Grounded Theory

Grounded theory (GT) is a qualitative research methodology commonly employed by scholars to analyze communication processes and content, often for the development of interpretive theories. As a methodology, GT is more than a method or set of methods for collecting or analyzing data. Instead, GT is an approach to social research that specifies an emergent rather than predetermined research design through an atypical sequence of activities for building and developing theory; it is an approach that arguably runs counter to traditional notions of scientific method as developed [Page 448]initially in what is referred to as the natural sciences. Distinguishing characteristics of GT include delay of the literature review, simultaneous collection and analysis of data, emic construction of analytic codes and categories from data (vs. etic or a priori application of previous theory), development of midrange theories (vs. universal laws) to explain communication behavior and processes, the composition of theoretical memos to define analytic categories, and sampling procedures inspired more by a concern for theory construction than for representativeness.

Traditional social science methodology proceeds predictably in discrete stages that are predetermined: the development of hypotheses from a single theoretical perspective, data collection, data analysis, and interpretation of results. GT does not. Instead, research employing GT is highly emergent, allowing for the possibility that research questions, access to participants, and even definitions of core constructs may change over the course of a study. For example, in most variable-analytic research methodologies, one does not begin analyzing data until all are collected. Alternatively, GT methodology suggests an iterative process in which data are analyzed during an evolving data collection process. Tentative hypotheses are developed, tested, and refined in a manner that is abductive—both inductive and deductive.

The purpose of abduction in GT is to develop tentative theoretical propositions (sometimes called exploratory hypotheses) that can be explicated through deduction and validated through induction. In other words, theory development involves two overlapping logics. Inductive logic must be used to identify its observable qualities and components of phenomena and speculate about the ways in which they may be related. At the same time, deductive logic must be employed to evaluate explanations of why the phenomenon proceeds in the manner that induction revealed. Therefore, sampling, analyzing data, and interpreting findings are interdependent activities that together comprise a cycle of inquiry.