Workshop on Grounded Theory

Date: December 15, 2016                                                                                                         

Time: 1:30- 4:00 pm

Participants: 28

The workshop started with an introduction by Dr. Maya M. She started with the purpose of the workshop as to let all the students familiarize with the concept of Grounded Theory as a major approach in Sociology and that this theory is adopted by many sociologist as well as anthropologist and feminist scholars. She introduced the whole class to the first and the second part of the workshop.

Lunthula Quinker (1637619) started with the introduction with the topic ‘Emergence of Grounded Theory’. She talked about how grounded theory emerged in the 1960s which was developed by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss, they published a book called A discovery of Grounded theory because of which the theory became popular in the US and UK.  

Sampriti Ghosal (1627624) talked on the ‘Development in Grounded Theory’. Aastha Jain (1637607) talked about ‘The core of Grounded Theory’ and explained what defines a grounded theory. She talked about the adoption of an investigative method with no pre-conceived hypothesis and the usage of comparative method. She concluded that defining properties of grounded theory does not lie external to the researcher and finished grounded theory are emergent. Under the same unit, Surupa Das (1637628) talked on the ‘Grounded theory and Recent Methodological Developments’ and explained mixed method. She talked about Grounded Theory on the global perspective and how Grounded theory brings in micro level studies. She also talked about effects of colonization and stressed on the importance of language in a multi cultured society. Rhythm (1637263) talked on ‘Gathering rich data’ she elaborated on the tools usually used by the grounded theorist (interview, ethnographic methods and analysis of documents).  

Aparna Dutta (1637612) talked about the ‘Grounded Categories ‘; how categories can be grounded, how a story line is formed, when to stop and the chances of reflectsibility and replication. Hemanth L N (1637604) talked on the ‘Development of Categories’ and the different approaches in grounded theory. Sayahna Chanda (1637625) and Pallavi Raju (1637622) talked under that chapter ‘Abduction in Grounded Theory’. Sayahna talked on the logic of discovery of grounded theory and Pallavi talked about the three forms: Subsumption, Generalisation and Abduction. Imsuren Aier (1637617) talked about sampling in grounded theory and the types of sampling. Dani Domo (1637602) explained on ‘theoretical sampling’. Liza D’souza (1637615) talked on the topic conducting intensive interviews and the importance of rapoc building. Chaitrika Das (1637613) talked about ‘Constructivist Interviewing in Grounded Theory Studies’. She talked about the concept of ‘Silent Dialogue’.

Pooja (1637632) explained where to start and Angela Cecily Joseph (1637610) explained the reasons why memos are written. Raman (1637606) talked on the topic ‘Coding and its importance in Grounded theory and then he explained how it leads mere description and observations to conceptualization. Antony Clinton (1637634) talked on the topic ‘Focused Coding’ and how initial coding moves to focus coding. Gargi (1637616) talked about axial and theoretical coding and elaborated it by demonstrating through a diagram. She also talked about advanced coding.

Dheeraj Baneerjee (1637603) and Pallavi Choubey (1637621) talked on ‘Reconstructing Theorizing in Grounded Theory’. Dheeraj talked on the current practices of Grounded Theory: Objectivist Grounded Theorists, Constructionist in Grounded Theory. Pallavi talked about the theories and the definitions. She also talked about the positivist and the interpretive theory.

Angel Paul (1637609) talked about ‘Grounded Theorizing using Situational Analysis’. She introduced the grounded theory by Strauss and Situational Analysis by Clarke under which she elaborated on the three types of situational maps. Sayanti Dutta (1637626) talked about the ‘Relationship between Symbolic Interactionism and Grounded Theory’. She explained about pragmatism and its relation to symbolic interactionism and how it substantiates grounded theory. Shwetashri (1637627) talked on ‘Grounded Theory and Dramaturgy’ which was introduced by Kenneth Burke and that it is derived from Symbolic interactionism. She stated that this idea is crucial as it helps in building grounded theory and how it tries to capture the wholeness and goes beyond what is evident. Fatimah Nowrin P (1637633) talked on ‘The Link between Grounded Theory and Action Research’ and also the differences between these two. She explained by demonstrating the differences through a table:

Action Research	Grounded Theory
Participatory	Participants as informants
Explicitly Cyclic	Implicitly Cyclic

Dipshi Calip (1637614) talked on the topic ‘Feminist Qualitative Research and Grounded Theory’ she explained how these two approaches come at a point of juncture on the way it approaches a situation or a social problem and also mentioned criticisms. Aishwarya (1637608) talked on the topic ‘Accommodating Critical Theory’ and the theorist Adorno and Bourdieu. She elaborated on ‘Spontaneous Knowledge’ and ‘Scientific Knowledge’ by Bourdieu and how they are pragmatist in their approach. She mentioned that Grounded theory approach and critical theory have the same philosophy. Sadiya Banu (1637631) spoke about ‘Advancing Ethnographic Research through Grounded Theory’ and its usage. She talked about how grounded theory is helpful in ethnographic studies and also mentioned its disadvantages as well as criticisms.

In conclusion, Dr. Maya explained how this are the basics of Grounded theory under the assumption that all the students would have gotten a better understanding of the theory. The workshop commenced at 4 p.m.

Report by Lunthula