Leeyan Buclatin

​

On January 16, 2021, the Paulinian Edge 365 hosted its second webinar on “Grounded Theory and Model Building”. The event was headed by resource speaker Dr. Jennifer Joy Olivar, RN, Dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences, and researcher of the Center for Nursing Education Research in St. Paul University Manila. She was accompanied by a special guest, Dr. Irma Bustamante, former Dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences in St. Paul  University Manila. It was also moderated by Dr. Brian Bantugan of the Center for Research, Innovation, and Development of St. Paul University Manila and was accompanied by Professor Athenee Pacardo-Mercado, Faculty of the University of the Philippines Los Banos and former professor of research in St. Paul University Manila. The webinar seeks to answer questions associated with the Grounded Theory.

​

Grounded Theory was the result of the breakthrough work of medical sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss in 1967. According to Professor Athenee Pacardo-Mercado, the initial thought of Grounded Theory can be difficult and confusing. It goes beyond what interpretevist and positivist research can offer. According to Dr. Brian Bantugan, “[They] want to develop generalizable knowledge – in the form of a theory – not through numbers but using narratives.

​

Bantugan added that Grounded Theory can be a research approach, a general methodology, or an analytical technique. However, it’s also worth noting that these can’t be used interchangeably, Grounded Theory as a research approach is different from it being a methodology.

​

In the discussion, Dr. Jennifer Joy Olivar shared her experience on using Grounded Theory in her paper, how the study taught her a lot about her profession and culture, and ended on a path towards learning and self-discovery. She introduced the minds behind the theory. The discovery of theory from data - systematically obtained and analyzed in social research - can be furthered. A quote from Glaser and Strauss said, “We believe that the discovery of a theory from data – which we call grounded theory - is a major task confronting sociology today, for as we shall try to show, such a theory fits empirical situations and is understandable to sociologists and layman alike. Most important, it provides us with relevant predictions, explanations, interpretations, and applications.”

Dr. Olivar expounded that Grounded Theory has its origins in sociology, specifically symbolic interactionism. In particular, she highlighted the use of the theory in the medical field. “Health researchers particularly appreciate the systematic and organized way of the GT process. Caring is an integrative process, hence the focus in GT is on interaction, communication, and active engagement in social situations that suit most health professionals.”

She further emphasizes the link between the Grounded Theory and Symbolic Interactionism, how interactions between people can shape human behavior and affect social roles. “Some researchers used GT to investigate the interactions, behaviors, and experiences as well as individuals’ perceptions and thoughts about them.”

​

Another feature of Grounded Theory is the Constant Comparative Analysis which has four stages: Comparing incidents applicable to each category, integrating categories and their properties, delimiting the theory, and writing the theory. This leads to a search for major themes that link ideas to find a core category for the study, which then leads to selective coding where the researcher should uncover the essence of the study and integrate all elements of the emergent theory.

Subsequently, this introduces another concept called coding. According to Dr. Mercado, “Coding is a manner of labeling or categorizing ideas presented in a transcript. Coding is more effectively achieved with the availability of transcripts or field notes and repeated reading and reflection on the narratives.” With that said, coding is an essential part of Grounded Theory and shouldn’t be done aimlessly.

During the Q&A portion, Dr. Irma Bustamante shared that Grounded Theory can be exhausting and can take up to more than a year; it is important that once you do Grounded Theory you have to be ready to accept things that may change along the way. Dr. Bantugan also added that for young researchers before tackling Grounded Theory in their studies they should first do a mini paper to see if they are up to the task. Professor Mercado also noted the importance of having a journal during the research.

​

Now, Grounded Theory may be a lengthy and complicated study to tackle, nevertheless, it is beneficial for both the researcher and the participants, as it seeks to understand people’s experiences and behavior on a deeper level.

