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Grounded Theory: a Methodological Spiral from Positivism to Postmodernism

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Grounded Theory: a Methodological Spiral from Positivism to Postmodernism JAN RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Grounded theory: a methodological spiral from positivism to postmodernism Jane Mills, Ysanne Chapman, Ann Bonner & Karen Francis Accepted for publication 22 December 2006 Jane Mills MN RN MILLS J., CHAPMAN Y., BONNER A. & FRANCIS K. (2007) Grounded theory: a PhD Candidate methodological spiral from positivism to postmodernism. Journal of Advanced School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash Nursing 58(1), 72–79 University, Churchill, Victoria, Australia doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04228.x Ysanne Chapman PhD RN Associate Professor of Nursing Abstract School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash Title. Grounded theory: a methodological spiral from positivism to postmodernism University, Churchill, Victoria, Australia Aim. Our aim in this paper is to explain a methodological/methods package devised to incorporate situational and social world mapping with frame analysis, based on a Ann Bonner PhD RN grounded theory study of Australian rural nurses’ experiences of mentoring. Senior Lecturer Background. Situational analysis, as conceived by Adele Clarke, shifts the research School of Nursing Sciences, James Cook methodology of grounded theory from being located within a postpositivist para- University, Townsville, Queensland, digm to a postmodern paradigm. Clarke uses three types of maps during this pro- Australia cess: situational, social world and positional, in combination with discourse Karen Francis PhD RN analysis. Professor of Rural Nursing Method. During our grounded theory study, the process of concurrent interview School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash data generation and analysis incorporated situational and social world mapping University, Churchill, Victoria, Australia techniques. An outcome of this was our increased awareness of how outside actors influenced participants in their constructions of mentoring. Correspondence to Jane Mills: In our attempts to use Clarke’s methodological package, however, it became e-mail: [email protected] apparent that our constructivist beliefs about human agency could not be reconciled with the postmodern project of discourse analysis. We then turned to the literature on symbolic interactionism and adopted frame analysis as a method to examine the literature on rural nursing and mentoring as secondary form of data. Findings. While we found situational and social world mapping very useful, we were less successful in using positional maps. In retrospect, we would argue that collective action framing provides an alternative to analysing such positions in the literature. This is particularly so for researchers who locate themselves within a constructivist paradigm, and who are therefore unwilling to reject the notion of human agency and the ability of individuals to shape their world in some way. Conclusion. Our example of using this package of situational and social worlds mapping with frame analysis is intended to assist other researchers to locate par- ticipants more transparently in the social worlds that they negotiate in their everyday practice. Keywords: frame analysis, grounded theory, mentors, research implementation, research methods, rural nursing, situational analysis 72 Ó 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation Ó 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd JAN: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Grounded theory: a methodological spiral 1. To explore and co-construct, through interview, partici- Introduction pants’ experiences of mentoring in relation to their rural Grounded theory can be conceptualized as a series of variants nursing practice. reflecting a multiplicity of ontological and epistemological 2. To locate rural nurses’ co-constructions of mentoring in underpinnings. ‘The form of grounded theory followed the wider context of their social world. depends on a clarification of the nature of the relationship 3. To construct a grounded theory of Australian rural nurses’ between researcher and participant, and on an explication of experiences of mentoring reflective of both context and the field of what can be known’ (Mills et al. 2006b). process. This paper is based on our experience of undertaking a constructivist grounded theory study about Australian rural Participants nurses’ experiences of mentoring, although it is not a data- based research report (The study findings will be reported in a Nine rural nurses from five of the six states of Australia and separate paper). Rather, it is a ‘reflexive research adventure ranging in experience from 7–32 years participated in the story’ (A. Clarke, personal correspondence) about reconciling study. our ontological and epistemological beliefs with the meth- odology/methods package used. Data collection Initially, the development of constructivist grounded the- Eleven interviews were conducted in 2004/2005. Nine of ory is traced and Clarke’s grounded theory methodology/ these interviews were face-to-face, while two participants methods package – situational analysis – is outlined. We then chose to be interviewed using the telephone. The literature problematize situational analysis in relation to a constructiv- about the problem of workforce for Australian rural nurses ist paradigm of enquiry where humans are recognized as was also analysed as a secondary form of data (Mills et al. having agency to construct and reconstruct their own realities 2006c). Data sources included journal databases, newspa- while influenced by discourse and context. As an alternative pers, newsletters and websites. Both electronic and hand to rejecting situational analysis in its entirety, however, we searching was used. We limited the years searched from 2000 believe that the situational and social worlds mapping to 2005. In 2000, the Australian government released a key techniques described by Clarke are very useful in conceptu- report entitled Rethinking Nursing (National Nursing alizing the ways in which grounded theory codes can fit Workforce Forum 2000). Before this publication, the federal together. It was Clarke’s use of discourse analysis as a government in Australia had delegated responsibility for strategy to examine these maps that provided us as construc- nursing to individual state governments. This was a key tivist researchers with an epistemological conundrum. moment for Australian rural nurses and as such is a worthy In an attempt to solve this challenge, we returned to one of point to begin our analysis. the philosophical roots of grounded theory, symbolic inter- actionism, to find an alternative analytical heuristic frame Data analysis analysis. Situational and, most importantly, social world Consistent with accepted grounded theory methods, con- mapping are further explicated through a discussion about current data generation and analysis, and the constant Strauss’ (1993) theory of social worlds, Goffman’s (1974) comparison of data-to-data, data-to-categories and category- theory of frame analysis and Benford and Snow’s (2000) to-category occurred. Theoretical sampling began after four theory of collective frame analysis. Finally, we illustrate the interviews had been conducted. Owing to the focused area of possibilities of a methodological/methods package, incor- interest in this study, theoretical saturation was achieved porating situational and social worlds mapping and collec- after a total of nine interviews had been conducted and tive frame analysis, by using our own experiences as an analysed, together with the collective frame analysis of the example. rural nursing and mentoring literature as secondary sources of data. Background: our empirical study Constructivist grounded theory Aim Glaser and Strauss (1967) conceptualized the original form of The aim of the study was to examine how Australian rural grounded theory, a form we call traditional grounded theory, nurses construct their experiences of mentoring. The specific which anchors our metaphor of a methodological spiral. objectives were: Traditional grounded theory is positivistic/postpositivistic in Ó 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation Ó 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 73 J. Mills et al. intent (Lincoln & Guba 2005 p. 193–196), with researchers Charmaz was the first researcher to explicitly name her believing that theory will emerge from the data that they work constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz 1994, 1995a, collect. They have an unswerving faith in the notion of a truth Charmaz 1995b, 2000, Charmaz 2005, 2006), while resitu- waiting to be uncovered. This form of grounded theory is also ating the researcher in relation to participants and rethinking known as Glaserian grounded theory (Cutcliffe 2005) in the role of the researcher as author. Charmaz began by recognition of the ontological and epistemological position of engaging with what she sees as a postmodern critique of one of its progenitor, Barney Glaser. traditional grounded theory by making a case for a form of Soon after the 1967 publication of the seminal text constructivist grounded theory that is situated somewhere Discovery of Grounded Theory, Glaser and Strauss’ paths between positivism and postmodernism. She argues that diverged, with Strauss pursuing forms of grounded theory taking a constructivist approach to the ‘interactive nature of that corresponded with his central concern that action is at both data collection and analysis, resolves the criticisms of the heart of both process and structure (Corbin 1991). Key to the method, and reconciles positivist assumptions and post- Strauss moving grounded theory around another methodo- modernist critiques’ (Charmaz 1995a p. 62). logical turn was his assumption that
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