Grounded Theorizing

Grounded Theorizing: Doing Social Research the Pragmatist Way presents a general overview of the basics—the how and why—of grounded theorizing, a methodology and method introduced by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. Grounded theory is among the most widely used research styles in qualitative and interpretive research transnationally, in those social science disciplines in which qualitative and interpretive approaches are common.　This book presents grounded theorizing in a succinct manner. The major substantive distinction of the book is its positioning of grounded theory in the context of American pragmatism, rooted in the University of Chicago, which greatly influenced Strauss’ thinking. In drawing on pragmatist thinking, the book underscores the importance of alternate epistemologies that are critical of positivism.

Despite its predominance, and after a half century of practice and methodological arguments, there are still a number of issues about the grounded theory approach to research that are not yet well presented or fully discussed in the international textbook literature: What is the status of "theory" in grounded theory? What are its constitutive features? What is the standing of adaptations of the initial concept? In practicing grounded theory work: How to deal with the historical split that took place between the co-founders Glaser and Strauss? Are grounded theory studies accepted as "proper social science," and if not, what narratives are needed in order to legitimize it? That is, what is the epistemological foundation of grounded theory-based empirical research?