Transcript Reflections on Methods and Models 2

Professor Cathy Urquhart
[email protected]
 Introduction
 What
is Grounded Theory Method
(GTM)?
 Defining GTM
 Two examples of use in ICT4D
 Assessing the potential for GTM in
ICT4D
 Conclusion
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Strong interest in qualitative data analysis,
especially grounded theory, since 1995
Wrote a chapter on grounded theory in 2001
directed at postgraduate students which is
widely used
Started researching in ICT4D in 2004
Have just written a commissioned book for Sage
(Grounded Theory For Qualitative Research: A
Practical Guide)
Senior Editor of MIS Quarterly, the top journal in
information systems. MISQ has an impact factor
of 4.83
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A qualitative research method.
Co-originators sociologists Barney Glaser and
Anselm Strauss (1967).
An inductive approach to generating substantive
theory that is ‘grounded’ in the data.
Has clear directives on coding data.
There are disputes about application and also the
method.
Many adaptations in many fields.
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The aim of grounded theory is to
generate or discover a theory.
The researcher has to set aside
theoretical ideas in order to let the
substantive theory emerge.
Theory focuses on how individuals
interact with the phenomena under
study.
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Theory asserts a plausible relationship
between concepts and sets of concepts
Theory is derived from data acquired
from fieldwork interviews, observation,
and documents.
Data Analysis is systematic and begins
as soon as data is available.
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Data analysis proceeds through
identifying categories and connecting
them.
Further data collection (or sampling) is
based on emerging concepts.
These concepts are developed through
constant comparison with additional
data.
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Data collection can stop when no new
conceptualisations emerge.
Data analysis proceeds from open
coding (identifying categories,
properties and dimensions) through
selective coding (clustering around
categories), to theoretical coding.
The resulting theory can be reported
in a narrative framework or a set of
propositions.
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CONCEPT 1
CONCEPT 2
Relationship
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Codes, or categories, are CONCEPTS
 Theories are built by naming concepts and
the relationships between them
Eg a tentative theory about personal ads –
Sports loving men (category 1) are more
likely to advertise for blonde women
(category 2). What is the relationship? It could
be that sports loving men have more
conventional expectations of women?
You could ground this in data, by proving that
there are many instances of these two linked
categories. How you theorise about this
relationship is up to you, but relate to current
theories
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CONCEPT
CONCEPT
CONCEPT
Relationships
CONCEPT
CONCEPT
Relationships
CONCEPT
CONCEPT
CONCEPT
Relationships
CONCEPT
CONCEPT
Relationships
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Memo
Pool
Transcript
Pool
Sort and
re-sort
Code and
Compare
Selective Coding
Collect
Data
Social
Setting
Validate and
Sample
Saturate
Categories
A ccount of
O rganizational
Life
Constant comparative analysis
Theoretical sampling
© C.Urquhart 2000
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Most people think that Strauss and Corbin (1990)
is the definitive book on grounded theory
In fact, it was the cause of a major split between
Glaser and Strauss, and Glaser wrote a rejoinder
in 1992
The two originators evolved two different
versions
Dispute was about use of coding paradigms to
help analyse the data – Strauss proposed just
one, as opposed to Glasers 18 coding families! In
the most recent book, Corbin and Strauss 2008,
the coding paradigm has been de emphasised
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Book
Glaser and Strauss 1967
Glaser 1978
Strauss 1987
Strauss and Corbin 1990
Strauss and Corbin 1998
Charmaz 2006
Corbin and Strauss 2008
Suggested coding procedure
Comparing incidents applicable to each category
(includes open coding ) integrating categories and their
properties (selective coding and theoretical coding)
delimiting the theory (selective coding and theoretical
coding),writing the theory
Open coding, selective coding, theoretical coding
Open coding, axial coding, selective coding
Open coding, axial coding, selective coding
Open coding, axial coding, selective coding
Initial coding, focused coding, axial coding, theoretical
coding
Open coding, axial coding and theoretical coding as
distinct stages no longer appear, though open coding
and axial coding appear as terms in one chapter. The
emphasis is on a broader set of tools named Context,
Process and Theoretical Integration. Two coding
paradigms are used as a foundation for Context.
