounded Theory Study
(cont’d)
Does the researcher gather extensive data so as
to develop a detailed conceptual theory well
saturated in the data?
Does the study show how the researcher
validated the evolving theory by comparing it to
the data, examining how the theory supports or
refutes existing theories in the literature, or
checking theory with participants?
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
14.20