Grounded theory as an emergent method.

Abstract

D uring its 40-year history, grounded theory has served as a major method for conducting emergent qualitative research. What is an emergent method? I start with a working definition of an emergent method as inductive, indeterminate, and open-ended. An emergent method begins with the empirical world and builds an inductive understanding of it as events unfold and knowledge accrues. Social scientists who use emergent methods can study research problems that arise in the empirical world and can pursue unanticipated directions of inquiry in this world. Emergent methods are particularly well suited for studying uncharted, contingent, or dynamic phenomena. These methods also allow for new properties of the studied phenomenon to appear that, in turn, shape new conditions and consequences to be studied. By adopting emergent methods, researchers can account for processes discovered in the empirical world and direct their methodological strategies accordingly. How does grounded theory fit the definition of an emergent method? In which ways does the grounded theory method advance the development of emergent methods? Grounded theory is predicated on an emergent logic. This method starts with a systematic, inductive approach to collecting and analyzing data to develop theoretical analyses. The method also includes checking emergent categories that emerge from successive levels of analysis through hypothetical and deductive reasoning. Grounded theory offers systematic analytic strategies that combine explicitness and flexibility. Fundamental tenets of the grounded theory method include: (1) minimizing preconceived ideas about the research problem and the data, (2) using simultaneous data collection and analysis to inform each other, (3) remaining open to varied explanations and/ or understandings of the data, and (4) focusing data analysis to construct middle-range theories. Rather than viewing only the product of inquiry—the completed grounded the-

Cite this

Kathy Calkins Charmaz (2008). Grounded theory as an emergent method..

@article{calkins2008grounded,
  title  = {Grounded theory as an emergent method.},
  author = {Charmaz, Kathy Calkins},
  year   = {2008}
}

Citations in this library

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 730 citations exist upstream.

References

Cited by