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Differences in Philosophical Considerations and Their Usefulness Among Three Grounded Theory Perspectives.
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Grounded theory is a commonly used research methodology. There are three primary approaches to grounded theory in nursing research: those espoused by Glaser, Strauss and Corbin, and Charmaz. All three approaches use similar procedures, yet there are important differences among them, which implies that researchers need to make careful choices when u...
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... We used a qualitative study design based on a constructivist account of grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014;Singh & Estefan, 2018). This design is well suited to exploring under-researched areas, as research data are generated abductively via the interaction between the participants, researchers, and their environment (Charmaz, 2008). ...
Wandering is a symptom of dementia that can have devastating consequences on the lives of persons living with dementia and their families and caregivers. Increasingly, caregivers are turning towards electronic tracking devices to help manage wandering. Ethical questions have been raised regarding these location-based technologies and although qualitative research has been conducted to gain better insight into various stakeholders' views on the topic, developers of these technologies have been largely excluded. No qualitative research has focused on developers’ perceptions of ethics related to electronic tracking devices. To address this, we performed a qualitative semi-structured interview study based on grounded theory. We interviewed 15 developers of electronic tracking devices to better understand how they perceive ethical issues surrounding the design, development, and use of these devices within dementia care. Our results reveal that developers are strongly motivated by moral considerations and believe that including stakeholders throughout the development process is critical for success. Developers felt a strong sense of moral obligation towards topics within their control and a weaker sense of moral obligation towards topics outside their control. This leads to a perceived moral boundary between development and use, where some moral responsibility is shifted to end-users.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11948-024-00478-0.
... Grounded theory, rooted in symbolic interactionism (Aldiabat & Navenee, 2011), draws upon an empirical perspective of human interactions and behavior, interpreting these phenomena through the lens of symbols imbued with meaning or value (Blumer, 1986). Notably, researchers bring diverse philosophical perspectives to their approach to grounded theory (Singh & Estefan, 2018). Glaser (1978), aligning with a positivist philosophy in his Classical grounded theory, posits that a studied phenomenon reflects a social process. ...
A grounded theory methodology is a qualitative approach to exploring and describing social processes based on the people's perspective and the researcher's philosophical position. Since the methodological approach is a consequence of the philosophical orientation of the researcher, it is imperative to consider the role of the researcher in the interpretation of the data, the place of the literature review in shaping the theoretical models, the research questions, and the approaches to the data analysis to be able to justify the choice of a specific type of grounded theory approach. Since the grounded theory is too broad a methodology, this article will help provide a novice-level researcher with structuring and developing a grounded theory methodology consistent with the essential elements of each grounded theory type.
... This essay was written with the motivation of contributing to the proper utilization and activation of GTM in the field of HRD. As mentioned earlier in this essay, novice researchers often struggle with choosing the most appropriate version of grounded theory methodology that suits their specific research situation (Bakker, 2019;Rudestam & Newton, 2014;Singh & Estefan, 2018). The coupling of various versions of GTM with different epistemologies, as well as the flexible yet structured process, creates a high barrier to entry for using GTM, ultimately resulting in it being one of the most popular yet misunderstood methodologies (Bryant, 2019). ...
This article addresses the challenges faced by HRD researchers in selecting a qualitative approach, particularly Grounded Theory Method (GTM), which is underrepresented in the field. The author discusses the epistemological foundations of the four major GTM versions and outlines the six essential elements. The article emphasizes GTM’s flexible yet structured nature and explains differences among Glaserian, Straussian, Charmazian, and Clarkean methods. It also summarizes common GTM features like concurrent data collection, constant comparison, theoretical sampling, phased coding, memoing, and theoretical saturation. The article concludes by providing suggestions to promote GTM’s adoption and popularization. In essence, this article offers guidelines to assist HRD researchers, especially newcomers or those with limited qualitative research experience, in understanding and effectively using GTM.
... Third, we conducted focused coding whereby we moved iteratively between our initial codes, interview data, and prior literature (Charmaz, 2014), becoming what Gioia et al. (2013: 20) call "knowledgeable agents" by using existing theories of pivoting to interpret our data. At this stage it is common for researchers to begin to see "direction" in emerging data (Singh & Estefan, 2018). In our case, it quickly became evident that our initial codes could be grouped on the basis of whether the information that sparked the pivoting decision was opportunity or threat based, whether the pivots occurred gradually or fast, and whether the subsequent changes were moderate or comprehensive in scope. ...
... The grounded theory approach that guided Study 1 involves collecting and coding data, identifying evolving themes and patterns, comparing these with established literature, and repeating the process until theoretical saturation emerges around new insights (e.g., Charmaz, 2014;Gioia et al., 2013;Singh & Estefan, 2018). In our case, the distinctiveness of opportunity and survival pivots was clear and obvious after only one round of data collection and analysis. ...