​

Video Access

Audio Access

Powerpoint Access

Published Paper on Grounded Theory and Phenomenology (accessible after the 4th webinar)

​

OPEN FORUM TRANSCRIPT

​

Dr. Bantugan (DB): We have pending questions though from the last webinar so we’ll try to answer them at this point in time while we wait for the other questions to emerge from our chatbox. So we have one question from the last webinar. There was a question on research simulacrum during the webinar. Simulacrum is such a hifalutin word for people who are not into media theory. I’ll be answering this from a communication and media point of view coz it’s also used in media. Simulacrum. And also I'm more on the constructivist side so I will answer this as a media practitioner and someone who does constructivist research. So for me, a research simulacrum is a research paradigm. In fact, if you search for it online, it will constantly refer you to the idea of the paradigm so the word simulacrum in my field is a media studies terminology which pertains to representations of phenomena in media. TV shows are like simulacra of the realities that we encounter every day. So you can probably say it deals with implications of simulations or representations.

So I’m bringing it down now to the less jargonized level. Paradigm simulates the nature of the world. So when we say I come from the positivist paradigm my perception of the world is that everything is measurable, everything is observable. Otherwise, it’s not part of the science. So that’s also a simulacrum for me. It’s a paradigm you carry all the time. It’s a perspective you carry as a researcher. So, as I mentioned, there is a positivist, there’s post-positivist like phenomenology and GroundedTtheory. There is also the interpretivist and the constructivist researcher like [Charmaz] which evolved naturally from interpretivism. So I will comment on the simulacrum from the constructivist paradigm.

My bias really is on the researcher having the ability to create worlds. So, I just don’t interpret, I intentionally choose to interpret information differently to widen our limited grasp of reality. I think a simulacrum is just an interpretation of the world. Like my own paradigm, it can only be an approximation of the world we try to understand. So even the paradigm is something that grows. It’s not a permanent thing - it’s a simulacrum. It approaches the realities we encounter but we have to pin it down that’s why it becomes a particular paradigm. So my own simulacrum is not enough to explain the world but that is as far as we can go at any time because our knowledge is bound to our own simulacrum. So that said we cannot escape our simulacrum, we can always try to expand it as far as we can so we can have a fuller encounter of the other or in phenomenological terms the others’ experience. So a positivist does not believe in the notion of the simulacrum, the positivist way is the only way. The post-positivist is open to it, the interpretivist has fully opened the door for a simulacrum. The constructivist enjoys creating simulacra. But at the end of the day, they are just simulacra, and we need to have simulacra to test our knowledge not to limit or contain it. So again, I’m a constructivist and this is my shortest constructivist answer to that. So I think Dr. Dychangco, being a post-positivist, will have a different answer. But because this is a media terminology that I’m familiar with, I try to answer that question on her behalf.

DB: So Thenee is there another question here?

Prof. Pacardo(PP): Is it advisable to use phenomenological research design for college students because of its duration in writing and analyzing the results?

​

DB: Okay, my answer to that is if you do not give students time enough to fully accomplish the goals of phenomenology do not ask them to do it. Consider the resources and the timeline you give your students. Although as Doc Chen said, it does not require a specific time, it can be done with smaller samples but make sure that you yourself can do that within the period you give them. So qualitative research tends to be a bit longer coz it goes beyond counting numbers. So there must be a little bit of time for reflection and reflexivity and constant comparison as in GT. It takes time.

PP: For some students when they reach third year or some students kasi they already have an idea on what they would want to work on, so their papers are all related to that specific topic so when they reach third year, they have a clear idea on what to work on so maybe if they were able to get advisers who would be able to help them out or mentor it’s pretty possible they have enough time as you mentioned earlier. We cannot tell students to finish it in like 6 months. It just results in mediocre data so we give them enough time.

DB: Also if you cannot give that person a mentor in phenomenology don’t ask [that person] to do phenomenology.

PP: I would also like to share... if the institution recognizes qualitative research and they have a system where there’s a required format coz I remember before there should be a theoretical framework, there is really strict formatting, so it was really difficult for us to justify why there is no theoretical or conceptual framework and why is analytical framework found at the end of the paper. It’s very difficult. So if the institution is able to recognize the use of qualitative research. It would really be helpful for the students.

This brings us to the question by another participant. Why do other institutions require theoretical and conceptual frameworks on phenomenological studies? I disagree with this since phenomenology is inductive. I hope to seek more information about this.

