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Grounded Theory

Grounded theory is a well-established and highly influential approach to qualitative research. Developed in the 1960s by two sociologists, Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss, in the United States, it is characterized by a theory-building approach, based on an iterative, inductive process of data analysis. This entry reviews the history and development of the theory, its key characteristics, the process of analyzing data while using grounded theory, and other considerations regarding the theory.

History and Development

Grounded theory was an approach first presented in detail in Glaser and Strauss’s 1967 work, The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Fundamental to this approach was a concern to develop theory—both formal and substantive—from data in a systematic, inductive process. This was in reaction to a more traditional and dominant approach whereby theory was developed a priori and then tested against data through an essentially deductive process. Grounded theory subsequently became a widely used method in qualitative research, particularly in the context of health and illness. However, it has been the subject of considerable debate and some degree of controversy.

The most fundamental development in the subsequent history of grounded theory took the form of a schism between Glaser and Strauss. The publication in 1990 of the first edition of Basics of Qualitative Research, authored by Strauss and Juliet Corbin, provoked a strong reaction from Glaser, who felt that in this book, the emphasis on allowing theory to emerge directly from the data, free from the influence of theoretical preconceptions, had been lost and that the process of analysis had become excessively structured and prescriptive. In a series of texts, Glaser sought to reassert what he regarded as the authentic nature of grounded theory. Although Strauss did not respond openly to Glaser’s concerns, this episode led to two distinct models of grounded theory, one Glaserian and one Straussian, and each with different emphases in terms of method and terminology.

Another important development is the use of grounded theory methods in research that is broadly inductive in its approach but does not necessarily adopt the principle of theory building central to the broader grounded theory approach. Grounded theory can therefore refer either to an overall approach to qualitative research or to a set of methods to be used in the analysis of qualitative data in the context of a different methodological approach.

Key Characteristics

Despite the emergence of differing perspectives in grounded theory, and taking due account of the varying emphases placed within these perspectives, it is possible to identify some fundamental features of grounded theory research. The foremost of these features is a reliance on an inductive approach to data analysis. Instead of identifying a number of broad theoretical concepts or categories in advance and then applying these to the data, as occurs in some forms of thematic content analysis, grounded theory insists that concepts and categories should be identified from the data. The resulting theory is thereby “grounded” in the data.

This model of analysis requires the researcher to engage in a particularly close and detailed reading of the data, applying analytical codes to particular pieces of data, prior to subsuming these codes under broader theoretical categories. It further implies that the analyst should return to the data repeatedly so as to check these codes and categories and the emerging theory—data analysis and theorizing thereby constitute an iterative process involving constant comparison. Specifically, constant comparison entails repeatedly comparing instances of data within a category with other instances in that category. The meaning of the category is thereby tested, developed, and refined as appropriate. Moreover, categories may be renamed and may be restructured in the process; it may be decided that what was one category should become two or that two categories should be merged to form a single category.

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