Origins and Growth of Grounded Theory

Abstract

Editor’s Note: As we continue celebrate Barney Glaser’s life, we re-publish this gently edited paper about the origin and growth of grounded theory. Through the years as he noticed trends surrounding the method, Glaser codified the different elements and procedures of grounded theory and compared/contrasted them with remodeled versions. This paper was first published as chapter 1 in Grounded Theory Perspectives: Its Origin and Growth (2016). All books mentioned in this paper can be purchased via Sociology Press at http://sociologypress.com/book.htm.

[This paper] is about the origins and growth of grounded theory (GT) as developed and written by Barney G. Glaser. It is not written to compete or compare with other QDA [qualitative data analysis] methods. The competition with other perspectives is up to the reader to write up if he so desires. My goal in this paper is to write up the GT perspective clearly and historically to date so it can be used by others in research and the rhetorical wrestle between different perspectives. As GT spreads throughout the world, a clear view of the GT perspective is constantly needed and requested from me by researchers for doing GT and for trying to explain the method to others, particularly supervisors and peer reviewers.