Grounded theory (GT) is a general research method (most often associated with qualitative research) for social sciences developed by the sociologists Barney Glaser (b. 1930) and Anselm Strauss (1916-1996). Their successful collaboration in research on dying in hospitals resulted in the book Awareness of Dying and the constant comparative method, later named grounded theory in The Discovery of Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Grounded theory was developed as a systematic methodology, and its name underscores the generation of theory from data. When the principles of grounded theory are followed, a researcher using this approach will formulate a theory, either substantive (setting specific) or formal, about the phenomena they are studying that can be evaluated. The term qualitative research has different meanings in different fields, with the social science usage the most well-known. ... The social sciences are groups of academic disciplines that study the human aspects of the world. ... Barney G. Glaser (born 1930), American sociologist and one of the founders of the Grounded theory methodology. ... Anselm L. Strauss (December 18, 1916_September 5, 1996) was a sociologist, who worked the field of medical sociology. ... Awareness of Dying is a 1965 book (ISBN 0-202-30763-8) by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. ... The Discovery of Grounded Theory is a 1967 book (ISBN 0202302601) by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss on grounded theory. ...

Since their original publication in 1967, Glaser and Strauss disagreed on 'how to do' GT. This split occurred most obviously after Strauss published Qualitative Analysis for Social Scientists (1987). Thereafter Strauss in 1990 published Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques together with Juliet Corbin. This was followed by a rebuke by Glaser (1992) who set out, chapter by chapter, to highlight the differences in what he argued was original grounded theory and why, according to Glaser, what Strauss had written was not grounded theory in its intended form. This divergence in the GT methodology is a subject of much academic debate.

According to Kelle (2005), "the controversy between GLASER and STRAUSS boils down to the question whether the researcher uses a well defined "coding paradigm" and always looks systematically for "causal conditions", "phenomena", "context", "intervening conditions", "action strategies" and "consequences" in the data, or whether he or she should employ theoretical codes ad hoc, thereby drawing on a huge fund of "coding families". Both strategies have their pros and cons: novices who wish to get clear advice on how to structure data material may be satisfied with the use of the coding paradigm. Since the paradigm consists of theoretical terms which carry only limited empirical content the risk is not very high that data are forced by its application. However, it must not be forgotten that it is linked to a certain micro-sociological perspective. Many researchers may concur with that approach esp. since qualitative research always had a relation to micro-sociological action theory, but others who want to employ macro-sociological and system theory perspective may feel that the use of the coding paradigm would lead them astray." ^[1] Look up Context in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Further reading

The following articles and books further outline this:

• Grounded theory (Glaser) - an overview of grounded theory according to Glaser.
• Grounded theory (Strauss) tells about grounded theory in the tradition of Strauss and later of Juliet Corbin.
• Strauss, A. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
• Glaser, B. (1992). Basics of grounded theory analysis. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.

Grounded theory is a general research method for behavioral science developed by the sociologists Barney Glaser (b. ... Grounded theory is either of two different paradigms in sociological work. ...

External links

• The Grounded Theory Institute (Glaser tradition)
• Chinese version of introduction
• [1]
• [2]

Sources

1. ^ Kelle, Udo: "Emergence" vs. "Forcing" of Empirical Data? A Crucial Problem of "Grounded Theory" Reconsidered. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research [On-line Journal], 6(2), Art. 27, paragraphs 49 & 50.

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.