Hi Lillith at the risk of stating the obvious, it
seems to me that all research presupposes many things,
not least what might constitute a field of study and
what are interesting questions arising out of that
field.
Trouble is, research projects need to be limited in
order to make it manageable for the researcher. I
think grounded theory, as a research method, is
performed through a processof funnelling down. You
start with a broad issue say 'disability' and
'oppression'and think of ways you might observe these
phenomena, perhaps participant observation of a
setting, perhaps collecting narratives, perhaps
analysing texts. Then, if possible, do a pilot study
applying this method to collecting your data in as
open ended manner as you can. Then you go over your
data looking for patterns; then formulate more
specific questions arising from the patterns which you
can address more directly.
I think this approach works best if you have access to
a setting where you can deploy indirect 'naturalistic'
ways of collecting data without manufacturing it
specifically to address your research questions. (Of
course you will have to 'make' data and of course this
process will be mediated by your interests,
theoretical leanings etc etc, just try and show your
workings and look for the counter arguments).
Tom Wengraf who is on the narrative research use group
advocates a technique he calls Biographical Narrative
Interviewing Method (BNIM) which follows a similar
funnelling pattern. In BNIM the interviewer starts by
asking the person for the story of their life or how
they got to where they are now and simply listens to
their story for the next telling; then reviews the
biography with them selecting critical points and
asking for 'how' this happened 'what do you think
would have happened if you had done something else?'
questions before asking questions exploring themes
that may have arisen out of previous interviews with
other people. For example if your first interviewee
talks a great deal about discrimination but your
second doesn't mention it, you might say 'some people
talk a lot about how they have been discriminated
against but you haven't mentioned it, why do you think
that is?'
I suppose it all comes down to what do you want to do.
If you want to prove or disprove a point grounded
theory probably isn't the method of choice. If you
want to explore how other people understand their own
lives it can be quite a good way of trying to defer
judgement until you have listened to other people's
voices.
--- LILITH Finkler <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Colleagues: A week or so ago, I inquired about
> disability studies
> research which uses grounded theory methodology. I
> received three responses
> noted below.
>
> One response pointed out that grounded theory
> specifically relies on the
> emergence of theory from the data. Adherence to
> social model
> interpretations of disability, in contrast, presume
> discrimination as at
> least one aspect of the data in advance of any
> "evidence" to support it.
> There appears, at least on the face of it, an
> inherent contradiction between
> use of grounded theory and social model analyses of
> disability oppression. I
> am struggling with this as I write my methods
> chapter. Any additional
> insights into these issues are very welcome. Thanks,
> Lilith
>
=============================================================
>
> Unpublished Dissertation:
> Eva G (2007) Spinal cord compression secondary to
> cancer: disability and
> rehabilitation. Unpublished PhD thesis, University
> of Stirling.
>
> From Beth Omansky:
> I believe Sally French uses grounded theory in her
> research(particularly on
> vis. impaired physiotherapists) and also she and
> John Swain have at least
> one book about research methods -- all dis. studies.
> Goodley and Lawthon's
> (maybe more than two authors) Researching life
> Stories examines various
> theories and methodologies for use with the social
> model, including grounded
> theory specifically.
>
>
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>
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