Grounded Theory PDF

Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory “…the researcher is like a detective. He or she follows the leads of the concepts, never quite certain where they will lead, but always open to what might be uncovered” – Corbin & Strauss (2008; p. 144)  Grounded theory...

Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory “…the researcher is like a detective. He or she follows the leads of the concepts, never quite certain where they will lead, but always open to what might be uncovered” – Corbin & Strauss (2008; p. 144)  Grounded theory Leedy & Ormrod, 2013 ► Term ‘grounded theory’ – comes from the idea that “the theory that emerges from the study is derived from and rooted in data that have been collected in the field rather than taken from the researcher.” ► Constructivism/ social constructionism  What is a theory? Have you considered where they come from? “…the rigid division of labour between empiricists and theorists breaks down.” - Charmaz (1996) - on Grounded Theory approaches What is theory in psychology? ► An organised set of ideas that is designed to explain a phenomenon of human behavior; ► Must be something that has gone through some sort of scientific analysis and it’s done through experimentation or scientific study of some sort; ► Essential for developing predictions about behaviour.  Grounded theory study: characteristics ❑ 5 characteristics 1) The purpose of grounded theory (GT) is to begin with the data and use the data to develop a theory. ▪ Thus, the theory that emerges from the study is derived from and grounded/ rooted in the data collected in the field rather than being based on the literature. ▪ GT is helpful when current theories about a phenomenon are either inadequate or non-existent.  Grounded theory study: characteristics 2) GT Focuses on the process related to a particular topic, including people’s actions and interactions with the ultimate goal of developing a theory about the process. 3) GT has roots in sociology, but is now used in other social sciences e.g., education, psychology, social work etc. 4) A GT researcher must have a firm understanding of general concepts and theoretical orientations in his/her discipline as a whole ▪ (They will need an in-depth lit. review early in the research process)  Grounded theory: characteristics 5) Researcher learns about the research topic through a thorough review of the related literature but should refrain from forming specific hypotheses about what might be found. ▪ Conflicting views: Too much prior knowledge makes it difficult for researcher to be open-minded when analysing and interpreting findings The benefits of extensive lit review far outweigh the limitations. Wider reading gives more insights and clarity of thought about the problem Grounded theory - Method ► Data collection is field-based, flexible, and likely to change over the course of the study. ► Interviews play a major role but observation, documents, historical records, videotapes, and anything else (of potential relevance to the research question) may also be used. ► Data collected must include the perspectives and voices of the people being studied. Grounded theory - Method ► Researcher develops categories to classify data. ► Subsequent data collection is aimed at saturating the categories and at finding any disconfirming evidence that may suggest revisions in the categories identified or in the interrelationships among them. ► Constant comparative method - Moving back and forth between data collection and data analysis, with analysis driving later data collection. ► Conceptual density - The resulting theory must include numerous concepts and interrelationships amongst the concepts.  Grounded theory - Data analysis ► Corbin and Strauss (2008) suggest four steps: Open coding, Axial coding, Selective coding, Development of a theory  What questions do researchers ask themselves during this phase? What do the data suggest? Pronounce? From whose point of view? What do actions and statements in the data take for granted? What process(es) is at issue here? How can I define it? How does this process develop? Under which conditions does this process develop? How does the research participant(s) think, feel and act while involved in this process? When, why, and how does the process change? What are the consequences of the process? Grounded theory – Data analysis 2. Axial coding – Interconnections are formed between categories and sub-categories to understand more about them ▪ Based on conditions leading to the phenomenon, and the context in which it’s embedded ▪ Researcher moves back and forth between data collection, open coding and axial coding..) 3. Selective coding – Categories and inter-relations (between categories and subcategories)are combined to create a storyline of what’s happening.  