Topic: Research Methodology
Publication: Organizational Research Methods
Article: Grounded Theory Method in management research: Users’ perspectives.
Blogger: James Grand
Qualitative research is the “art” of taking real-time narratives
or observations of human behavior/cognitions and systematically analyzing them
for themes, theories and indicators of what is occurring in a given
situation. In truth, such data is
collected all the time in organizations.
For example, employees are often asked to provide HR departments with
their goals for the year, provide feedback on new company policies, or
summarize the information they learned in a training seminar.
The real challenge for organizations (and researchers as well) is
figuring out how to use these observations to understand their employees and
affect meaningful changes just as they would had people provided survey data
(quantitative). Grounded Theory
Method (GTM, Glaser & Strauss, 1967) provides one such procedure. In brief, it involves a series of steps
in which the transcribed responses of individuals are reduced into increasingly
succinct bits of information until common, thematic keywords can be identified
that describe the nature of the phenomenon.
If this sounds like an onerous process, that’s because it is. However, the most recent issue of Organizational Research Methods (2008,
Vol. 11, Iss. 3) presents an article by Fendt and Sachs that provides a number
of recommendations for flattening that learning curve a bit, including tips on
how to deal with nonverbal information, researcher bias, and making sense of
your data. While these are
difficult concepts to describe without a better understanding of GTM, such
information is invaluable to researchers and practitioners hoping to use
observational data without getting swamped in their analytic efforts.
And that simplicity is something we can all appreciate.
Fendt, J., & Sachs, W. (2008). Grounded Theory Method in management
research: Users’ perspectives. Organizational
Research Methods, 11(3), 430-455.
Glaser, B. G.,
& Strauss, A. L. (1967). The
discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New
York: De Gruyter.