DB: I am from the "other" institutions so I cannot answer for them. But let me try to guess why the situation is like that. So first, they are positivists, and they understand better when there is a theoretical or conceptual framework. Second, they don’t fully grasp phenomenology, so they don’t see the value of challenging the notion of the theoretical or conceptual framework at the beginning of the manuscript. Third, they have not engaged enough in philosophy so it’s an area of insecurity. So they have no way to handle philosophical underpinnings that are often required or if not always required in heavy-duty qualitative research that does not rely on a theoretical or conceptual framework which is what you replace the frameworks with. So instead of a framework, you need to have a philosophical underpinning. But if you are not into philosophy then you’ll have a problem there. So I agree with you that you don’t really need a framework in phenomenology and Dr. Dychanco has repeatedly mentioned last Saturday that particular item. Now given that, know your panel members if you’re choosing phenomenology or GT or any qualitative research. Choose phenomenologists if you’re doing phenomenology as members of your panel, not positivists or quantitative experts. If the administration does not listen, talk louder. Still not listening, write your argument on paper. And at the end of the day, they should be at the service of the researcher whose student's works they should want to succeed, not fail. If you do not have phenomenologists, you can call us, we can advise you, we can take the job if they allow, but anyway that’s your assignment if you’re doing qualitative research. Find people who are experts in that area and that’s your call.

​

DB: Alright next question?

Host (H): Before we proceed we would like to acknowledge the presence of our university president, Sister Maria Evangeline Anastacio, SPC. Good afternoon sister.

DB: Good afternoon Sister Eva.

H: Let us now proceed to the open forum.

H: To our participants, please don’t hesitate to type in your questions on our chatbox and our speaker and moderators will accommodate your queries. The same goes to our participants who are also joining us via Voov today, so don’t be shy to ask questions you have in mind Sir Chris is there to collect your questions if you have any and deliver them to us so we can accommodate them.

H: So we have a few questions in our chatbox.

H: Doc Jen, during this pandemic time, how shall we do the deep interview? Can we do it through zoom or phone call? Is it still possible to do the grounded theory?

Dr. Olivar (DO): Well, safety first. So I think zoom can be used. But what is important is that when you do the zoom, it has to be like in front of your interviewee – your respondents because you also have to take down also the facial expressions, you have to observe all of these things. This can be part of their memoing. So that’s actually what they did. But the more important thing here is to ask permission, and if you can ask permission for it to be recorded so you can go back to it and try to see. Because remember in coding, you have to group it line by line. So every word, every phrase, every sentence she says like how I did it, I used excel file you really have to put them. And what’s good about it is that you can keep coming back and then immediately do your notes and if you have questions you can ask for another set interview. Honestly, with the interview I gathered in the province, I stayed for about a week because I need to see them again to ask them and verify some of the words or phrases that they said. But yes at this time of pandemic it actually [saves?] so I guess Zoom can be used.

DB: Could we ask Doc Irma? What is your opinion on this issue?

Dr. Irma (DI): Actually the use of zoom or the internet facilities whatever they are whether it's zoom or google meet and other sources may be used now because of the current pandemic where you cannot really go face to face with your respondents. Dr. Olivar was correct in saying that you should be really doing face to face because you have to write the memo – memoing on the side of your transcription so that you’ll be able to understand what the participant really wants to tell you. I would just like to add about the length of time that grounded theory is supposed to be done, six months is a very short time. Many scholars are saying that grounded theory will take at least about a year, others about 3 years. So that for college students it may really be difficult unless it is labeled as a mini grounded theory. It’s like a practice. Even phenomenology.

DB: Which leads us to the second question. Yes, Mica?

H: For the second question, Doc Jen, what piece of advice can you give to those students or researchers that would like to be specialized in grounded theory type of research? Notice researchers have fears with this type of research.

DO: Number 1 be OC like me, number 2 the essence here is perseverance, don’t be discouraged, don’t be demotivated, stay strong.