Memo writing/memoing and sorting during the coding process Process that takes place during the coding phase Describes the process by which researcher write down their analytical, conceptual, or theoretical notes as memos in order to remember them. These memos can be defined as: “the theorising write-up of ideas about codes and their relationships as they strike the analyst while coding.” (Glaser, 1978, p.83) “the narrated records of a theorist’s analytical conversations with him/herself about the research data.” (Lempert, 2007, p. 247) “the documentation of the researcher’s thinking process and theorising from the data.” (Thornberg, 2012, p. 254)  Why do researchers make use of memo-writing? - Allows researchers to ask themselves: ‘How can I make sense of this?’ or ‘What is going on here?’ - Helps researchers to reflect on the codes that they have generated, helps to clarify thinking, and provides some analytical distance. - Ultimately, it helps to make a dataset manageable. 4)Development of a theory – A theory is offered to explain the phenomenon in question. And a theory is proposed in the form of ❑ Verbal statement, or ❑ Visual model, or ❑ Series of hypotheses Grounded theory - Research report ❑ The style of writing in a GT research report is typically objective and impersonal. ❑ The final research report typically includes: i. A description of the research question ii. A review of the related literature iii. A description of the methodology and data analysis iv. A presentation of your theory v. A discussion of implications  Homework Exercise ► Find a journal article reporting a study which used the Grounded theory method. ► Compare the steps described in the article with lecture notes.. ► Check your understanding.. ► Video (Grounded Theory): https://youtu.be/Y6f1GHjD5JQ?si=OpJ94hgOn8sVNUc4 A practical application of grounded theory research: Class Discussion Jeggles, J.D. (2009). A reflection on the application of grounded theory in the exploration of the experiences of informal caregivers. Curationis, 32(2), 21 – 30. https://scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S2223-627920090002000 03 Jeggels, J.D. (2009). A reflection on the application of grounded theory in the exploration of the experiences of informal carers. Curations, June 2009. Aim: ❑ Jeggels (2009) aimed to apply the ‘grounded theory’ research method to explore the experiences of informal carers within their unique contexts. ❑ Specifically, to explore the experiences of informal carers of elderly dependents in a Cape Town metro area To develop a grounded theory on informal care Jeggels (2009) Choosing the method: ❑ Jeggels observed… ▪ Much research has been published on experiences, needs and interventions to support informal carers ▪ However, not much research so far on informal carers involvement in the rehabilitation of their relatives. “The value of grounded theory lies in its contribution to areas in which little research has been done” Grounded theory is suitable for exploratory research Jeggles (2009) – Practical Example of the Application of Grounded Theory However, GT goes beyond the basic thematic analysis of qualitative data into theory generation. ❑ “During the preparatory reading of my doctoral studies, I discovered that GT presents the researcher with more of a challenge than an exploratory, descriptive qualitative study would. It challenges the researcher to move beyond the thematic analysis of qualitative research data, to a level of theory generation”. (Jeggels, 2009, p. 23) ❑ “I have a fascination with the study of the individual in society. I wondered about the impact of prior experience on the burden of care in an informal caring situation. The grounded theory method matched my academic interest about the experiences of the individual in society and academic awareness of the value of inductive thinking processes ”. (Jeggels, 2009, p. 23) Jeggels (2009) Qualitative Method: ► Inductive analysis – involves the generation of categories and themes from the data ► Findings emerge through the researcher’s interaction with the data ► Sampling, data collection and analysis occur simultaneously ► As opposed to Deductive – where the researcher uses an existing framework to analyse the data Jeggels (2009) Qualitative Method (continued..) ► The interpretive social research approach is used in GT and generally used in exploratory social research ► NB - Studies on caregivers, informal carers and family carers have tended to use GT as a research method Jeggels (2009) Sampling: ► Informal carers – Aged over 18, who assumed primary responsibility to care for an elderly person (after hospital discharge); dependents had to require assistance with 2 or more activities of daily living (e.g., getting bathed & dressed) ► Elderly dependents – who had been discharged from hospital to a private dwelling (not nursing home, hospice etc.); Had suffered stroke, femur or hip fractures, or amputations. Both male, female aged 32-75yrs. 2 Tertiary Hospitals in Cape Town. ► Sample size – small, purposive, 18 participants. NB – sample size was determined by a cyclical process of data collection and analysis, and continued until saturation of data ► Saturation – is the point at which no new info emerges from the interview (Chiovitti and Piran, 2003). Jeggels (2009) Data collection: ► Demographic questionnaire ► Interviews: Open-ended interview schedule was used. o Interviews were done at 3 points in time – i.e., prior to discharge, within first week of discharge, and 1month after discharge. o The