Learning about grounded theory

Before signing up for this course, I had never heard of grounded theory. I started the MAIS program with a project idea, and I was looking for a framework to explore it. Grounded theory seemed to offer a methodology for me to make sense of the elements of my project idea. 

But first, I had to figure out what grounded theory is. The course texts and readings provided a pathway to understanding. I learned that grounded theory was developed by sociologists Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss as a response to divisions within qualitative and quantitative research approaches in the 1960s. The method focuses on observing participants, gathering data, and field work rather than analyzing data. Glaser and Strauss redirected inquiry toward analysis and developing strategies for study, and challenged existing assumptions.

According to Kathy Charmaz (2014), grounded theory methods differ from logico-deductive/hypothesis-testing approaches to research as they are based in a foundation of data to take a systematic approach to analysis (p. 7). In short, a grounded theory approach uses data to create theories rather than existing hypotheses. 

Charmaz (2014) describes grounded theory as a method of focus and flexibility (p. 3). She defines grounded theory as using “systematic, yet flexible guidelines” for understanding data to build theories from the ground up (p.1). 

Based on what I’ve read, I understand that the methodology provides tools for conducting successful research. For the open-minded researcher, grounded theory can bring surprises, spark ideas, and hone analytic skills. Grounded theory is the promise of seeing data in fresh ways (Charmaz, 2014, p. 3). 

Selecting a research topic 

I’m drawn to grounded theory as a methodology for making sense of a large “body of data” that I’m trying to understand. I’ve been entrusted with the physical materials of my maternal lineage. These materials were initially collected by my great aunt who used to live in the house I currently live in. I inherited a basement full of stuff, and over time I weeded out the garbage and clutter. I’m now left with a collection of bins of photos, letters, notebooks, and artwork, and I’m trying to make sense of what’s here. 

When I dig through the bins, my body of data, I’m left feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. But exercising grounded theory practices have given me an entry point, and they’ve helped me view the materials as simply data. Grounded theory methods can be applied to a range of data, including studied scenes, interviews, documents, and life records and archival sources. I find it encouraging that grounded theory starts with observations, interactions, or materials (Charmaz, 2014, p. 4). 

As I try to make sense of what is in my archives, I see the potential in the grounded theory practice of coding to sort and synthesize data. Charmaz notes that coding is “attach[ing] labels to segments of data that depict what each segment is about” (p. 4). My initial attempts at coding have given me insight and clarity, and I expect that as I engage with my data in more depth, even more insights will arise. 

My research topic is driven by personal experience and interest: exploring my ancestry, family history, and origin stories. At this stage, I’m not sure who I am as a researcher, but I know that I’m not afraid of digging into and mining my personal experience. I try to do this by being curious, receptive, and diligent.  

So far in my grad school experience, I’ve been drawn to courses that focus on life histories, memoirs, and autoethnography. I also have a personal journalling practice that has prepared me with some of the skills necessary for grounded theory research (detailed memo taking and theory building – even if my usual subject is myself and my inner world). 

As I immerse myself in the body of data and the generations of family archives in my basement, I am embarking on a process of “exploration based on observation” (Stebbins, 2001, p. 22).

Project idea 

For my grounded theory project, I’d like to explore the life of my great-grandmother, Marjorie (Winter) Field. While digging through a box of paperwork, I discovered a book of her poems, a small bound booklet of 60 or so pages that her daughters published 26 years after her death. I’ve also come across a few other pieces of Marjorie’s life: a jewelry box containing a letter that she wrote to my 20-year-old grandmother in 1938; a photo of her and her husband, my great-grandfather, Lee, on my basement wall; photos of her as a young woman; and some kind of framed collage with a handwritten note with her name jammed in the frame (I haven’t examined this too closely yet). I expect other bits of her life will surface once I start digging around.

I think I have enough data to build some kind of life story of Marjorie. What I know of her has been passed on from my grandmother and great aunt, and they had a tendency to mythologize her. I know that she died in 1940 at age 48, after a long illness, when her three daughters were young adults. I know that she struggled to be an artist and she often retreated into a writing/painting studio on the family property. There are other things that I think I know but which may actually be my imagination filling in the gaps: that her difficult-to-diagnose illness was depression, that her daughters felt abandoned when she focused on her art.  

