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TheGroundedTheoryMethodofAnalysisintheHome/WorkStudy

IntroductiontotheUseofGroundedTheory

GroundedTheorywasoneofthemainanalyticmethodsusedtounderstandthe

phenomenonofdeskillingamongstmigrantwomencarersandtheirstrategiesfor

managing.Itfitwellwiththeaimsofthestudy,whichweretoanalysetheprocessesand

outcomesofmigratingforcareanditseffectsonparticipants.Duetothecomplexityand

rangeofissuesamongstagroupofparticipantswhohadsimilarproblems,aswellasthe

factthatthistopicisanunder‐researchedfieldofstudy—deskillingamongstmigrant

women‐‐‐GroundedTheorywasthoughttobethemostsalientformofanalysis.Theprocess

consistedofcreatingcodesandcategories,gleaningthemesandthencreatinghypotheses

abouttheparticipants’experiences,alongwiththeintegrationofexperts’opinionsonthe

issuesandaliteraturereview.Thehypothesesareavailableintheresearchbriefand

summaryoffindingsat:http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/projects/homework/findings.htm.

Specifically,thehypothesesweredirectlyrelatedtothetitleoftheproject:TheRolesof

Education,Literacy,andLearningintheNetworksandMobilityPatternsofMigrantCarers.

Throughanongoingprocessofcomparingandcontrastingthedata,connectionsweremade

betweenthesesetsofrelations.

GroundedTheoryandDataCollection

GroundedTheoryalsofitwellwiththechosendatacollectingmethods,whichareoutlined

inthedocument,“SummaryofDataCollectionMethods.”Theanalysistookplaceduring

thedatacollectionperiod,andwasthoroughlyintegratedintoallaspectsofit,includingan

analysisofeveryinterviewandobservationdirectlyaftertheyweregiven.Inthisway,each

stepofthedatacollectioncouldfeedintotheanalysis.Itconsistedofthreestrandsthat

utilisedmixedmethods,mainlyqualitative,andtheseweretriangulatedforthesakeof

rigor;observationsbalancedoutthethingspeoplesaidduringinterviewsandeither

confirmedorcontradictedtheirspokenviewpoints.Strandoneconsistedofan

environmentalscanofexpertsonspecificissuessurroundingthemigrantcarers,includinga

literaturereview.Strandtwoconsistedofethnographicmethods(observationsandindepth

interviews)andapanelstudytoassesstherangeofresponsesmigrantcarershadtowards

migrating,caring,andworkinginCumbria,particularlytheirnetworksandmobilitypatterns.

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Theobservationstookplaceover13monthperiodattheirworkplaces(carehomesand

duringvisitstoelderlypersons’homes)andinotherplacessuchastheirownhomes

(birthdayparty)andlibraries,andanethnicfoodstore.Interviewstookplaceduringthe

sameperiod,withthreeinterviewsperparticipant(totalof93interviews),whichhada

differentfocusateachstage.Lastly,strand3soughttotestamodel(oneofthehypotheses

developed)onworkplaceeducationandthekindsandlevelsofsupportsneededbymigrant

carerstopersistinlearningandeducationtoadvance.Thisincludedtestingiton

practitionersforfeedback,creatingacurriculumandworkshop,evaluatingtheworkshop,

givingparticipantsassessments(preandpost)andconductingacohortanalysiswitha

controlgrouptoseethelargereffectsoftheintervention.Allofthesestrands,but

especially1and2,werecriticaltotheGroundedTheoryanalysis.

AboutGroundedTheory

GroundedTheoryisgoodforanalysingdatainexploratorystudies,andinthiscase,migrant

women’sconditionsofdeskillingintheUK.Groundedtheory(StraussandCorbin1998)was

usedtoprovideinsightintothefactorsinfluencinglearning,useofliteracies,mobilityand

networking.Groundedtheoryreliesontheproductionoftheoreticalperspectivesderiving

fromdata(ibid).Inthisrespect,theresearcherfocusesonthe‘ground’–thedata‐and

inductivelygeneratesmoreabstractconcepts.Toaccomplishthis,theresearcher(s)needs

tobe‘flexible’and‘opentohelpfulcriticism’(StraussandCorbin1998:5),whilstportraying

