The Discovery of Grounded Theory; Strategies for Qualitative Research¶
Why this mattered¶
Before grounded theory, qualitative research was often treated as preliminary, illustrative, or insufficiently rigorous compared with hypothesis-testing methods modeled on the natural sciences. Glaser and Strauss shifted the methodological center of gravity by arguing that theory could be generated from systematically gathered and compared empirical data, not merely imposed in advance and then tested. The key move was to make discovery itself procedural: comparative analysis, theoretical sampling, flexible use of qualitative and quantitative materials, and attention to whether concepts “fit” observed situations. This gave qualitative researchers a defensible logic of inquiry rather than only a set of interpretive practices.
What became newly possible was an empirical route to theory-building in domains where existing categories were thin, misleading, or overly abstract. Researchers in sociology, nursing, education, organizational studies, health services, and later information systems and human-computer interaction could study complex social processes without first reducing them to variables inherited from prior theory. The method was especially consequential for fields such as nursing because it legitimized close analysis of lived practice, institutional routines, illness experience, professional work, and patient-clinician interaction as sources of generalizable conceptual insight.
Its downstream importance lies less in a single finding than in the research program it opened. Grounded theory became one of the central paradigms of qualitative methodology, influencing later work on constant comparison, coding procedures, memo-writing, theoretical saturation, constructivist grounded theory, and mixed-methods inquiry. It also helped rebalance social science methodology: rigorous research no longer meant only testing predefined hypotheses, but could also mean disciplined, transparent generation of concepts from data.
Abstract¶
Most writing on sociological method has been concerned with how accurate facts can be obtained and how theory can thereby be more rigorously tested. In The Discovery of Grounded Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss address the equally Important enterprise of how the discovery of theory from data--systematically obtained and analyzed in social research--can be furthered. The discovery of theory from data--grounded theory--is a major task confronting sociology, for such a theory fits empirical situations, and is understandable to sociologists and laymen alike. Most important, it provides relevant predictions, explanations, interpretations, and applications. In Part I of the book, Generation Theory by Comparative Analysis, the authors present a strategy whereby sociologists can facilitate the discovery of grounded theory, both substantive and formal. This strategy involves the systematic choice and study of several comparison groups. In Part II, The Flexible Use of Data, the generation of theory from qualitative, especially documentary, and quantitative data Is considered. In Part III, Implications of Grounded Theory, Glaser and Strauss examine the credibility of grounded theory. The Discovery of Grounded Theory is directed toward improving social scientists' capacity for generating theory that will be relevant to their research. While aimed primarily at sociologists, it will be useful to anyone Interested In studying social phenomena--political, educational, economic, industrial-- especially If their studies are based on qualitative data.