Grounded Theory

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.

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). 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." ''