Editing Grounded theory (section)

==Premise==
Grounded theory provides methods for generating hypotheses from qualitative data. After hypotheses are generated, it is up to other researchers to attempt to sustain or reject those hypotheses. Questions asked by the qualitative researcher employing grounded theory include "What is going on?" and "What is the main problem of the participants, and how are they trying to solve it?"

Researchers using grounded theory methods do not aim for the "truth." Rather, those researchers try to conceptualize what has been taking place in the lives of study participants. When applying grounded theory methods, the researcher does ''not'' formulate hypotheses in advance of data collection as is often the case in traditional research, otherwise the hypotheses would be ungrounded in the data. Hypotheses are supposed to emerge from the data.<ref name="Glaser & Strauss 1967">Glaser & Strauss 1967</ref>

A goal of the researcher employing grounded theory methods is that of generating concepts that explain the way people resolve their central concerns regardless of time and place. These concepts organize the ground-level data. The concepts become the building blocks of hypotheses. The hypotheses become the constituents of a theory.

In most behavioral research endeavors, persons or patients are units of analysis, whereas in grounded theory the unit of analysis is the incident.<ref name="Glaser & Strauss 1967"/> Typically several hundred incidents are analyzed in a grounded theory study because every participant usually reports many incidents. When comparing many incidents in a certain area of study, the emerging concepts and their inter-relationships are paramount. Consequently, grounded theory is a general method that can use any kind of data although grounded theory is most commonly applied to qualitative data.<ref name = "Glaser, 2001">Glaser, B.G. (2001). ''The grounded theory perspective I: Conceptualization contrasted with description''. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.</ref><ref name = "Glaser, 2003">Glaser, B.G. (2003). ''The grounded theory perspective II: Description's remodeling of grounded theory. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.</ref>

Most researchers oriented toward grounded theory do not apply statistical methods to the qualitative data they collect. The results of grounded theory research are not reported in terms of [[Statistical significance|statistically significant]] findings although there may be probability statements about the relationship between concepts.<ref name="Glaser, 1998">Glaser, B.G. (1998). ''Doing grounded theory – Issues and discussions''. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.</ref> [[Internal validity]] in its traditional research sense is not an issue in grounded theory. Rather, questions of fit, relevance, workability, and modifiability are more important in grounded theory.<ref name="Glaser-Strauss"/><ref name="Glaser, 1978">Glaser, B.G. (1978). ''Theoretical sensitivity: Advances in the methodology of grounded theory''. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.</ref><ref name="Glaser, 1998"/> In addition, adherents of grounded theory emphasize a theoretical validity rather than traditional ideas of internal validity or [[test validity|measurement-related validity]].<ref name="S & F">Schonfeld, I. S., & Farrell, E. (2010). Qualitative methods can enrich quantitative research on occupational stress: An example from one occupational group.  In D. C. Ganster & P. L. Perrewé (Eds.), ''Research in occupational stress and wellbeing series. Vol. 8. New developments in theoretical and conceptual approaches to job stress'' (pp. 137-197). Bingley, UK: Emerald. doi:10.1108/S1479-3555(2010)0000008007</ref> Grounded theory adherents are "less charitable when discussing [psychometric] reliability, calling a single method of observation continually yielding an unvarying measurement a quixotic reliability."<ref name="S & F"/>

A theory that is fitting has concepts that are closely connected to the incidents the theory purports to represent; fit depends on how thoroughly the constant comparison of incidents to concepts has been conducted. A qualitative study driven by grounded theory examines the genuine concerns of study participants; those concerns are not only of academic interest. Grounded theory works when it explains how study participants address the problem at hand and related problems. A theory is modifiable and can be altered when new relevant data are compared to existing data.