Grounded theory

Grounded theory
Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss are the two sociologists who developed Grounded theory in 1967. They did a collaborative research in the dying hospital patient and wrote a book named “Awareness of Dying”. In this research they developed the constant comparative method which is later known as grounded theory. Strauss and Glaser are the developer of grounded theory but later on they split and bring the split on the theory because they were confused “how to do grounded theory”. In 1990 Juliet Corbin and Strauss published “Basics of Qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques” together and defined the grounded theory as “The grounded theory approach is a qualitative research method that uses a systematic set of procedures to develop an inductively derived grounded theory about a phenomenon”.
Grounded theory is research method of qualitative research in which the theory is developed from the data, rather than the other way around, which means it’s an inductive approach which moves from specific to more general. Concepts, categories and hypotheses are the three methods of study in grounded theory. Concept is the major elements of analysis as the theory is developed from the conceptualization of data, rather than the actual data. The primary objective of grounded theory, then, is to expand upon an explanation of a phenomenon by identifying the key elements of that phenomenon, and then categorizing the relationships of those elements to the context and process of the experiment. In other words, the goal is to go from the general to the specific without losing sight of what makes the subject of a study unique. According to grounded theory it is stated that the research questions must be open and general rather than formed as a specific hypotheses, and that the emergent theory should account for a phenomenon that is relevant to the participants.
Grounded theory is best in providing the detailed and systemic procedures for data collection, analysis and theorizing, but is also concerned with the quality of emergent theory. According to Strauss and Corbin (1990): Grounded theory should:
1. Fit the phenomenon, provided it has been carefully derived from diverse data and is adherent to the common reality of the area.
2. Provide understanding and be understandable.
3. Provide generality, in that the theory includes extensive variation and is abstract enough to b applicable to a wide variety of contexts.
4. Provide control in the sense of stating the conditions under which the theory applies and describing a reasonable basis for action.
Grounded theory is quiet often used in the qualitative research as a method for making the qualitative research and easy, as qualitative research has to deal with in depth research and the data’s are mixed up making it complex to do research.