Editing Grounded theory (section)

===Memoing===
''Theoretical memoing'' is "the core stage of grounded theory methodology" (Glaser 1998).
"Memos are the theorizing write-up of ideas about substantive codes and their theoretically coded relationships as they emerge during coding, collecting and analyzing data, and during memoing" (Glaser 1998).

Memoing is also important in the early phase of a grounded theory study (e.g., during open coding). In memoing, the researcher conceptualizes incidents, helping the process along. Theoretical memos can be anything written or drawn in the context of the constant comparative method, an important component of grounded theory.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Savin-Baden, M. |author2=Major, C.|title=Qualitative Research: The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|location=London and New York|isbn=978-0-415-67478-2|url=http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415674782/}}</ref> 
''Memos'' are important tools to both refine and keep track of ideas that develop when researchers compare incidents to incidents and then concepts to concepts in the evolving theory. In memos, investigators develop ideas about naming concepts and relating them to each other. They examine relationships between concepts with the help of fourfold tables, diagrams, figures, or other means generating comparative power.

Without memoing, the theory is superficial and the concepts generated are not very original. Memoing works as an accumulation of written ideas into a bank of ideas about concepts and how they relate to each other. This bank contains rich parts of what will later be the written theory.
Memoing is total creative freedom without rules of writing, grammar or style (Glaser 1998). The writing must be an instrument for outflow of ideas, and nothing else. When people write memos, the ideas become more realistic, being converted from thoughts into words, and thus ideas communicable to the afterworld.

In grounded theory the ''preconscious processing'' that occurs when coding and comparing is recognized. The researcher is encouraged to register ideas about the ongoing study that eventually pop up in everyday situations, and awareness of the [[serendipity]] of the method is also necessary to achieve good results.