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Mariyam Suzy Adam - IT Capacity Building in the
Maldivian Tourism industry: a knowledge and
social capital perspective
Antonio Díaz Andrade – Interaction Between
Existing Social Networks and ICT Tools: Evidence
from the Rural Andes
Both PhD theses can be downloaded from
https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/22
92/1
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46 interviews in total - an embedded case study
design, covering resorts (small, medium, large),
plus stakeholders,- government, training
providers, and tourism promoters
Interviews analysed using grounded theory
method
Mariyam spent three months in the Maldives
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Organisational Capacity IT Building and Industry
Capacity Knowledge Processes the two key
themes
Interesting findings in both themes. Problems of
‘islandness’ inhibited capacity building. A clash of
Muslim culture vs Western style tourism affected
knowledge processes
Findings integrated with initial preliminary
framework using knowledge and human capital
theories
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Adam M, Urquhart C (2009) No Man is an Island:
Social and Human Capital in IT Capacity Building
in the Maldives, Information and Organization,
Volume 19, Issue 1, January 2009, Pages 1-21
Adam, M, Urquhart C (2007) IT Capacity Building
in Developing Countries: A Model of Maldivian
Tourism Sector, Information Technology for
Development, 13, 4, pp 315-335, 2007
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Four month study of ICT use in northern rural
Peru
Looked at the use of infocentros in rural
communities
Ethnographic approach – Antonio lived in the
communities
Grounded theory used to build a substantive
theory of ICT use in rural communities
Substantive theory then engaged with preliminary
theoretical framework using human capital, social
capital, and institutional theory
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Individual exploitation of ICT theme
Complementing existing networks with ICT theme
Relationship between the two themes – certain
individuals spread their ICT derived information in
their networks freely
Thus human capital very closely intertwined with
social capital
Theorised that these ‘activators of information’
spread their knowledge because of 500 year old
institutions of communal peasant work
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Díaz Andrade, A. & Urquhart, C. (2009). The Value
of Extended Networks: Information and
Communication Technology Intervention in Rural
Peru. Information Technology for Development –
Special Issue: Development and the Promise of
Technological Change, 15(2), pp. 108-132.
Díaz Andrade, A. & Urquhart, C. (2010). The Role
of Social Connectors in Seeking Computermediated Information in Rural Societies. Human
IT, 11(1), pp. 1-28.
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Provides a systematic way of analysing data, and
provides a chain of evidence
Avoids the ‘nice story’ accusation sometimes
levelled at qualitative research
Provides a way of building the theory out into
other areas using theoretical sampling
Enables the building of a substantive theory
which can then be engaged with larger theories
Generally yields good publications
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Majority of theories used in ICT4D are ‘meta theories’,
eg Sen, actor network theory, policy studies,
econometrics etc
Like information systems, ICT4D is an applied area with
many reference disciplines and little indigenous theory
Advantage of GTM is that it is good for areas where no
theory exists, and is built from the ‘ground up’
Should we be imposing theories from the developed
world on the developing one?
GTM also provides a clear route for engaging with
higher level theories – this is useful if we are using high
level theories
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Urquhart C (2012), Grounded Theory For Qualitative
Research: A Practical Guide, Sage: London, see
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book232280
Urquhart C, Lehmann H and Myers M (2010), Putting
the Theory Back into Grounded Theory: Guidelines for
Grounded Theory Studies in Information Systems,
Information Systems Journal, 20, 4, pp 357-381
Urquhart C and Fernandez W, Grounded Theory
Method: The Researcher as Blank Slate and Other
Myths, Proceedings of the Twenty Seventh International
Conference on Information Systems, Milwaukee 2006
Charmaz K (2006), Constructing Grounded Theory,
Sage Publications
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