Last interview was done at the home of the dependent. ► Field notes were used to capture additional contextual info about informal carers Jeggels (2009) Data analysis: Cresswell (1998) format of data analysis was used i.e. open coding, axial coding and selective coding. ► Open coding – The data was broken down into smaller segments/concepts, labeling them, examining them and grouping them under more abstract concepts (namely categories) ► Analytical tools used included – questioning & constant comparative analysis Open coding – Questioning & constant comparison – ► Questioning – means that concepts are examined by asking questions about them e.g., what is it, when/why does it occur, consequences etc. Q could be asked across cases.. E.g. “Does it happen to all carers?” ► “Questioning allowed me to link categories, examine my biases and move from descriptive analysis to conceptual analysis” (Jeggels 2009, p. 25) Open coding – Questioning & constant comparison – ► Constant comparative analysis - o Data collected is continually compared to existing categories o Data is linked to emerging categories and categories are then compared with other categories – aka the property and dimensional levels of comparison. ► P. 25 – “At this level, I did not compare individual cases but compared the categories. I was not interested in how many cases displayed this particular category but how it presented itself under varying conditions.” Open coding – ► “I also became aware that in many instances the caring became a shared responsibility. This happened in particular where the primary carer was male. The assumption that females primarily accepted the role of carer was proved incorrect during the early phase of the data collection process. Despite having daughters, two elderly ladies were cared for by their sons.” Jeggels, 2009, p.25 ► P. 25 “During the data collection phase, I purposively included both options, to ascertain whether choosing or being chosen, impacted on the care and rehabilitation offered to the elderly dependant. I also became acutely aware of my strong opinions with regard to the choosing to care...and captured these feelings in reflective notes.” Open coding – ► Coding using computer software (N.VIVO) – initial coding was followed by a more structured computer aided process ► N.VIVO was used to facilitate open coding and tree coding i.e. a line by line tree coding system in which the software helps retrieve codes within cases and across cases “The challenge was to name the categories that would accurately describe the perceptions, opinions, or experiences of the carers..” i.e. dealing with similarities and diversity in responses to the same questions.. Jeggels (2009) ► Example of Open coding – ► (see figure 1, p. 26) Axial coding – ► Involves suggesting relationships between categories – i.e. the data is re-arranged in a conceptual way. ► Codes are grouped together into sub-categories ► Categories and sub-categories are conceptualized through a lengthy constant comparison ► Sub-categories are linked to categories and eventually a basic social process (BSP) is revealed. Axial coding – Basic Social Process (BSP) – i.e. a central idea, event or happening in terms of the paradigm model Paradigm model – is an analytical tool used to facilitate the exploration of the core category or basic social process The aim of axial coding is to identify a BSP Axial coding – ❖ “By using the (paradigm) model I uncovered the core category namely, facilitating care. It is by facilitating care that informal home-based carers make sense of their world as they provide care and assist in the recovery of their elderly dependants. When carers are faced with the prospect of caring for elderly dependants, there are a number of conditions that will impact on this basic social process”. Jeggels, 2009, p.26 Conditions (causal, contextual, intervening) => influence the BSP Selective coding – ► The researcher identifies a “storyline” and writes a story that integrates the categories in the axial coding model (Creswell, 1998, p.57). ► “GT could be presented as a theoretical discussion of the conceptual categories and their properties, but that it should ring true with great credibility, feel theoretically complete and be simple to apply” (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, p.31). ► See GT storyline memo (page 26). Jeggels (2009) Summary findings (grounded theory): “Informal carers were facilitating care during the transition of the elderly from hospital to home by revealing the link between facilitating care, the basic social process, and other categories associated with informal health care. Categories included, prior relationship between the carer and the elderly, the traumatic incident, the need for role fitting, maintenance-care and repair-care, and the consequences of facilitating care, i.e. connected or disconnected.” Jeggels (2009) Recommendations: ► Recognition of Informal Carers (ICs) as essential community assets ► ICs to be included in the health care system of the country ► ICs need information, financial and material resources ► ICs need family support, as well as support from home-based workers and professionals.