‘appropriateness,authenticity,credibility,intuitiveness,receptivity,reciprocity,and

sensitivity’(p.6).Thisstyleofresearchcallsforcreativity,closenesstotherespondentsand

theirclaims,immersioninthefieldandanabilitytointerpretsituationsandstatements

(StraussandCorbin1998).Throughethnographicresearchandinterviews,theparticipants

discussedissuessurroundingphysicalandsocialmobility,workrelations,learningandusing

literaciesandtheirownperceptionsofthesituationsformigrantcarersintheUKandtheir

difficultiesineachsituationaswellastheirrelationslocallyandabroad.Theuseof

groundedtheoryallowedfortheestablishingofthemesacrosstheparticipants’data,thus

underliningthecrucialissues,suchaslittleopportunityforupwardmobilityandskillsbeing

underused.However,dataanalysisandtheoryconstructionthroughgroundedtheoryisan

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‘evolvingprocess’(Charmaz2000).Thus,AnselmStraussandJulietCorbin(1998)describea

procedurebeginningwiththeuseofanalyticaltools–suchasfindingkeyphrasesorwords

indocumentsandexperimentingwithmeanings‐,opencoding–‘processthroughwhich

conceptsareidentifiedandtheirpropertiesanddimensionsarediscoveredindata’(p.101)‐

,axialcoding–creatingsubcategoriesandassociatingthesewith‘propertiesand

dimensions’(p.123)‐andselectivecoding–‘integratingandrefiningthetheory’(p.143)by

usingcategoriesandtheirassociationswithsubcategoriestocreateatypeofcasestudyofa

particularsub‐phenomenon.Throughouttheprocesstheoreticalsamplingisvitalforthe

saturationofcategories(StraussandCorbin1998).Inordertoachievesaturation,grounded

theoryanalysisrequiresre‐evaluationofconcepts/themes/categoriesatvaryingstages.

Thesethemesandcategoriesformeventuallyintohypotheses,throughanapproachcalled,

selectivecoding,whichattemptstointegratethecontextsoftheparticipantsandcreatea

caseoftheirparticularissue.Inthiscase,themigrantworkerswerestrugglingincontexts

suchasruralareas,thelabourmarketandmigrationpoliciesthatwereoftenlimitingto

them.

LimitationsofGroundedTheoryandResolutions

GroundedTheorycanbereductiveinthesearchforgeneralpatternsacrossagroupof

people,andeventheselectivecodingprocessdoesnotfullyengagethecontextualissues

outlinedabove:rurality,labour,andmigrationpolicies.Thereforeportraiture,asanother

methodwasaddedtotheselectivecodingprocess(enrichingit)inordertoprovidearicher

contextforthestrugglesandstrategiesofthemigrantcarers,andthewaysthesedeviated

individuallyandaccordingtodifferentissues.Forexample,theportraiturescouldprovidean

indepthpictureintoonewoman’sexperiences,ofbeinganon‐Europeancarerstuckinthe

middleofmigrationpoliciesinawaythattheEuropeancarerswerenot.Additionally,each

codewascheckedbytheotherteammemberandaninformant.Finally,wedidan

evaluationoftheentireprocessofGroundedTheorytodetectgapsandareasfor

improvement.

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Coding‐Categories‐Themes‐Hypotheses

Theproceduredescribedabovewasappliedtothisresearchprojectandthedatagathered.

Initially,byusingaliteraturereview,interviewsofexpertsinthefieldsofageing,migration,

care,ESOL,andothers,historyoftheareas,statisticalinformationandpreliminaryfindings

throughethnographicobservationsandinterviews,wecreatedcodesandthencategories

andsubcategories,namely36codes(opencoding)and4broader,encompassingareas

(networks,mobility,educationandlearning,literacies)andthenwelookedthrough10

interviewtranscriptstoseewhichcodeswereappearingintheparticipants’interviewsfor

thefirstroundofinterviewing.Thepurposebehind‘theoreticalsampling’(Straussand

Corbin1998)–aprocessofsearchingforconceptsrelatingto‘incidents,eventsor

happenings’(p.202)whichappearfrequentlyandwhichinfluenceoutcomes–overaperiod

oftimewhilstbuildingcodes,istostartwithcreatingmanycodesandthenrefiningthese

ultimatelytocontributetowardstheorybuilding,orhypotheses.Finally,toensurethecodes

fittedthedata,theinformantforthestudygaveinputastothevalidityofthecodesand

commentedonthem.

