Walking through the grounded theory process: A research experienceEsthery Dembo KunkwenzuPostgraduate studentStellenbosch University

Overview Introduction The GT process The research experience Concluding comments and contentions

Overview of GT

GT was first discovered by Glaser & Strauss (1967) in the discovery of grounded theory.

Since then, Grounded theory has been refined and developed by many other interpretive scholars including: Corbin & Strauss (1990); Glaser (1978, 1992, 1998); Morse & Johnson (1991); Strauss & Corbin (1990, 1994, 1997, 1998).

Overview of GT GT studies begin from a general research

interest in an area or topic, which gradually narrows down to the discovery of a specific pattern or phenomenon.

GT is defined as an inductive approach to the study of social phenomena that attempts to generate a theory from data (Babbie, 2004).

The GT process Open coding: Method of attaching a label that captures the detail,

variation and complexity of the basic qualitative data. Constant comparison: Method of comparing data instances, cases and

categories for conceptual similarities and differences. Theoretical sampling: A data collection method in which the researcher

jointly collects codes and analyses data and uses this information to decide what data to collect next and where.

Memo writing: Writing theoretical memos helps to explore emerging concepts and links to existing theory.

Saturation: A stage reached when no new categories or ideas for the development of the theory emerge with subsequent data collection and analysis

Theoretical sensitivity: Means that a researcher has to be sensitive to the important issues in the data.

DATA ANALYSIS

Summary of the GT process

THEORY SATURATION? NO

DATA DEVELOPMENT

-data coding -data codes fit?

-develop categories

-memo writing d

Enter field

THEORY DEVELOPED

THEORETICAL SAMPLING

YES

Overview of GT Such explicit and systematic research procedures have

enabled grounded theory to gain credibility over other general qualitative methodologies.

GT opens up ‘a range of new and exiting challenges and opportunities for research especially in areas where existing theory is inappropriate, too abstracted, or absent entirely

This was especially useful in my study of beginning teachers because although literature in the area abounds, there is still no theory that can be used to guide a framework for understanding the experiences of beginning teachers (Colderhead & Shorrock, 1997; Flores, 2001)

The research experience Methodology and data development

techniques: Questionnaire on biographic information Face to face interviews Classroom observations and reflection Reflective diary Focus group discussions

Reflection on the research process

Challenge 1 To generate a compelling, credible and

trustworthy process of conducting the study. The grounded theory process as described earlier

was adhered to throughout the field work and to the end of the study.

Reflection on the research process Challenge 2 Open coding

Use of both in vivo codes (that is the words used by the participants) and in vitro codes (expressions introduced by the researcher) in this coding.

Partial audit trail of initial face-to-face interviewTeacher identity: Dan Date of interview: 19th January, 2006

The Head and colleagues treat me as a fellow teacher who is experienced and I have seen that they also expect some things from me just as they expect from a teacher who has been here for some time. There is no difference.The workload, as you can see from the list is the same as any teacher. As a beginning teacher as you can see, am teaching form 3 and 4. I thought as a beginning teacher I would be given form ones and form twos. This makes me feel that my colleagues expectation a lot from me.Were there no experienced teachers to take up the senior classes?For Home economics, there was no Experienced Home economics teacher. But for Agriculture, there was an agriculture teacher for almost over five years who is teaching form two and four. I am teaching form three, I should have been teaching form one as well but I feel the workload is too much and there is now no agriculture in form one.

Treated as fellow teacher

Similar teacher expectationsTeaching senior classesschool expectations

Lack of H\E mentor

Additional subject: Agriculture

High expectations

Teacher shortage

Challenge 3 Development of categories

Further constant comparison of categories The use of visualization through use of logic

diagrams (Strauss & Corbin, 1990)

Reflection on the research process

Figure 2: Contextual factors

Contextual factors

Teacher shortage Lack of guidance Limited/no feedback Limited/no colleague

interaction Limited/no support Lack of H/E mentor

Limited professional development activities No school induction

Limited/lack of teaching and learning resources for H/E

High expectations

School expectationsTeaching senior classesTeaching examination classesExpected to improve national examination outcome in H/EHolding a degree

High workloadsHigher teaching loadTeaching additional non specialised subjects- (sciences) School Roles

Accorded more school responsibilities

Figure 3: High expectations

Reflection on the research process 3. Use of the coding paradigm helped to label

the remaining categories accordingly as causal conditions, Phenomenon Context Intervening conditions Action/coping strategies Consequences (Strauss, 1987).

Fig 5.1 Summary of the data analysis process

Level 2 categories Level 2 categories Theory stages

Stage 1 Stage 2

Stage 3

High expectations

Contextual factors

Biographic factors

Establishing self as teacher

Subject specific issues

Socialisation shock

Problems and challenges

Limited/no Professional development activities

Instructional factors

Copping strategies

School expectations

Lack of feedback

No school induction

Teacher shortage

High School roles

Class/student management

Subject specific challenges

Examination demands

Lack of/limited teaching /learning resources

Age

Lack of/limited support

Gender issues

Limited colleague interaction

Knowledge gaps

Personal factors

School experience

School administrative support mechanisms

Copping strategies

Stepping stone

High work loads

Concluding comments

Data collection vs Data development Data is generated through human actions – face to face interviews,

classroom observations, field diaries etc. (Jardine, 1998) Discovery of GT vs generation of GT.

Constructivist revision also alerts to the fact that data should guide but should not limit theorizing, because to be able to generate a theory, researchers use their theoretical sensitivities which are brought in by their experience (Henwood & Pidgeon, 2003)

The challenge and excitement that using grounded theory brings lies in a researchers ability to go beyond the overwhelming maze of data and categories that result from the field work.

Thank you