Constructing Grounded Theory

What it’s about

For researchers and students drowning in qualitative data, "Constructing Grounded Theory" offers a clear, practical, and systematic journey from data collection to a finished theoretical analysis. Author Kathy Charmaz, a leading voice in the field, demystifies the research process by providing flexible, step-by-step guidelines for coding, memo-writing, theoretical sampling, and integrating a final theory. Moving beyond the original objectivist approach, this book champions a constructivist perspective, teaching you not just to discover theory but to actively construct it through your engagement with the data. Filled with concrete examples and practical strategies, this guide empowers you to move beyond mere description, manage your analytic process with confidence, and produce an original, insightful, and credible contribution to your field.

The through-line

Who it’s for

A qualitative researcher (student or professional) who has gathered rich data and wants to produce a rigorous, insightful, and original theoretical analysis, rather than just a simple description.

The problem

The researcher faces a mountain of qualitative data (interviews, field notes, texts) and lacks a clear, systematic process for analyzing it to develop a coherent, defensible theory. They feel overwhelmed, uncertain, and anxious about the analytic process, fearing their work will be seen as impressionistic, unsystematic, or superficial, and that they will fail to produce a significant contribution.

The plan

1. Gather Rich Data: Learn to collect detailed and full data through methods like intensive interviewing and ethnography.
2. Code the Data: Master the systematic practices of initial and focused coding to break down and conceptualize the data.
3. Write Analytic Memos: Use memo-writing as a pivotal step to develop ideas, explore categories, and build the analysis.
4. Sample, Saturate, and Sort: Employ theoretical sampling to refine categories until they are saturated, then sort memos to integrate the theory.
5. Reconstruct and Write the Theory: Learn to move from analysis to writing the final draft, including constructing arguments and positioning the work.

The payoff

The researcher transforms their raw data into a coherent, insightful, and original grounded theory. · They feel confident, competent, and in control of their analytic process. · Their work is recognized as a rigorous and significant contribution to their field.

See our guide

• Study People And Organizations With Scientific Rigor →
• Do Qualitative Research And Coding Well →
• The Behavioral Science Underneath It All →
• Build A People Analytics Function →
• Design The Organization And Change It →
• Do Research That Holds Up →
• Design Surveys People Answer Honestly →
• Understand What Drives Individual Performance →

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Additional reading

• The Discovery of Grounded Theory · Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss

  It is the foundational 1967 text of the method. This book re-examines, adapts, and reinterprets its classic statements through a modern, constructivist lens.

• Theoretical Sensitivity · Barney G. Glaser

  Cited as the most definitive early statement of the classic grounded theory method, providing detailed guidelines that this book builds upon and adapts.

• Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method · Herbert Blumer

  The book explicitly identifies Blumer's work and the Chicago School's pragmatist tradition as the philosophical underpinning for its constructivist approach to grounded theory.

• Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques · Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin

  This book discusses Strauss and Corbin's influential but contested version of grounded theory, particularly their introduction of 'axial coding,' and contrasts it with other approaches.

• Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory After the Postmodern Turn · Adele E. Clarke

  Clarke's work is presented as a key contemporary development that moves grounded theory away from positivism, using mapping and situational analysis to handle complexity.

Featured in these guides

• The Behavioral Science Underneath It All →Cited source
• Build A People Analytics Function →Cited source
• Design The Organization And Change It →Cited source
• Study People And Organizations With Scientific Rigor →Cited source
• Do Research That Holds Up →Cited source
• Design Surveys People Answer Honestly →Cited source
• Understand What Drives Individual Performance →Cited source

Where other books disagree

• Objectivity Control Versus Productive Reflexivity →