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Grounded theory was originally developed by two sociologists, Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. They were unhappy about the way in which existing theories dominated sociological research. They argued that researchers needed a method that would allow them to move from data to theory, so that new theories could emerge. Such theories would be specific to the context in which they had been developed. They would be ‘grounded’ in the data from which they had emerged rather than rely on analytical constructs, categories or variables from pre-existing theories. Grounded theory, therefore, was designed to open up a space for the development of new, contextualized theories. MGH083_ch07.indd 69 4/25/13 1:48 PM 70 CHAPTER 7 GROUNDED THEORY METHODOLOGY Since the publication of The Discovery of Grounded Theory by Glaser and Strauss in 1967, the grounded theory method has undergone a number of revisions. Most signifi cantly, Glaser and Strauss themselves parted company and proposed different ways in which grounded theory ought to be practised

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Grounded theory involves the progressive identification and integration of categories of meaning from data. It is both the process of category identification and integration (as method) and its product (as theory). Grounded theory as method provides us with guidelines on how to identify categories, how to make links between categories and how to establish relationships between them. Grounded theory as theory is the end-product of this process; it provides us with an explanatory framework with which to understand the phenomenon under investigation. To identify, refine and integrate categories, and ultimately to develop theory, grounded theory researchers use a number of key strategies, including constant comparative analysis, theoretical sampling and theoretical coding. Let us take a closer look at the major analytical constructs, or building blocks, of the grounded theory method.

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Coding
Constant comparative analysis
Negative case analysis
Theoretical sampling
Theoretical saturation
Memo-writing