Research describes pivots as quick and comprehensive change in venture direction triggered by (external) opportunity-based information suggesting a better opportunity. We discovered two distinct pivot types in a qualitative study (Study 1), neither of which fully aligns with prior research. “Opportunity pivots” are triggered by opportunity-based information but are slower and less comprehensive than previously described; “survival pivots” are rapid and comprehensive but triggered by (internal) threat-based information. Lacking theory to explain our discoveries, we tested competing theories in an experimental vignette study involving 1,945 entrepreneurs (Study 2). We find that entrepreneurial learning explains opportunity but not survival pivots, and prospect theory explains survival but not opportunity pivots. The discovery of distinct pivot types provides a foundation for exploring additional pivoting variation; finding support for a different theoretical explanation for each pivot type suggests important limits to core theories used to explain pivoting.
... A grounded theory is discovered through a process of developing an understanding of participants' experiences, as well as by explaining how participants make sense of their perceptions and actions (Singh & Estefan, 2018). Originally developed and used in sociology (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), GT has grown in popularity and is now utilized by researchers across numerous disciplines . ...
... GT is a popular research methodology within the discipline of nursing because it provides an ideal platform to understand, develop, and utilize real-world knowledge about concerns or questions in the healthcare environment (Singh & Estefan, 2018). Nurses require new knowledge to address the challenges of meeting the dynamic health care needs of society (Singh & Estefan, 2018). ...
... GT is a popular research methodology within the discipline of nursing because it provides an ideal platform to understand, develop, and utilize real-world knowledge about concerns or questions in the healthcare environment (Singh & Estefan, 2018). Nurses require new knowledge to address the challenges of meeting the dynamic health care needs of society (Singh & Estefan, 2018). Studies using GT generate new nursing knowledge derived from real interactions with stakeholders as well as other key elements of nursing practice. ...
Grounded theory comprises a family of research approaches designed to support the generation of a theory explaining a phenomenon experienced by a group of participants. One style of grounded theory, Classical grounded theory, is used less often than other types of grounded theory. The less frequent use of Classical grounded theory may be attributed to the limited availability of clearly articulated processes for conducting this method. Particularly important within Classical grounded theory, and not used in other forms of grounded theory, is identifying the participants' main concern. Identifying the participants' main concern is a signature feature of Classical grounded theory and is a prerequisite for ascertaining the core category and subsequent discovery of theory. In this article we provide a detailed explanation of how to identify the participants' main concern, and in so doing, we offer an exemplar to illustrate the process involved.
... The approach utilizes inductive reasoning. This enables readers to derive general ideas to attain specific conclusions accurately (Singh & Estefan, 2018). This means multiple solutions are developed to a problem or issue. ...
... The questions can be adjusted as the theory is developed. Therefore, the analysis method is essential to develop questions specific to the participants' experiences (Singh & Estefan, 2018). ...
... In this type of data analysis, theoretical sensitivity is necessary. This feature requires a researcher to have the capability to create suitable meanings for the collected data, understand the meanings of the data, and differentiate whether the data is relevant to the topic or not (Singh & Estefan, 2018). ...
Background: The opioid crisis in the United States has affected millions of individuals, causing high levels of opioid addiction among the population. With the onset of synthetic opioids, deaths from opioid-related causes have increased drastically. This study aims to understand the effect of opioid addiction and methods of controlling the problem for adult African Americans and Latinos at Pathways to Recovery Counseling and Education Services, Hazleton, Pennsylvania.
Methods: The theories guiding this study are the Intersectionality Model and the Bay Area
Regional Health Inequalities Initiative (BARHII) model. These theories reveal that factors such as age, ethnicity, and gender have a significant impact on opioid misuse patterns.
Results: The study revealed that opioid addiction negatively impacted cognition, social life, and emotional control, as 45% of the participants felt isolated from friends and family, 35% of the participants experienced anger issues and frequent arguments, loss of employment among 30%, and an increased tendency to engage in crime, evident by the fact that 30% of the participants had been to prison or a correctional facility. About 60% of the participants started using opioids to
control physical pain and emotional trauma, while 55% obtained non-prescription opioids from illegal sources. Gender did not appear to have an impact on opioid use, as men and women showed a similar pattern of using opioids.
Conclusion: The use of opioids among adult Latinos and African Americans was influenced by their ethnicities, in addition to other factors, which limited their ability to access quality health services from healthcare facilities.
... This study sought to understand the brand naming process among FMCG-SMMEs in KZN. Grounded theory (GT) was appropriate as it is designed to understand a 'process' rather than a 'unit' as found in hypothetico-deductive research; it systematically reviews a phenomenon (Singh and Estefan, 2018). ...
