Constructing Grounded Theory (Introducing Qualitative Methods series) by Kathy Charmaz

Author:Kathy Charmaz [Charmaz, Kathy]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781446293492
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2014-03-19T04:00:00+00:00

Initial sampling relies on establishing criteria and planning how you will access data. Seemingly straightforward topics may soon become complex. If you wish to explore drinking among people with disabilities, then you must start with at least a provisional definition stating what the term ‘disability’ will cover. Then you need to find out what drinking – and disability – can mean to your participants and perhaps ascertain if you need to talk with their families or friends. You must decide whether you will include people with disabilities who view themselves as recovering alcoholics. Topics that prompt you to contact certain people but not others already circumscribe what you address. Not least among your initial tasks, you should explicate and examine your own preconceptions about both disability and drinking. You may make some sophisticated initial distinctions, but they still do not amount to theoretical sampling.

Some researchers confuse theoretical sampling with the logic of traditional quantitative research sampling. However, comparing these two forms of sampling reveals sharp contrasts. The purpose of theoretical sampling is to obtain data to help you explicate your categories. When you fill out the properties of your categories, you define pivotal qualities of the studied experience. Simultaneously, you provide a useful analytic handle for understanding it. In short, theoretical sampling pertains only to conceptual and theoretical development of your analysis; it is not about representing a population or increasing the statistical generalizability of your results. In contrast, many quantitative studies require random samples of people whose characteristics are representative of the population under study. Whereas quantitative researchers use their data to make statistical inferences about target populations, grounded theorists aim to fit their emerging theories with their data. Quantitative researchers test preconceived hypotheses; grounded theorists can offer the grist for emergent hypotheses that quantitative researchers might pursue.

Theoretical sampling pertains only to conceptual and theoretical development of your analysis; it is not about representing a population or increasing the statistical generalizability of your results.

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