Grounded Theory
Grounded Theory (originally developed as Constant Comparative Method) is a flexible and systematic approach to data collection and the analysis of data. Grounded theory is a
systematic methodology involving the construction of ‘concepts’ through regular gathering and analysis of data (Charmaz, 2006). Grounded theory is sought to give an account of the meaning that actors give to actions, events and objects, which leads to the reasons for their behaviour.
The main characteristic of grounded theory is its inductive reasoning (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Grounded theory starts with the collection of qualitative data. As researchers review the data collected, repeated ideas, concepts or elements become apparent, and are tagged with codes which have been extracted from the data. As more data is collected, and re-reviewed, codes can be grouped into concepts, and then into categories. These categories may become the basis for a new theory (Glaser, 2002). Grounded theory is particularly useful for the creation of new theories due to its critical perspective. It requires a significant amount of data and can be criticised due to its subjectivity and open ended and process-oriented perspective ending in a narrative description more than a numerical estimation (Oliver, 2011)
Grounded Theory: GO-GN Insights
Virginia Rodés used a qualitative methodology based on the Grounded Theory (together with the Biographical Method and Digital Ethnography) with twelve subjects, teaching staff of three public universities in three Latin American countries (Uruguay, Costa Rica and Venezuela) to understand the dimensions of the adoption of OER and Repositories of OER (ROER) by Latin American universities.
“Grounded theory seeks to give an account of the meaning that actors give to actions, events and objects, which leads to the reasons for their social actions. This through inductive procedures, observing society from within, participating in the construction of categories of understanding both common sense, as members of society, and categories of theoretical understanding, as researchers. What twe incorporate as a problematic object of study and observation are precisely the first level typologies of the social world we are investigating. This means that the categories that the actors use in their current action in the first instance become an object of study and then, a second level observation is done, categorizing the categories that the actors have performed on the first level. The Grounded Theory method moves research and researcher towards the development of theory (Charmaz and Mitchell, 2001). On the contrary, ethnography is based on the development of a complete description of a society or group of people and, therefore, provides the details of their daily lives. As a method, ethnography refers to the ways of studying; Know and inform about the world. According to Charmaz and Mitchell (2001) both grounded theory and ethnography have common roots in the