Afterusingacategorizationchartforthese10transcriptsinordertoevaluatethefrequency,

intensityanddurationofthesecodes,thenumberofcodesdroppedto30,thusreflecting

moreaccuratelytheconditionsandeventsaffectingtheparticipantsintheirsocialmobility

andlearning.Thisphaseofcoding,axialcoding,assistedintherelatingofconditionsand

formationofanunderstandingofthesituationsaffectingmigrantcarerswhilesearchingfor

explanationsbehindthephenomenastudied.Wealsodetectedwhichcodesweremost

popularamongstasetof24participantsandhighlightedwhichcodeswererarelyusedand

why.Toassistwithaxialcoding,30transcriptswerecodedbyusing‘AtlasTi’softwareto

helpinlocatingthecodesinthetranscriptsandmemoing.Thus,fromaninitial

understandingthattheparticipantswere‘stuckinthesteppingstones’,wediscoveredthat

thiswasarepeatedthemeamongstparticipantsthatconnectedtocausesandexplanations

astowhytheyfelt,“stuck.”Thisprocessoflocatingthemesthatconnectedcauseand

effect,ledtotheselectivecodingprocess.Inthephaseofselectivecodingthecategories

wererefinedintothemestoassistwiththeorybuilding.Alongsidetheexplorationofissues

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emergingfromtheinterviews,patternswithingridswerecreatedacrosstopicstoestablish

linkages–forexamplehowsocialmobilityisconnectedtoliteracies–andthenthe

environmentwasalsoexamined,namelythecarehomes(maps)andthecommunitiesthe

migrantcarersresidein(throughmoregrids)aswellasamodelofforcesthatimpingedon

theparticipants’livelihood.Byfocusinginitiallyonknowledgegainedbyreviewing

literature,thenfocusingontheinterviews,andfollowingthisexaminingtheenvironments

whereourparticipantsliveandwork,theseconditionsfedintohypothesesondeskillingin

ruralareasinconjunctiontocareandmigration.Furthermore,demographicgridsofthe

participantswereusedtosupplementthepatterngridsonthemes.Workingconceptmaps

(diagrams)werealsocreatedtofurtheranalyse,thegrids,maps,andcodeddata.

Atlastti

Oneofthetoolsusedingroundedtheoryarecomputer‐basedprogrammes.Inthiscase,

textualanalysisfortheprocessofgroundingdatatookplacebyusing‘AtlasTi’software.

Throughinputtinginterviewtranscriptsandlookingforthemesinthefirstfewinterviews–

byusingethnographicandinterviewdataandtheory–andthenrefiningthecodes,AtlasTi

allowsthecodingprocesstotakeplaceandatalaterstagemakeconnectionsbetween

codesthroughthecreationof‘families’.Thissoftwarealsoallowsaformofquantitative

methodologytoemergethroughthelistingofquotes(andthusnumbering)under

categories,closetothe‘interplaybetweenqualitativeandquantitative’discussedbyStrauss

andCorbin(1998)aswellasmemoing.Thirtyinterviewtranscriptswereinputtedinto

‘AtlasTi’fortheestablishingofcodesappearingmostfrequentlyintheinterviews;these

interviewsweretakenfromallthreephasesofinterviewing.

UsingAtlasTimadetheresearchteammoreawareofthesaliencyofthecodesbutlittle

else.Ifanythingitwastheprocess,ratherthantheproductwhichcountedmost.Criticisms

onusingcomputer‐assistedanalysisarepresentedbyKathyCharmaz(2000).Sheargues

thatcomputeranalysisprogrammesallow‘multipleresearch’and‘mappingrelationships

visuallyonscreen’(Charmaz2000:520)andthatsomeofthedangersofplacingtoomuch

emphasison‘objectivistgroundedtheory’(ibid)aresuperficialityandfragmentationwhich

isolatedatafrom‘ourconstructionsandinterpretations’(ibid:521).Forthisreason,AtlasTi

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wasviewedasamechanicaltoolthatmadeuseofgroundedtheoryprocesses,relatingdata

withtheoryandsuppositions.

Conclusion

TheprocessofgoingthroughGroundedTheorysystematicallywasusefulforraisingconsciousnessamongsttheresearchteamaboutsimilarissuesthatskilledmigrantprofessionalsfacedascarersattemptingtoadvance.Theconstantreflexivecomparisons/contrastsbetweenthecasesalsoallowedforintricatefactorstoemerge,whichexplainedsomeofthisphenomenon.ThroughGroundedTheory,theresearchersgleanedhypothesesaboutthesetsofrelationsbetweeneducation,learning,literacy,mobilityandnetworks.However,becauseGroundedTheorywasunabletofullyincorporatetherichcontextsoftheparticipants(howtheyactedundercertainsituations),aportraitureanalysiswasalsousedtogainadeeperunderstandingoftheirstrategiesandexperiences,aswellasapictureoftheirindividualdifferences.

References

CharmazK.(2000)‘GroundedTheory:ObjectivistandConstructivistMethods’,inDenzinN.K.andY.S.Lincoln(eds)HandbookofQualitativeResearch,secondedition,London,SagePublications.

StraussA.andJ.Corbin(1998)BasicsofQualitativeResearch–TechniquesandProceduresforDevelopingGroundedTheory,secondedition,London,SagePublications.