DB: I’d like to connect Doc O’s answer with the answer of Dr. Irma earlier. If you really want to really go grounded theory, practice a little bit, do a mini-paper on grounded theory and see what it’s like. If you feel excited about it then go do the full length of the journey otherwise if it is not satisfying to you, then it is worth at least trying it at least you learned something. I guess that’s very important for younger researchers. I think you need to be able to expand your horizons whether you're capable of it or not, otherwise, you just don’t learn it

DO: Actually Dr. Brian, I came from the quantitative side my masteral thesis is quantitative so when I first got introduced to qualitative like I got so fascinated, but when I was doing it already I was crying I was telling myself why did I ever try to do this but like I said perseverance. Every time I find out more information I really get excited. That’s why my advice is don't get discouraged, keep the energy, stay on the positive side. At the end of the journey, the fulfillment is there.

DI: May I add something? First time I did grounded theory I was then in UP and I worked with Dr. Mary Anne Hottman of the University of San Diego California. When you do grounded theory, you must be ready to accept many things that may change along the way. For example you already have your codes, you may put them into categories and then suddenly here comes Dr. Hottman telling me hey we forgot something so I have to go back to another interview because we did a study on the process of menopause among women, and he said you forgot something we have to go back to the Philippines and back again to San Diego there are a lot of things that we have to ask again so according to Dr. Jenny, perseverance and you have to really be responsible for the data you gathered and acceptance of what may happen.

DB: Thank you Doc Irma.

DO: Do not procrastinate. You will have difficulty.

DB: Thenee, do you have something to add to that?

PP: I’d just like to remind as mentioned by Doc O a while ago, notebooks that is important, I would just like to emphasize again the use of journal.

DB: Alright we have the next question Mica.

H: Thank you for your very comprehensive discussion, I hope you can share how your dissertation was evaluated by the panel. Is there a separate tool that was provided thank you.

DO: In St. Paul University Manila, we have a separate tool for qualitative research like this so that’s very clear so the panel is already guided on how the paper will be graded.

DB: I’d like to go back to what Thenee said earlier, if you’re entertaining qualitative then you know what it takes for a qualitative to succeed then you also know what should be in a qualitative study, then you know that quanti and quali are two different animals. Therefore you assess the oranges as orange not as an apple. You better have some appropriate evaluation tools.

DI: If there are no specialists in let’s say phenomenology or grounded theory whatever you’re going to study it is alright to get an external panel because they can share very valuable information because they are the ones who are experts and they can really tell you what

DB: Thank you Doc Irma. Mica do you have another question?

H: How is grounded theory the same and different from phenomenology? How many samples or respondents are needed for this kind of method?

DO: The difference as how I understand, phenomenology begins with a research question right, in grounded theory as I went through the process, grounded theory is conducted in discovering a research question for testing. Because like I said you have a grander question, but in my dissertation you will find out I have already several questions, but the questions emerge as I was going on with the coding of the data. So that makes the difference. It is the literature that guides you to the next question, it is the participants who’s guiding you what will be the next question I have to ask them. So that is why it is very important that you do the memoing and you do take notes and you do the literature review altogether.

Doc Irma: When you do phenomenology, you are delving more into the experiences of people, you may describe them or you may interpret them as interpretive. In grounded theory you are looking more at the social processes that people go into. As in the symbolic interactionism. One is about process the other one is about experience. So when you talk about experience it’s alright to describe but as Glaser again was saying the QDA that we are so used to is not so much fitted into grounded theory because we are looking for some form of sequence what happens really if you want this phenomenon to be studied.

DB: On my part, I agree, phenomenology focuses, zooms in on the experiences of a person multiply that by the many respondents or co-authors you have then you have a depth of experience. I think the goal of phenomenology is to capture that depth of experience that is captured by the experiences of the people you interview. So the same thing with grounded, you still have the experience, but that’s not the point. The point of the grounded theory is not the depth but the breadth that the theory captures most if not all people's experiences in relation to that process so the process captures experience but it’s not the experience you want it’s the process. So it’s breadth. So you have to look at your topic and see your focus. If you want experiences and you want to go deep then you go pheno, if you want to go breadth, to generate theory that applies to all, generalizable knowledge that is replicable, then you have to go grounded theory.

DB: Mica do you have another question?

H: It was mentioned by Dr. Charmaz earlier in her video recording that we can analyze data not only with other data from the same group of people but also from the other groups that may have some relationship with the phenomena and social process concern. Does that mean we can theoretically sample from various groups of people at various levels?