My chosen tool for understanding my data will be document analysis (Charmaz, 2014, p. 22). I plan on starting with the book of poems, using Charmaz’s questions for studying documents (p. 53). 

I am guided by questions: Who is my great-grandmother? Who is Marjorie Field? What was it like to be a female artist and mother in the early 20th century? My hope is that this project will help me better understand my maternal lineage and myself. 

Data sources

I feel fortunate that I have a data source ready and waiting for me in my basement. While my “body of data” is a chaotic archive of notebooks, photographs, artwork, and random paperwork in its entirety, I have found an entry point through my great-grandmother, Marjorie. 

I am interested in the grounded theory potential for collecting and analyzing data. Kathy Charmaz (2014) notes that research begins with finding and generating data, and rich data provides the most material for building analysis (p. 23). The chapters in Robert A. Stebbins’ book Exploratory Research in the Social Sciences (2001) encourage exploration as a process for collecting data, while Charmaz encourages researchers to “let the world appear anew through your data” (2014, p. 22). 

For this project, my data is text and photographs. Charmaz pays considerable attention to documents – including written texts, visual images, government documents, and more – as data, and asserts their overlooked potential for theorizing. She encourages researchers to “think of documents as texts.” Charmaz also notes that documents are not objective facts and they have been created for specific purposes within “social, economic, historical, cultural and situational contexts” (p. 45). 

Combined methodology 

My project idea involves using grounded theory to build a narrative around an individual’s life. I believe that my project can be enriched by combining grounded theory with a life history methodology (Stewart, n.d.).  

Life history projects usually involve interviews with participants to collect data. My subject is long deceased, so I will be reflecting on and engaging with texts to create a narrative around her life.

Challenges

I have already encountered some challenges while thinking about my grounded theory project, including a general sense of overwhelm and difficulty finding a model project. 

While learning about grounded theory, I felt overwhelmed by the amount of data in my archive. Fortunately, my instructor, Russ, encouraged me to “decide on a smaller part of the whole to work with for the purposes of this course. For example, are there photos and notes (or poems) by and of one person that you could code in depth and then create a description or narrative of how their life (or a part of it) unfolded?” This suggestion helped me zero in Marjorie as the subject of my research. 

I’ve also had difficulty finding a similar grounded theory project on which to model my research. Most of the papers I’ve come across focus on data gathered through interviews and surveys. I spent hours looking for a study that focuses on material or archival data and, while my search wasn’t exhaustive, it didn’t lead to a sufficient model.  

I did, however, find one paper, “Remote female fixation: A grounded theory on semi-illegal sharing of nude imagery online” (Otteren & Gynnild, 2023), that has parallels to my data. In this study, the researchers use data collected from online forums, due to the anonymous and sensitive nature of the research subject. Even though it is digital material rather than physical, it helped give me an idea of how to approach material that isn’t gleaned from interviews with living subjects.

I’ve accepted that I have to take an exploratory approach to an exploratory method, making me a reluctant and uncertain pioneer!

Exploration

Exploration is at the heart of grounded theory. Stebbins (2001) stresses that “theory is the primary goal of exploratory research… [and] explorers are, in the final analysis, theorists” (p. 51). He also notes certain qualities that grounded theory explorers may have that enrich and motivate their work. The qualities that stood out for me reflect a chosen lifestyle and approach to life experience. Stebbins notes that explorers don’t separate their work from their life (p. 52). They also display a willingness to use their life experience in intellectual work and to use personal experience and relevant experiences of others (p. 53). 

I am especially heartened that Charmaz encourages “theoretical playfulness” in research, particularly in coding (p. 136). I appreciate this reminder to be flexible, to be willing to leap from events and descriptions to insight and possibilities. My project idea has felt heavy and burdensome, and I’ve forgotten that it could be playful and fun. 

References

Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing grounded theory (2nd ed.). Sage. 

Otteren, H., & Gynnild, A. (2023). Remote female fixation: A grounded theory on semi-illegal sharing of nude imagery online. Grounded Theory Review, 22(1), 66–82. 

Stebbins, R. A. (2001). Exploratory research in the social sciences (Qualitative research methods series no. 48). Sage. 

Stewart, L. (n.d.) Life history research. Atlasti.com https://atlasti.com/research-hub/life-history-research 

Next ePortfolio Entry – 2: My Grounded Theory Data Collection and Analysis