A Step-by-Step Approach to Using Grounded Theory: From Data to Articles Using a Study of the Cultural Adaptations of Trainee Teachers

Abstract

As a follow on to my earlier research with beginning teachers, in which I investigated their propensity for pedagogical change, when they faced difficult and unfamiliar cultural situations in school, this research was undertaken to test the findings on a larger scale. The research from which this case study is drawn uses a greater number of schools and participants, these taken from the geographically large region of Yorkshire and Humberside in the North of England, in the academic year of 2013-2014. The increased amount of data from the study leant itself to a more detailed data analysis compared with thematic analysis as was used previously. Thus, the data were coded on a line-by-line basis using the method of grounded theory coding, and it is this method which is described in detail here. This case study takes the reader on a journey in which the reader is taught in a step-by-step fashion, using real-life examples of raw data, which is ultimately converted to memos from which articles can be written, about how to use the grounded theory method of coding. The reader is shown how to interpret raw data, code it, compare it, derive sensitising concepts from it and ultimately write memos from the derived codes in preparation for journal articles.

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