What Can Reading a 50-Year-Old Grounded Theory Teach Us About Grounded Theory? A Companion Article to Weisberg’s “The Stages of Friendship Formation”

Abstract

This companion article accompanies the reprint of D. Kelley Weisberg’s (1993/2026) grounded theory, “The Stages of Friendship Formation,” originally written in 1973, and uses it to teach readers about Glaserian classic grounded theory (GCGT). Weisberg’s theory explains how people form new friendships after a cross-cultural move has suspended their former ones. Rather than fully summarizing the theory or evaluating Weisberg findings about friendship, the article asks what researchers can learn about developing and writing a GCGT by reading this theory closely. It first explains why reading a theory from outside one’s own substantive area builds theoretical sensitivity. It then presents five lessons that the theory illustrates: a classic grounded theory has grounded boundaries and a theoretical code; concepts rise above their indicators; conditions explain variation; concepts carry forward across a theory; and illustrations and literature serve the theory. The article also notes where the structure of Weisberg’s paper differs from current publication expectations so that readers do not treat it as a model for organizing a manuscript. It closes with questions that researchers can ask of any completed grounded theory to further develop their theoretical sensitivity.