DB: I think that captures what Doc O experienced. Go ahead Doc O.

DO: I had like three levels. There were three groups, so I did not only capture the experience in top management but I also went through the middle managers, the supervisors. What I did was I went through three different groups. Actually, I’m stating that there could be another layer that I would be interviewing but the three levels already gave me the saturation I need so I stopped at the third level.

DB: I think the next question is related. Do we have the next question, Mica?

H: please give an example of a research study using grounded theory in the field of humanities or com.

DB: As mentioned by Doc Irma earlier, it’s about the process, you want to capture a process that you can find across the board so if you’re talking about communication, it’s in the creative field, it’s in the arts, that’s why it’s a bachelor of arts - comm, and then if you’re looking at the fine arts or the humanities, in general, we’re looking at the creative process so I think that anything that has something to do with creative process whether its conceptualizing or execution or say, disseminating your practice, or just getting feedback from people who see the kind of work you do is all part of the creative process. In fact, because it’s creative, it’s a continuum of a never-ending creative process. Even innovation that captures or requires creativity could really call for a grounded theory study. So once you see a process that is embedded in the humanities or in communication for that matter, that zooms in on processes and can go across the board then that’s a likely candidate for grounded theory.

DB: Next question.

H: Doc Olivar, this is a side comment, personally, I really loved the way how you did your PowerPoint presentation, you usually present a general statement and leave out the majority points from the slides under general statements. It seems to be a good pedagogical approach in PowerPoint presentation as it encourages the audience to be good listeners dot connectors sense makers and note-takers. Do you receive similar feedback from college audiences?

DO: Thank you very much for that comment, yes I do. I don’t put everything there because I want my listeners to be attentive to what I say, I only highlight what are the key essential words that I want them to remember. But thank you very much for that.

DB: We have a question from Sol.

H: Thanks for an enlightening discussion about this interesting research method which is still pretty new to me. You mentioned that a grounded theory researcher must not have major preconceptions to avoid leading questions. How does one go about this? When let’s say over the course of your life you notice patterns and have initial speculations about a possible phenomenon does this inspire you to explore this possible phenomenon? How you distance yourself from bringing in preconceptions?

DI: Actually it is very similar to phenomenology when you do bracketing. When you bracket, you set aside your preconceptions similarly in grounded theory we don’t do a literature review you might have seen something before that initiated you to do that kind of a study but you put it aside and you're open to that theoretical sensitivity when you’re open to a possible new theory that may be found or grounded in your data, that’s why it’s called a grounded theory because the theory is rooted in reality and grounded the data, just like bracketing, just set it aside.

DB: Do you have other questions, Mica?

H: If I use grounded theory in my research study, will it be beneficial for me if my respondents will be from various parts of the world like if my research will be about transcultural nursing, also will it take a longer time for me to finish my work if I use writing memo as my strategy

DO: In grounded theory, like what I said, I cannot predict the time or how long - it is really your data that will lead you if you have saturation. So the topic is transcultural nursing, I have no idea as to the number of participants you will be having for your interview unless you focus on the specific culture but if you take all the cultures I don’t know if there will come to a point that a certain saturation will be reached. As to the time, I guess that is really the question, it is the data that will lead you as to when this will end when the core category has emerged, remember the core category emerged when you do the memoing, that’s the most important the memoing and the coding, that will lead you to the categorization the properties the leading out, all of these things that’s why you have to have your notes your notebooks well, of course, you have the technology of computers now, I know one student that did her QDA but I did it the long way and I really appreciated it because  I really want to capture especially when every time I do the interviews some of them are smirking. Sometimes I like to verify these things because you get facial expressions you have to ask them about it and don’t be shy about it. There is an art of asking all these things, it is important you plan to verify all of these things. The sampling is not really that much mentioned - it’s not really that important but it’s really more on the data giving you all of these things and if there are no more emerging properties or categories, that’s the time you are able to come up with another theory on transcultural nursing.