... For example, one study by Najafi Ghezeljeh et al. (2014) employed CGT to study the experience of chronic illness, specifically coronary heart disease. CGT's ontological underpinning acknowledges reality as constructed by human interaction and interpretation (Charmaz, 2014;Singh & Estefan, 2018). CGT's epistemological underpinning understands knowledge as socially embedded, as co-constructed by the researcher and participants (Charmaz, 2014;Mills et al., 2006). ...
Long Covid (LC) has been called the greatest mass-disabling event in human history. For patients, LC not only has implications for quality of life but also for meaning in life: how one’s life and the world are understood and what is seen as valuable in one’s life. This qualitative empirical study used a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach to investigate the meaning in life of people struggling with LC through ten patient interviews. This study shows that patients lose their prior understanding of life and come to a changed meaning in life, in part due to the experienced (social) isolation and loss of (both physical and cognitive) abilities caused by LC. Moreover, patients struggled with acceptance, uncertainty, and the inherent incomprehensibility and uncontrollability that living with LC entails, though this simultaneously co-existed with hope, optimism and acceptance. Additionally, dimensions of meaning intersect; a patient having some understanding of their illness (dimension of meaning: comprehension) required an understanding Other (dimension of meaning: connection). Emerging from lockdown brought the challenge and isolation of adjusting to chronic illness in society as usual (albeit divided about COVID-19 measures). This study thus offers novel insights regarding changed, present, and sought meaning in life for LC patients.
... Specifically, a qualitative, constructivist grounded theory approach is a collective process involving both researchers and the participants; this allows for the possibility of multiple perspectives of reality [9]. According to Charmaz [10], "grounded theory methods consist of systematic yet flexible guidelines for collecting and analyzing qualitative data to construct theories grounded in the data" (p. ...
... The researchers can engage with multiple interpretations of the phenomenon of interest. Charmaz's [8] approach to grounded theory identifies personal and professional experiences of the participants, enhancing the knowledge of the extant literature to challenge established viewpoints and aid in a new understanding of a phenomenon under study [9]. The grounded theory method in this study helped the researchers to develop a substantive theory based on the experiences of students and instructors involved in DNE in two universities in Norway and Canada. ...
A challenge confronting northern nursing is delivery of equitable and culturally competent nursing education. Advances in technology support distributed approaches for decentralised learning and enhance the feasibility of nursing education in rural and remote regions. However, there is limited scholarship on distributed/decentralised technologies in nursing education, particularly in northern and circumpolar regions. The purpose of this constructivist grounded theory research was to develop an enhanced understanding of the unique experiences of students, faculty and administrators who use distributed/decentralised methods and technology. Open-ended interviews were completed in 2015-17 with nursing students (n = 8), faculty and administrators (n = 6) at two universities using distributed/decentralised educational strategies in northern and circumpolar regions. Interviews, journal entries, field notes and memos, were analysed using grounded theory procedures. Findings indicated that distributed/decentralised programs offered rural and remote students educational possibilities that "fit" which would not have otherwise existed. However, Balancing Two Worlds created a collision of roles resulting in the potential loss of balance. Students rectified the Fear of "Falling Off" of their program through four subprocesses: Being Disciplined, Having Realistic Expectations, Planning Ahead and Staying Motivated which provided structure and predictability. Findings support the development of empirical knowledge regarding distributed/decentralised technologies in nursing education and a foundation for future research.
... The Grounded Theory method includes three approaches: the 'systematic' approach associated with Strauss and Corbin, the 'emergent' approach related to Glaser, and the constructivist approach presented by Charmaz (Qureshi & Unlu, 2020). This research used Glaser approach, also called Classical Grounded Theory (Sing & Estefan, 2018). ...
This study aimed to identify the causes and consequences of international migrations of Iranian elite athletes. This research was conducted using the qualitative method and Glaser grounded theory approach. The statistical population included senior managers in the Ministry of Sports and Youth and national sports federations, expert researchers in this field, professional athletes who have emigrated or were on the verge of emigration, and coaches in professional sports teams in Iran. Twenty-six people were selected through theoretical sampling and snowball methods. The data collection tool was a semi-structured individual interview. The Glaser approach was used to analyse the data, including two main stages of actual and theoretical coding. During the actual coding process, 468 primary statistical codes were identified, and 68 subcategories and 11 main categories were subsequently identified. The categories were divided into three general dimensions: “Factors affecting”, “Consequences”, and “Strategies” concerning “elite athletes’ emigration “; in the theoretical coding stage, the final model of the research was outlined. Identifying the causes and consequences of the emigration of elite athletes can significantly help the authorities to recognise problems in this area and provide appropriate solutions to retain adequate human capital in the country. We attempted to examine and present the causes and consequences of the emigration of Iranian elite athletes in the form of a model.
