A Phenomenological Approach to Grounded Analysis: An Interpretive Understanding of Theory-in-Data

Grounded analysis is a general methodology for inducing or deriving theory from an analysis of the patterns, themes, and common categories underlying obtained data while the analyst holds to a minimum the predisposition to specific kinds of lines of research, or theoretical interests. The author undertakes three tasks in this article. He begins with an illustration of the conflicting models of grounded analysis proposed by Strauss and Corbin, Glaser, and Charmaz. Next he suggests a new approach to grounded analysis so called “phenomenologist grounded theory analysis.” Finally, he shows the ways that the data in a grounded analytic study can be interpretively understood from the standpoint of phenomenology.