DB: I don’t think the idea behind the grounded theory is focused on the sampling per se, but the process that you need to capture in that transcultural environment. And that said, it will require transcultural samples but regardless, the process will let you zoom into something that does not really go beyond a certain experience of all these people have despite their distance or separation of culture. It’s not about sampling it’s about the process you want to capture and explain.

DI: It also depends on your focus in transcultural nursing if you want to focus on the terminally ill that’s transferred to different cultures you might want to go, for example, at how they look at euthanasia in different cultures you might want to look about giving birth and having a certain number of children in different cultures and how do nurses look into that so you can always to different samplings from different cultures but maintain your focus because Brian mentioned it is a very broad thing so many things about transcultural nursing also about wearing of uniforms of nurses as they approach their patients can be transcultural. as much as possible what the new methods are what the new approaches are and once you have the knowledge there you will be at an advantage.

DB: I think transculturalism is the icing on the cake you have a lot of global values of the theory you want to explore. Essentially that’s just the icing on the cake go down and look at the process you want to capture.

​

From the last webinar, what is the importance of a highly selective, pre-determined data or data source?

DI: Because if you’re doing phenomenology and you really select your data source we should be able to gather people who are willing to share their experience on your area of interest. Now, if you selected some people and they agreed based on the consent form, they will agree to be interviewed, to be taped, and so on and once you start asking the questions, your data source or your participants will just say, yes, that’s fine with me. I think we should just very politely close the interview because you really cannot get much. You should get people who are willing to talk. If they are not willing to talk and share their experiences you can listen to them, or probably you can look for others

DB: How are phenomenology and GT formatted in publishable format? Is there a difference in the way you write GT papers for publication in a journal? Doc Irma I know you have a lot of publications out there. Could you tell us how you deal with GT as a paper to publish and pheno as a paper to publish?

DI: Pheno and GT as a paper should be published, well some journals would say 5000 words, so it should be shortened. So therefore when it is shortened, you as the author must know exactly what to put. For example, in phenomenology, you start by telling about what you want to explore and describe these experiences, so you gather data from this, and your underpinning is this. In grounded theory you start with just a focus and then you say that you are going to do the processes that are done from the theory and you have to express which grounded theory methodology you are using, is it classical, is it the Corbin and Strauss, or is it the constructivism of Charmaz you’ll have to mention that when you publish, and of course your references that are very important. It is also very important that at the end of your grounded theory you present your theory and make a summary of how this theory came about. In phenomenology, you also have to present what your findings were.

DB: The format varies depending on the journal. Depending on the journal they have priorities. They want to be known for pheno, they want to be known for GT, they want to be known for multi-disciplinary, that’s more open, so if you are pheno and you know that pheno is marginalized in the world of research then you better get one that’s for pheno, that’s really open for pheno and that will mean they have more room for words because its quali. So when they say give us 4000, 5000 words it may look a lot when you work with quantitative research. That’s not a lot, that’s good for quanti for numbers, statistical tests, so get a qualitative journal so you can have more space for your paper coz you may be limited to 4000 5000 words you can’t have a lot of quotes there. In qualitative research is a lot more important for you to have a lot of quotes there coz you get the human quality of the experiences.

This is a very complicated question, so, on the one hand, it will have to do with your paper, on the other it will have something to do with the publisher, on still another, your side of the picture coz you may have your own publication in your school then you may have to design in such a way that you write it according to the requirements of the school. There’s a lot to consider if you think about publishing. But overall you have the IMRAD format. These are the overall general components. You have your introduction; your methodology, you have your results, your analysis, and your discussion, that’s all you need.

DB: Is qualitative research at a disadvantage during this pandemic considering the difficulties of communication at the moment?

DB: Pheno and grounded theory are just two of the approaches. There are many skills and there are approaches and methods that are more linked to online information, online data, and that said you cannot say it as a disadvantage because methods that gravitate towards the use of technology may be more at an advantage at this point in time. We try to learn as much as possible what the new methods are what the new approaches are and once you have the knowledge there you will be at an advantage. data and that said you cannot say it as a disadvantage because methods gravitate towards the use of technology may be more at an advantage at this point in time we try to learn as much as possible what the new methods are what the new approaches are and once you have the knowledge there you will be at an advantage.